From Issue 24.2
Back in March, the biggest brands, leaders, athletes and influencers of the racket sports world converged on the gigantic Miami Beach Convention Center in Florida for an inaugural threeday festival called RacquetX.
The ethos of the event was to unite all the racket/paddle sports (tennis, pickleball, padel, platform tennis, table tennis etc) under one roof to network, learn from each other and find common ground.
Research published at the event showed that 43% of racket sports players in the USA played more than one in the last year or are intending to diversify their play. This trend was labelled ‘the rise of the cross-court consumer.’
Punters have more choice than ever before when it comes to whacking a ball. The pandemic turbo-boosted participation in tennis (33% growth in the USA since 2020), but pickleball and padel’s growth in the last few years has been frankly absurd. Reliable sources estimate there were 36.5 million pickeball players in the States in 2022. In 2023, participation grew by 52% – almost three times more than any other sport. Outside of the US, pickleball’s biggest growth markets are the UK, Australia and India.
Padel’s biggest growth has been in Europe, but the rest of the world is catching on fast. It’s estimated there will be 85,000 courts worldwide by 2026 with the padel ecosystem valued at over $2billion. Investment in the game is colossal and celebrity players such as David Beckham and Lionel Messi do its popularity no harm at all.
You will probably already know the reasons behind these market shifts. You hear about the benefits of these new sports so often these days that they’re almost clichés: they’re accessible (regardless of age, size, fitness level, gender, ability and disability), sociable, easy to learn and, most of all, fun.
Rackets clubs have quickly cottoned on. Many are now diversifying by offering tennis, pickleball and padel at their venues (Imber Court is a good example in the UK). The racket sports are all prospering together. As the saying goes, ‘A rising tide lifts all ships.’ Or as Katrina Adams, former President of the USTA, cleverly put it during a speech at RacquetX: “It’s time to love all!”
Reliable sources estimate there were 36.5 million pickeball players in the States in 2022. In 2023, participation grew by 52% – almost three times more than any other sport.
Where does squash fit into all this mutual back-slapping? Well, at RacquetX we barely featured in the conversation at all, because we didn’t turn up. There was no squash court alongside the tennis, padel and pickleball courts that all the attendees enjoyed trying out.
One of the few people flying the flag for squash was US No.1 and PSA Board member Amanda Sobhy, who had a ‘fireside chat’ on stage with RacquetX founder Robyn Duda.
Sobhy told me: “It was all really cool, but as a squash player my reaction was, ‘What the ****, squash? This is pathetic!’ It was really, really sad that no-one in the squash world cared about this when it was a massive opportunity to showcase our sport alongside padel and pickleball.
“We have to venture out of the squash world in order to grow the sport – and the best way to do that is to start overlapping and crosspollinating with other racket sports because these are our cousins. It feels like squash is trying to do its own thing when it should be not just promoting itself, but looking at pickleball and padel and asking, what are they doing right?”
Sobhy continued: “It was so upsetting that the opportunity to expose squash on the level of these other racket sports was missed. Noone is going to take squash seriously unless we do things like this.”
The value of high-profile industry exposure was well and truly seized at RacquetX by padel. The sport’s presence in the USA is currently small (around 300 courts) but that’s about to change. Three brands installed courts in the vast Miami venue (one had an Instagram-friendly US flag across its playing surface). Curiosity and interest was huge, with queues forming to give it a try.
One of the exhibitors was Mejor Set, the official court of the International Padel Federation. Their Head of International Relations, Hernan Auguste, told me: “From my conversations with people from pickleball and tennis, we agreed that the big success from RacquetX was padel. Not because we ‘beat’ them, but because Americans know tennis and pickleball already, so the interest in padel was very big. For me it was a big surprise.”
Auguste added: “In Miami, we were all cousins, not competing with each other. I believe these three sports can be together and will bring more revenue to clubs. The feeling I had all week was that we are here to support each other.”
Squash benefits massively when it is an active member of this family. Take for example East Glos Club in Cheltenham, south west England. The club was a relatively early adopter of padel, installing three outdoor courts in early 2021 to complement its tennis and squash courts.
Did padel adversely affect usage of their squash courts? Let’s hear from club manager Darren Morris: “Padel has really brought the club together whereas previously there was a bit of a divide. We’ve seen tennis and squash players play padel together and equally tennis players have started playing racketball on days when it’s tipping it down.
“It has helped increase our membership numbers and has added a new dimension to the club. It has brought new demographics – both younger ones and more mature players.”
Two padel courts were added at my club, Chapel Allerton in Leeds, last summer. There were concerns that padel might further damage squash participation, which had already been badly affected by Covid. But figures released at March’s AGM showed squash court usage had actually gone up. The addition of padel has made the club more vibrant and tennis and squash have thrived in its reflected glory.
Providing we give people the right ball and make our facilities accessible and community-focused, squash can be just as much of a compelling product as pickleball or padel. We also now have the added credibility and glamour of being an Olympic sport. We must use it.
Investors are currently throwing money at building multi-sport rackets clubs, and existing sports and fitness clubs are diversifying their offering to capitalise on the padel and pickleball craze. We need to make sure they consider squash courts too – because at the moment, we are not generally part of these commercial conversations.
How can we infiltrate these networks, ride on the wings of padel and pickleball and become a strong and confident part of the racket sports revolution? Booking our tickets for RacquetX 2025 would be a good place to start.
“We have to venture out of the squash world in order to grow the sport – and the best way to do that is to start overlapping and cross-pollinating with other racket sports because these are our cousins. It feels like squash is trying to do its own thing when it should be not just promoting itself, but looking at pickleball and padel and asking, what are they doing right?”
