Differences Between Tennis, Padel, and Pickleball

While tennis is the most popular racket sport globally, other ones like padel and pickleball are also pretty well-known. If you are naive to the sports, you may often get confused between each of them as they look so similar. However, some eminent features will allow you to understand the fine lines. Let us discuss those eminent differences between the three sports to understand how to identify each of them.

The Tennis Sport

A game of tennis does not require any introductions in today’s time. You can easily identify it with the rackets in the hands of the players. However, do you know how old is this sport? France is the birthplace of handball which aristocrats started playing in the 12th century. Soon, an update entered the sport according to which these royals started playing the game with a racket in place of their hands. Since the starting only, 2 to 4 players would participate in the game according to the types of game they are playing. The gameplay is to use tennis rackets to hit the small yellow tennis ball across the net to score points.

The game starts when one player serves the ball and then the other player across the net makes sure to hit back the ball to the opponent court side. This continues till one of the players does not miss out on hitting the ball. The person who has hit the ball in such a way that the ball falls in the other person’s courtside wins a point. The player winning a maximum number of points wins the game.

One of the major features that make this sport unique from many other sports is that you can play it on different court surfaces. The tennis sport started on the grass court of Wimbledon and now most tournaments are held on the hard court surfaces. Also, you will find many tournaments offering clay court surfaces for the championship.

The Padel Sport

It is quite unlikely for you to not know what padel is if you are well-versed in tennis. In terms of the popularity of racket games, padel comes just after tennis. Would you not like to know who came up with this sport?

It is said that in 1969, a Mexican businessman Enrique Corcuera got so inspired by the platform tennis being played in the USA that he thought of owning the game. The next step that he took was to make certain modifications to his existing squash court to play platform tennis conveniently. Soon, a new game was introduced with this combination by the name of Padel.

The game is played within closed walls and the players use paddles with small holes in place of rackets. While the sport had its birth in Spain, now it has become a favorite sport in Europe and America.

The Pickleball

After taking a short trip about tennis and padel, it's time to understand what is pickleball. If you are someone from the United States, you will know how popular this sport is in this country. The game culture started way back in the mid-1960s and soon its fame spread out throughout the whole nation, Often you will find pickleball is similar to badminton in several ways such as the court size. However, the net of both sports is slightly different from each other. It is one of the games with paddles and balls such as the padel sport. The paddle of the game was traditionally made up of wood but now you get also options in composite materials. The ball used in the game is made up of perforated plastic. In both sports, you will see players playing in singles and doubles formats.

Now, if you are someone outside the United States, it is natural that you may have this common question in mind: Is pickleball hard? To this question, you must know that the Pickleball game is much easier compared to its other two variants, tennis and padel. Most importantly, Pickleball is more about social interactions, unlike the other two sports.

Tennis, Padel, and Pickleball - The Differences

The Court

A court surface divided by a net is the main component that makes all three sports similar to each other. While tennis and Pickleball are mostly played in open court, for padel you must have a court with walls.

The Equipment

One of the major features based on which you can find differences between these sports is the equipment. While tennis players use string rackets, players playing padel and pickleball use a solid racket. Now again, you will find a padel racket to be perforated while a smaller and solid racket in pickleball.

When you talk about the balls, in the case of tennis and padel, you have small and solid balls. On the other hand, for pickleball, you must have perforated balls. So, when you talk about padel vs pickleball, the use of equipment comes to the surface.

The Rules

While the court type and equipment type clearly distinguish the sports from each other, the gameplay may have various similarities. The way the players play these sports is very similar, especially based on the points they earn. Now, the way these points are counted will be different in each game. For example, in tennis and padel, scores can be won through steps and advantages also. On the other hand, pickleball is much simplified and also it does not have advantage scores.

Tennis scores progress in the way of 0 (love), 15, 30, 40, and then finally the game. In case of a tie, one of the players has to win two consecutive points to finally win. Padel also has a similar scoring method. One point to talk about padel vs tennis here is that Padel does not have advantage scores similar to tennis. The next point won by the player after a tie wins.

The scoring in pickleball is quite unique and less complicated than in tennis and padel. The method is quite simple the player who served will get the point first.

Is there anything common between Tennis, Padel, and Pickleball?

Yes, there are several similarities between these sports even when there are many differences that we discussed above.

• You can easily come up with the very first similarity that racket-like equipment is used in all these three sports.
• When you see the players playing, you cannot differentiate initially. So, the gameplay of the sports is also almost similar.
• When you know that the gameplay is almost similar, the scoring in the game has to be somewhat similar too.

Tennis, Padel, and Pickleball - Which is more Strenuous?

The intensity of the workout can be different in each sport. In all three games, you require a combination of your footwork and eye coordination to play great shots and score. However, in terms of strategies, the padel game has an advantage as it is played within closed walls and the players have the advantage of the ball getting bounced back from the wall. Pickleball players have to play a lot of lateral movements for the game. So, great balance and eye coordination are required for the game. Also, pickleball is known as more of a social interaction game.

The tennis game is known to be highly strenuous compared to the other two games because it has a larger court than padel and pickleball to run around. In addition to that you have to be fast to not miss out on any shot in that large court. Also, you have to be flexible enough to never miss a ball coming from any of the directions.

Whatever sport you choose, you must put in your best physical activities, eye coordination, and focus for a great match each time.