Ten minutes into my padel career, a ball bounced past me. I spun a 180 as it ricocheted off the tempered glass wall behind me, my sneakers scuffing against the blue synthetic court. I raised my arm, swung my racket with all the strength and purpose I could muster, and just absolutely whiffed, hitting nothing but air.
As the ball bounced mockingly to a rolling stop, I grimaced at the three 20-somethings I’d been paired with in this match. All they knew about me was that I was a journalist tasked with writing a story about padel – the racket sport somewhere at the intersection of tennis, squash and pickleball.
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We were playing at Padel MKE, which opened last March on the South Side and houses three courts inside a high-ceilinged former warehouse. The facility is the product of husband-wife duo Meggan Gregoric and Rodrigo Álvarez, a padel player who played professionally in Spain and Mexico before arriving in Milwaukee over three years ago.
Padel, invented in 1968 in Mexico and pronounced pah-DEL, has long been popular south of the border, but over the past year, it’s expanded rapidly across the U.S. as a more athletic alternative to pickleball. In 2020, the country had fewer than 30 padel courts – a number that’s now at nearly 700. (A second court is already planned in Milwaukee: Epic Padel on the Northwest Side.)
“This sport is addictive,” says Álvarez. “It’s very social. You’re chatting, you’re having fun … and you will see many people laughing.”
Players play doubles on a court comparable to a tennis one, walled in by glass. Padel’s rigid plastic rackets are similar to those used in pickleball, although thicker, heavier and with air holes in them, and the balls are essentially slightly smaller tennis balls. The rules are much the same as tennis – save for those walls. If a ball bounces off the court, and then off a wall, it’s still in play.
On my first run at padel, I was eventually paired with someone more suited to my skill level – a literal child. (Honestly, he was so much better than me.)
With the ball clutched in my sweaty palm, I prepared for a serve I could only hope I didn’t send straight into the net … again. I dropped the ball and swung underhand off the bounce, lobbing it to the opposite end of the court with an echoing plastic pop off the racket. Our opponent smacked it right back, forcing me to awkwardly sidestep to avoid having to swing backhand. Soon the rally turned long.
Sweat dripping down my neck, I watched a shot bounce past our opponent. At this point, I was experienced enough not to celebrate yet. The ball hit the wall with a shuddering thwack, ricocheted, and he spun and swung, sending it right back off that wall and arcing over the net. My adolescent partner sprinted forward, spiking the flying ball with such force that it skipped straight past our rivals for a well-earned point, prompting shouts of joy along with that laughter Álvarez had promised.
Thirty minutes into my padel career, it was easy to see the appeal.
Padel MKE
737 W. Cleveland Ave.
Rates: Court rentals: $80/hour. Monthly memberships start at $225. Lessons available.
padelmke.com
