Padel vs Pickleball – Mania hits Durban courts

I DON’T know about you, but I’ve been hearing these two words quite a bit in the last few months: padel and pickleball. Several tennis courts have been converted into padel and pickleball courts in the Durban area. The sports are taking the city by storm and are currently two of the fastest-growing sports in the world. But, at first, I thought they might be the same sport. They’re not, though. I was curious to know how they differ. So, this is what I found out:

 1. The court

Although they’re both converted tennis courts, the padel court and pickleball court are quite different. The padel court is larger (20m x 10m) than the 13.41m x 6.09m pickleball court. The courts are either made of grass, cement or synthetic materials.

The layout of each is also slightly different. Although they both seem to be similar to a tennis court, the padel court is enclosed in a glass-and-metal cage (almost like a squash court) and has its service boxes adjacent to the net. You are allowed to play the balls off the wall in padel. A pickleball court is open but its service boxes are on the baseline – the outer edges of the court. In the pickleball court, there is a line demarcating a no-volley zone 1.06m on each side of the net, which is called a kitchen.

Also read: Glenwood catches pickleball fever

 2. The equipment

Although both padel and pickleball require each player to have a racket and each game a ball, their equipment does differ a fair amount.

A padel racket is made of fibre or fibreglass with a pattern of holes and is shorter than a tennis racket but has a thicker net/head part to absorb the impact when hitting. The head comes in a variety of shapes, usually round or diamond-shaped. The pickleball racket, on the other hand, is rectangular-shaped and made of thin plastic – shaped like a paddle – and has no holes. They come in a variety of sizes but shouldn’t be wider than 24 inches (about 61cm) and longer than 17 inches (about 43cm).

The ball used for padel is a lower-pressured special tennis ball and the ball for pickleball is pretty much a wiffle ball – a plastic ball with holes in it – needs to have between 26 and 40 holes to ensure it doesn’t bounce too high in the smaller court.

 3. Scoring

Padel is scored in sets and games like tennis. To win a match, you must win 2 out of 3 sets. To win a set, you have to win at least 4 of the 6 games. To win a game, you must score at least 4 points and win by at least 2 points. The first point is a score of 15, the second 30 and the third 40. If the game reaches 40–40, it’s called deuce like in tennis. The deuce and advantage set-up is the same as in tennis. To win a tie-break as in tennis, you have to win at least 7 points and 2 points ahead of your opponent.

In pickleball, it is similar to the scoring of table tennis in that you win a game if you are the first to 11 points, but you must be at least two ahead of your opponent. The order of the score goes according to server first, then returners, then which serve the server is on, eg, 4–6–2.

Also read: Frere tennis courts in ruins

 4. How the ball is played

Padel and pickleball are similar in this regard. Serving is underarm for both sports, and the serve is hit diagonally across the court.

In pickleball, it’s a bit more complicated in that the serve must not be a volley, ie, the ball needs to bounce on the ground first before being returned. Also, the players are not allowed to volley from the kitchen area – the demarcated area near the net. They are only allowed to step into that zone to return a shot if the ball bounces on the ground first. If not, the point will go to the opponent or opposing team.

If you wish to know how to play padel and pickleball, you will need to know more details as I have just given a basic idea. You can find detailed instructions here: Padel and here: Pickleball

Courts in greater Durban area

Here are some padel courts in Durban (list not comprehensive):
Chiltern Park Padel Ace, Westville
Wi Padel, Sherwood
Padel Up, Kloof
Smash Padel, Berea
Padel Nation uMhlanga
Gayle Padel Club, Gillitts and Durban North
Dream Padel, Mount Edgecombe
Virgin Active Padel Club, uMhlanga
Africa Padel, Kloof Country Club
Al Falaah Padel, Springfield.

Some pickleball courts in Durban (list not comprehensive):
Pickleball South Africa: Windsor Tennis Club, Glenwood, and Amanzimtoti
Cowies Hill Sports Club, Cowies Hill
Pickleball Africa: Westriding; Clermont; Camelot, Hillcrest; Kloof Tennis Club, Kloof, and Durban North Sports Club.

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