Bienvenidos a El Remate! I’m Aris, a padel-obsessed Missourian who spent two years living in Argentina and Spain to deeply understand the sport’s culture, strategy, and business. I’ve played and competed across 3 continents and 12 countries, and recently started documenting my journey on Instagram.
Each week, I curate what matters in padel: new US club openings, technique tips, my takes on international headlines and pro drama, plus insider knowledge from the global circuit. Subscribe for weekly updates! 📧
🔍 Topics we’ll cover this weekUS padel is growing, but don’t believe everything you hear. Club closures, distressed acquisitions, and some embellished metrics suggest the “American padel boom” is a bit more complicated than the “next big thing.”
Plus, Premier Padel resumes, betting is officially coming to the global circuit, Lacoste just entered the chat, and padel is making its Asian Games debut. Let’s have a week!
Also in this issue:
— The “70% Rule”
— Pro Padel League playa recap
— More courts in NYC?
— The optimal overgrip thickness
…and plenty more. Bueno, let’s get into it!
🇺🇸 Court OpeningsNow Open
The Hive just held its grand opening, bringing five indoor courts to Salt Lake City, UT, along with showers, a café, saunas, and air conditioning. Co-founded by Hollye Shepherd and Ecuadorian former semi-pro soccer player Daniel Lasso, the club also boasts communal lounges, a mezzanine, and even plans for asados. Inspired by the social culture of Latin America and Europe, patrons are already saying that the club “feels like the United Nations.”
Des Moines is now home to Iowa’s first and only padel club, with one indoor and one outdoor court. Locally owned and partnered with 21st Century Rehab, PUDL Padel features a private gym, physical therapy, and plans to soon add a sauna and cold plunge. The club also serves locally sourced food and coffee, and will host team-based leagues and social events.
Additional Club Buzz 🐝
In Tarrytown, NY (just outside NYC), The Padel Club is seeking approval to transform a long-vacant building into a six-court facility featuring four indoor and two outdoor courts, a lounge, and fitness + wellness amenities. Plans are still awaiting village approval…
📈 Up Your Game The “70% Rule”
Hate to break it to you, but there’s a solid chance you’re trying too hard.
According to Otro Nivel Padel, one of the biggest technique killers in padel is hitting harder than you need to. As part of this 14-minute video that explains seven techniques that improve your game, Coach Sven recommends keeping most of your shots around 70% power.
Once you start swinging at 90-100%, you over-jeopardize control, precision, and feel for the ball. Your technique gets rushed, your body gets out of sync, and unforced errors start piling up.
The key is to remind yourself to slow down. Prepare slowly, keep the racket close to your body, and avoid making huge movements that require last-second adjustments.
Suerte!
🌍 International Happenings Padel Is Growing Stateside, But We Gotta Keep It Real (🇺🇸)
For those who don’t know by now, I’m *cautiously* optimistic about padel’s growth in the US. I genuinely believe in the sport’s potential here, but I’m not afraid to call “BS” when I see it. Candidly, there’s no shortage of folks with ulterior motives trying to sell padel as the “next big thing,” often with inflated projections, cherry-picked statistics lacking the full data set, and enough PR to make you grimace. So naturally, when Mistrano Consulting released the numbers in their 2026 US Padel Report last week, I had to dive in and share my six reactions / takeaways below:
The report estimates 463,283 active padel players in the US, a far cry from the oft-cited “one-million-player” figure, which I suspect “counts” people who’ve simply picked up a padel racket at one point in their life. As someone who plays religiously and follows the industry closely, this estimate feels much closer to reality.
Over half of all existing US courts have been built since January 2025, which interestingly parallels the UK’s recent announcement boasting more courts sitting in the planning system than what’s already built.
The competitive player pool is rising, with USA Padel reporting (1) tournament volume more than doubling and (2) individual membership growing 53.5% YoY.
Florida, Texas, and California’s combined share of US facilities has fallen from 65% to 50.5%, suggesting growth is spreading beyond areas with “unfair advantages,” that (as a generalization) have (1) better year-round weather that make the sport more accessible, and (2) larger Hispanic / Latino populations who are already familiar with the sport.
There’s growing crossover with pickleball, with 39.4% of U.S. facilities now offering both sports, up from 36.7% last year. I think this is fantastic, and something the US padel community should be embracing rather than turning its nose up at—after all, racket sports as a whole are trending Stateside (deriving from what I believe is part of our country’s greater focus on longevity). LA-based Padel Up perfectly embodies this movement, which hosts “PTP” (Padel, Tennis, Pickleball) competitions where local clubs compete across all three sports, with an overall winner crowned. And like it or not, pickleball is gaining traction throughout Europe, even in padel’s global capital.
As someone who vocally prioritizes community building over pop culture hype, it would be foolish to dismiss recent celebrity exposure from Drake, Michael Bublé, and Jimmy Fallon, who have certainly helped raise awareness.
Look… to me, US padel is certainly growing, but it’s not the hockey-stick growth some would have you believe. Club closures and distressed acquisitions are a reminder that hype alone doesn’t make a business viable. Sure the opportunity is real, but so are the risks. Padel has a deep, distinct cultural fabric, and those who neglect to genuinely understand it, experience it, and live it are going to be in for a rude awakening.
🏆 Pro Padel Roundup Waves Made in Mexico As International Race Heats Up
Many of the pros headed to Playa Del Carmen last week for the US/Canada/Mexico-based Pro Padel League’s third event of the season, following prior stops in LA and NYC. And holy cow, the Mexico Waves have quite the fanbase…
Its no surprise, then, that the hometown heroes took the men’s title, with Maxi Arce and David Gala beating Miami Padel Club 6-4, 7-6 in the men’s final. Gala is now a perfect 6-0 in PPL play, with two titles in two events. The San Diego Stingrays took the women’s crown behind Claudia Jensen and Veronica Virseda, who are also 6-0 together this season. With one regular-season event left, just 8 points separate 7th through 10th in the race for December’s finals in Miami.
Premier Padel now resumes with this week’s Rotterdam P2, where Coello / Tapia and Brea / Triay return to defend their titles. The tournament marks the start of a three-week European swing through Germany and Italy as the race to the Barcelona Finals heats up.
In other news, Audemars Piguet hosted its first Pro-Am padel tournament in the South of France, with Tapia among the headliners.
And finally on the international front:
Then-No.-1-duo-now-enemies Lebrón & Galán will now play together representing Spain at November’s World Cup in Doha.
Speaking of the Padel World Cup, the Euro qualifiers just wrapped up, with Germany qualifying both men’s and women’s teams and joining the Netherlands and Great Britain as Europe’s other qualifiers. Switzerland’s men were notably absent after a registration dispute between players and Swiss Padel…
Argentina (women’s) and Paraguay (men’s) took the first-ever South American Games padel golds in front of a sold-out 4,100-person crowd.
Padel also makes its Asian Games debut this week in Nagoya, Japan, with 43 pairs chasing the sport’s first continental medals.
🎯 Quick Hits Alas, Premier Padel and the FIP have opened the door to regulated sports betting, appointing Sportradar as their betting integrity partner, alongside iGame Media as their betting technology and distribution partner. The ecosystem will launch in 2027. (🌍)
The Athletic is bringing some of soccer’s biggest names to the padel court with Truth or Padel, a new video series. Gary Neville, Jack Wilshere and Thiago Alcântara are among the first guests. (🇬🇧)
Court manufacturer Padel Galis has launched Galis Lab, a 550-square-meter showroom and test center near Valencia where brands, startups, and partners can trial new products under real playing conditions. The move builds on a business that reportedly generated over €27 million in revenue in 2025 and has installed more than 10,000 courts across 85+ countries. (🇪🇸)
Lacoste has officially entered the technical padel equipment market, launching its first complete collection of rackets, shoes, bags and apparel. Developed in partnership with Tecnifibre, the lineup includes two rackets priced at €250 and €350. (🇫🇷)
English soccer legend Steven Gerrard is investing in a new sports and educational development in the UK, including up to 16 padel courts alongside six new 3G football pitches. The project aims to expand access to sport and youth facilities, and is subject to planning approval. (🇬🇧)
NOX just unveiled its 2027 racket collection, featuring Agustín Tapia and Miguel Lamperti to showcase its upcoming racket range. (🇪🇸)
The US National Junior Padel Team will compete in the Pan American Junior Circuit Finals in San Diego from October 8-10, with 28 players across six divisions. (🇺🇸)
Player community debates:
How do you find your right overgrip thickness?
🤩 Cool Court of the Week📍 Belo Horizonte, 🇧🇷
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See you next week & keep smashing those volleys 🎾