What is padel?

A doubles racket sport on a 10x20 m court surrounded by glass and mesh. You score exactly like tennis (15/30/40, games, sets), serve underhand, and the ball may bounce off the walls and stay in play. Rallies are long, running is short, and beginners enjoy their very first game.

No — three different sports. Padel uses an enclosed court with walls, a solid perforated racket and a low-pressure tennis-like ball. Pickleball is played on an open court with a plastic ball and no walls. 'Paddle tennis' (POP tennis) is an older American open-court game. If you saw an enclosed glass court on Instagram — that is padel.

Three reasons: the first game is already fun (underhand serve, walls forgive mistakes), it is social by design (always four players, formats like americano rotate partners), and one court hour split four ways is affordable. Padel is widely reported as the world's fastest-growing racket sport, with tens of millions of players globally.

Yes and growing: courts exist in Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Antalya, Alanya and along the coast. Antalya has one of the country's most active scenes — including a standing weekly tournament calendar at V7 Padel Antalya (Konyaaltı), where ratings run on the international racket.id system. See our full guide to padel in Türkiye.

No — most people start with an open game and learn as they play. A lesson or two speeds things up (grip, wall play, positioning), but the underhand serve and small court mean you can rally from day one. Clubs rent rackets and balls, so you need nothing to try it.

In Türkiye: any dedicated padel club; in Antalya, V7 Padel (Konyaaltı, open daily 07:00–00:00) runs beginner-friendly open games where solo players are matched by level — message the club on WhatsApp (+90 546 780 0877) to join one. Rackets and balls are provided at the club.