I'm hearing a lot about Padel vs. Pickleball as the sport of the future. Why should I be on Team Padel?

Elevator pitch: it's tennis meets squash. On a rocket ship. Pickleball is tennis... but on a tiny court. It's relaxing and accessible to all. Not trying to be snippy, here. Honestly. It's fine. 

But Padel is sweaty, fast-moving, and stuffed with rallies. Heck, players run off into the crowd to return shots and come back to finish the point. In fact, here's Jimmy Butler to tell you why he's become such a fan. "Padel complements my basketball skills mentally,” said Butler to the NY Post. “The sport teaches me to always compete, which translates to basketball the most. Physically, it’s about endurance, ankle stability and change of pace and direction.”

Ok, I'm intrigued. So who plays it? 

More accurately, who doesn't play it? Serena Williams, Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Jimmy Butler, Dwayne Wade. Jurgen Klopp had a padel court built at the Liverpool training ground, although maybe the players were playing way too much of it last season instead of training. 

Did we say already that Lionel Messi plays? In fact, one of the main reasons he has moved to Miami is the fine weather and abundance of courts in the city. 

So what's this about LeBron playing padel?

Technically speaking, it's Lebron, Juan Lebron. But the Spaniard is the world's best player along with his padel partner and compatriot, Alejandro Galan. A recent injury to Lebron saw the pair lose some ground in the rankings in a highly competitive field, but the race for supremacy continues across the world from Italy to Egypt between now and the end of the year. And it's all on beIN SPORTS.

I'm in. I need to start watching padel right now!

It's your lucky day! beIN SPORTS is the global home of padel and the best of the best are in action from Monday 10th July through Sunday 16th July in the Italy Major Premier Padel. You can see it all FOR FREE on beIN XTRA starting from 4AM ET / 1AM PT and running throughout the day. 

You'll never be... padel bored!

Don't push it.

Gotcha.