Paddle games have become a fast-growing game in the US now. Indeed, Padel and pickleball have become people’s favorite pastime games.
Have you ever wondered the difference between Pickleball and Padel?? Among the two, which one is tougher to play? Let’s discuss the main differences between Pickleball and Padel and compare the rules, skills required, and gameplay of both games in the below articles.
The synopsis are:
- What exactly is Pickleball?
- What exactly is the Padel game?
- Is Padel the same as Pickleball?
- The main differences between Pickleball VS Padel
Here, we can see all the details about both the games which helps you in understanding the game better.
Padel vs Pickleball
Before learning deeply about the Padel vs pickleball game, let us briefly have a look at all the sport entails.
Padel Sport is also called Padel game. The Padel game evolved from tennis but it evolved from Padel tennis also. It is the fastest-growing racket sport in the present times.
Badminton and Squash elements are the combination of both these games and it is added in this fast-growing padel game. Depressurized tennis balls and solid panels are usually used in a glass or mesh wall surrounded by enclosed courts.
In 1965, Padel was invented by Don Enrique Corcuera in Mexico who reportedly built the first Padel sport court which is a modern version of a normal tennis court. As he lacked space for a regular tennis court, the idea of a padel game was born as it required very less space compared to other games.
While the Padel game has exploded in Europe, it was initially played in Central and South America. Pickleball evolved from badminton and not from tennis making it a rapidly growing game in the USA now.
Pickleball was invented by Joel Pritchard and his friend in 1965.
On Bainbridge Island, Washington. Even though it was created as a home game with simple rules and handmade equipment. Now the game has become a popular sport in the US and also in Canada due to its simple rules.
The USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) is the official governing agency for pickleball in the United States which regulates and promotes the sport of pickleball.
Difference between Padel Vs Pickleball
Even though both Padel sports and pickleball are racquet sports, they have different court dimensions, rules to play, scoring, and game methods which differ the Padel support from Pickleball.
Padel vs Pickleball: Courts
One of the main differences between padel tennis vs pickleball which can be visually seen is the appearance of the courts. The court will affect how the game pickleball and padel are played. The padel court looks like a squash court where there are walls surrounding it.
The Padel ball can be hit even after it hits the transparent glass walls or bounced back into the ground. But pickleball is played in an open court where there are no walls or glass surrounding the court just like the Badminton or tennis court. So, we can understand that the ball cannot be hit after it rebounds off a wall.
So, while playing, padel makes use of the corners, and walls of the room to bounce the ball but you can use only the ground while playing the pickleball game. Traditional tennis courts need a bigger court but both the pedal and pickleball can be played on smaller courts.
The doubles badminton court dimensions are 20×44 feet, which is the same as the pickleball dimensions. Single and doubles pickleball are played in the same dimension court.
Pickleball Net Size is 34 inches high in the middle and 36 inches tall on either end and there is no 7 feet volley zone in front of the court.
When comparing the courts between the pickleball and padel courts, the padel courts are larger. The padel courts are 16% larger than the pickleball courts.
In the padel court, there are three meters of service lines in front of the back wall and the court is measured approximately 10 meters wide by 20 meters long (that is 32 feet and 8 inches by 65 feet and 7 inches). This makes the pickleball court 16.5% smaller which helps in the versatility of the game.
This makes the padel game more aggressive as there is more space to cover and defend with padel sport and the gameplay is faster between the shots. Using all the walls in a padel court to bounce the ball, the rallies tend to be longer in padel sports as the court can have the ball bouncing off the back wall when playing keeps the ball in the game while there is no bouncing on the wall in open pickleball game court ending the back-and-forth rally.
So the new Pingle ball beginners may have more running as there are no walls to bounce the play and keep them in a game so in Pingle ball, you have to run faster to chase the ball.
Padel usually involves more running than pickleball because of the larger courts for the advanced players, there is always an extra time in between the pickleball ball being hit back to you.
The pickleball court differs from the pedal court as there are areas of the pickleball court that are named “out of bonds” that have certain specific exceptions and are not permitted. In pickleball scoring, the Deduction of points occurs when the players step into those prohibited areas.
Both singles and doubles can be played in Padel and pickleball games. Pickleball singles and doubles can always be played on the same court. But double padel courts should be used to play doubles in padel games. There are only a few Singles-only padel courts as most of the padel matches are played on double padel courts. The single padel match was also played in the double padel court as single courts are rare to find.
Pickleball vs Padel: Equipment
Padel and pickleball both use a type of racket and a type of ball just like other racquet sports. There are a few differences in the pickleball vs padel equipment. Padel used a thicker and perforated face racket while the pickleball padel used a solid face one. It is somewhat strange to note that the pickleball uses a racket while the padel uses a racket.
Pickleball paddles have a flat surface and a permitted size of 24 inches in length and width. So mostly these pickleball paddles are 7 to 9 inches wide and 15 to 16 inches long. Padel rackets are 10.2 inches wide and 18.9 inches long and have a thickness of 1.5 inches. Padel rackets are perforated, unlike pickleball rackets. These pickleball paddles are commonly made from carbon fiber or fiberglass. Padel ball is not filled with as much air so there is less pressure in the ball and it looks similar to a tennis ball. Due to the less air inside the ball, there is less bounce than the tennis ball.
Pickleball looks like a wiffleball in contrast to the padel ball. US pickleballs ordered that the pickleball should weigh between 0.78 and 0. 935 ounces and bounce 0 to 34 inches when they are thrown from a height of 78 inches.
Pickleball vs Padel: Gameplay
A pickleball volley serve has to be made underhand. The pickleballs don’t bounce back too high due to the less air inside so it has to be served as “drop Serve ” and usually it is served underhand.
For padel serve, the ball must bounce first, and then the serve is made at the “waist level”.
Pickleball vs Padel: scoring
In pickleball, the player should win by the margin of two points and the games are played until one of the players reaches 11 points. Scores are announced at the beginning of every serve and the points can be earned only when the player on the team is serving. In Padel scoring is made just like a tennis match.
A unique element in the pickleball gameplay is the “kitchen” (or the non-volley zone). This seven-kitchen area on either side of the court can never hit a volley while any part of the player’s body is in the kitchen.
Hope this article helped you better in understanding and explaining about the difference between the both games. Even though both the games look very similar, both games have a significant difference between them.