Padel's Explosive Growth Eats Into England's Tennis Courts

England has lost 183 tennis courts since 2023 — the first decline in court numbers since records began at the turn of the century — while padel, a younger, louder cousin of tennis, has multiplied its footprint from 382 courts to more than 2,200 in the same period. The Guardian, analysing Sport England data, reports the figures published on 6 September 2026.

The loss represents less than 1% of England's total tennis courts, bringing numbers back to roughly 2018 levels. Tennis courts still outnumber padel courts by a factor of 11 to one. A Lawn Tennis Association spokesperson framed the shift in context: the change since the start of 2024 amounts to 0.7% of all tennis courts, and courts directly replaced by padel account for only 0.3%.

Even so, the direction of travel is clear. A net 77 tennis courts have closed at venues that opened padel facilities since 2023. Meanwhile, a million people were playing padel in Britain as of May 2026, up from 860,000 at the end of 2025, according to LTA research.

Padel is played on a court roughly three-quarters the size of a tennis court. It blends tennis-style rules and scoring with squash-inspired elements — a back wall the ball can rebound off — and uses underarm serves. The format makes it faster to pick up and shorter to play, which helps explain its appeal.

The boom has been strongest in the north of England. Sheffield has built 39 padel courts since 2023, North Yorkshire 38, and Leeds and Cheshire East 36 each. Padel courts are also spread fairly evenly across deprived and affluent neighbourhoods, unlike tennis courts, which tend to cluster in wealthier areas.

The sport is not without friction. Some padel venues charge up to £100 an hour. In London, campaigners have objected to proposals to convert skateparks, children's play areas and basketball courts into pay-to-play padel courts. The Guardian reported those objections in August 2026. A planning application to replace a tennis court with two padel courts at the Lansdown tennis club in Bath was rejected in 2024.

Tennis purists have raised concerns about padel's takeover of club courts, and Wimbledon shunned the sport in 2025. Back in November 2022, the International Padel Federation filed a case against the International Tennis Federation at the Court of Arbitration for Sport over padel's expansion — a turf war that predates the current boom.

The LTA points to record tennis participation, attributing it to a scheme that refurbished more than 3,000 park courts, plus a youth programme. The two sports, it argues, can coexist. The numbers suggest they already do — even if the balance is shifting.

The Guardian's analysis draws on a live database, so figures on facility closures may shift as individual centres update their records. The broad picture, though, is settled: padel is growing fast, tennis is holding its ground, and the competition between them is being fought one court at a time.