Demand for padel court slots surges across county

Ruth Faherty, 27, took up padel in December 2024 after it was recommended by a friend

A Cambridge padel player says demand to play the sport is so intense she has to wake up in the early hours to book a court in the city at peak times.

Padel combines elements of tennis and squash and has become one of the fastest-growing sports in Great Britain, according to the Lawn Tennis Association.

There are seven padel courts in Cambridgeshire and three planning applications to create facilities for the sport in Peterborough.

Ruth Faherty, who plays at the Cambridge University courts, said the demand for slots at peak times was so high, she had noticed the spaces were "genuinely fully booked by a couple minutes after midnight" when they became available.

Proposals for padel courts in Peterborough included five near Stanground Academy, two at Burghley Park Golf Club, and four at Peterborough One Retail Park

Ms Faherty said there were a lot of similarities with tennis, but found it better for mixed abilities.

It is played on a smaller court than tennis with same scoring system and solid, stringless racquets.

The courts also have walls, so shots can be played off them.

"If you've ever played tennis with someone that's a lot better than you, you can hardly keep a rally going," she said.

"Whereas padel, it's not really as much about like strength and power... a lot of the people I play with are retired and they'll absolutely smoke me sometimes."

As a member of the university she was able to book courts in advance and at a discounted price of about £28 per hour.

"Every Monday they have open nights. You go by yourself and then you play with loads of different people, so those sessions are really hard to get a slot," she told the BBC.

"Those are the ones that I have an alarm set every Sunday night for 11:59 so that I can be on my phone... because it's genuinely fully booked by a couple minutes after midnight."

Padel in Peterborough

Alan Jordan, who runs Padel Peterborough, submitted plans to build five padel and three pickleball courts at Powerleague next to Stanground Academy

Peterborough does not have a padel court, but three applications, all made by different applicants, are awaiting decisions from Peterborough City Council.

One applicant, Alan Jordan, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he could see Peterborough alone having up to 20 padel courts.

Bill Skead, from the City of Peterborough Tennis Club, said the rise of padel was "exciting" but he was not concerned about it threatening tennis.

"In Spain, [a city like Peterborough] would have about 70 padel courts, so there's quite a long way to go, we're right at the bottom of padel coming into the country really," he said.

"There are quite a few people playing padel at our club who would play at Stamford or St Ives. It's definitely something our club would look at."

Cllr Shabina Qayyum, cabinet member at the city council for public health and adult social care thought it was "good" to see padel making its way to Peterborough.