PADEL

Hustle 

   "Hustle" is a word you will know and either definition of it is appropriate here. About padel, you may not know. Move quickly if you want to pick up padel, and pronounce it properly as "pa-delle" or give it a Spanish inflection, "PAH-del." Either of those sounds better than "paddle" or "pickle" as in "pickleball," the racket (or racquet) sport you are probably already playing.

   Padel is yet another version of tennis/paddle tennis/squash/platform tennis/pickleball. It is played with a soft tennis ball which is struck with a stringlesss padel (Spanish for paddle.) It has been called the "new golf", but I think it is simply the old squash. Padel is for the posh set and you have to admit it sounds better (either way you pronounce it,) than "pickle." 

   The reason I am posting this fairly quickly is that those living around Wortley Village recently lost their tennis courts and swimming pool. The tennis courts are being replaced with new tennis courts and apparently some pickleball courts. Perhaps people in the area will be less upset about the loss of the pool if the pickleball courts are replaced by the more upscale "PAH-del" courts. Those on the City Council should be warned that they will be more expensive. 

   I am suggesting here that the pickleball craze may have peaked and we could be the first in London to be playing padel (in several months) unless we get indoor courts which would be even more expensive. And here is where the other definition of "hustle" applies: "Courts are rising at breakneck speed. Deep-pocketed investors are paying armies of publicists, celebrities and influencers to push the sport." We need to hustle before it stops being a craze. 

  Proof that padel tennis is worth investing in is now offered: "Also in South Florida, an investment group that includes Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake is building Wellington Equestrian and Golf Club: a planned 600-acre private residential resort outside West Palm Beach with 12 prominently featured padel courts." More importantly padel has attracted the attention of the Arabs: "In August, the Qatari government inked a deal to acquire the pro World Padel Tour via its sports investments fund." That should convince you. 

Sources:

   The obvious catalyst for this post is: "Behind the Push for Padel, Pickleball's Posher, Privileged Cousin; Deep-pocketed Investors are Hiring a Flotilla of Publicists, Celebs and Influencers to Promote the Sport in the U.S., Where Its Popularity Has Soared in VIP Circles," Christopher Cameron, Washington Post, Jan.9, 2024.

  If you are now interested in this sport, I would suggest you search for "padel tennis" since there are a lot of people named "Padel" and there will be lots of articles in Spanish since the sport began in Acapulco in the late 60's and spread to Argentina and Spain and then beyond. 

  Most of you will be satisfied with the Wiki entry for "Padel." There is an "International Padel Federation". There is even a Padel Canada which was established back in 1993, but it is Canadian and obviously did not attract enough attention to become a craze. There are apparently a couple of places to play in our area, one in Vaughn and one in "Cherry Beach" which is south of the "Distillery District" in Toronto. The picture above is from T10 Padel in Vaughn. The Pad PadelClub in Cherry Beach is closed for the winter.
  The cartoon is from the New Yorker, to which I subscribe, so don't sue me.