If I had to describe the mood heading into RacquetX, I’d say it was a little bit like middle school students looking forward to their first dance with a huge amount of excitement about what lay ahead and a dash of apprehension about the unknown.
In the weeks leading up to the world’s first-ever “all-racket-sports” extravaganza, I had multiple people reaching out to me asking if I knew who was (and wasn’t) going, how many total people would be there, what brands would (and wouldn’t) have booths, and if I thought the event would be “worth it.”
My two takeaways coming out of the festival were: #1) pretty much everyone who attended had a great time and found it to be more than worth it and #2) despite what the pickleball set might think, padel is officially the new cool kid in school here in the U.S. racket sports world.
RacquetX featured not just one, but four exhibition padel courts — including one decked out in the stars and stripes of the American flag — which were full morning, noon, and night. I saw everyone from giddily curious first-timers to seasoned pros taking the court and there was almost always a line of people who wanted to play next.
One of the courts was provided by Spanish-based court builder MejorSet, who has now had a presence in the U.S. market since 2018 and is now the official court of the Premier Padel tour and the International Padel Federation (FIP).
When asked about his takeaways from the event, Hernan Auguste, MejorSet’s Head of International Relations, said, “From my conversations with people from pickleball and tennis, we agreed that the big success from RacquetX was padel. Not because we ‘beat’ them, but because Americans know tennis and pickleball already, so the interest in padel was very big. For me, it was a big surprise.”
His colleague, Mario Scade, who serves as MejorSet’s US & Canada country manager, added, “We’re in a different world right now compared to six years ago. There’s so much traction. We’re talking to people in the US who are going to build clubs with pickleball and padel. And country clubs that already have pickleball and tennis want to add padel.”
With statements like this, it’s little wonder that the term I continued to hear people use when discussing the recent explosion of padel in the U.S. is “gold rush.” And, as RacquetX made abundantly clear, this gold rush extends far beyond just court construction.
In fact, there were well over a dozen companies showcasing their padel equipment and apparel at RacquetX, including iconic tennis brands like Adidas, Head, and Slazenger, well-established European padel brands like NOX, and newer, fashion-forward brands making a foray into the padel world like Osaka, RIA Eyewear, and Pulco.
Then there was the tech component of the event, with a dozen or more other companies, like Swedish digital innovation company MATCHi, showcasing their apps, court booking platforms, and AI-fueled video recording offerings.
While it remains to be seen who will ultimately come out ahead in this new U.S. gold rush, RacquetX demonstrated that there should be no doubt about the incredible trajectory of the sport itself here in the U.S. going forward.
As Marcos Del Pilar, director and co-founder of the Pro Padel League (which starts again next week) said in his standing-room-only speech, “The U.S. is not a promise anymore. Padel is here. It has arrived!”
