It has been well documented that superstar pro athletes like Dwayne Wade, David Beckham, and Lionel Messi are falling hard for padel along with so many other celebrities.
As has the fact that legends of their sport like Andy Murray (a three-time Grand Slam champion and two time Olympic gold medalist in tennis), Zinedine Zidane (a three-time FIFA World Player of the Year and FIFA World Cup Champion), and Christiano Ronaldo (who practically has too many awards and accolades to count) have been investing heavily in the sport and opening clubs around the world.
But now we’re also seeing a growing number of current and former pro athletes opening new padel clubs here in the U.S., including:
ZMash Padel, Sterling Heights, MI
As we recently discussed in an article about a handful of clubs that are putting padel on the map in the Midwest, ZMash Padel is an ultra-luxe facility powered by our friends at MATCHi about 15 miles north of downtown Detroit.
This 40,000-square-foot club not only boasts eight pristine padel courts and a chic SoHo House vibe, but also an equally impressive ownership group that includes two former members of the Detroit Red Wings, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall, as well as former Red Wing and current Nashville Predator Gustav Nyquist.
Back in April, Zetterberg, whose entire 17-year NHL career was spent with the Red Wings, told Social House News, “After I retired from the NHL and moved back to Sweden (in August of 2019), I started using padel as basically my go-to workout program.”
“I loved it right away. Myself, Nik, and Gus all played hockey in Detroit and we thought it would be a great sport to bring to Michigan because people around here are really big into racket sports like tennis, squash, and pickleball,” he added.
Zetterberg also noted that he likes that padel can be enjoyed by a wide demographic and it’s great for burning calories, adding that a two-hour session for him is a workout comparable to an NHL game.
While ZMash has been open for less than a year at this point, the partners behind it have already hinted that they are looking at building more clubs around Michigan and beyond.
La Casa Del Padel, Overland Park, KS
As detailed in another recent article, a few weeks ago, Hungarian pro soccer player Dániel Sallói (of the Sporting Kansas City franchise in the MLS) reached out to me to let me know he was part of a group that would soon be bringing padel to the greater Kansas City area in the form of a club called La Casa Del Padel.
According to their website, “Six professional soccer players formed a tight-knit bond while playing for Sporting Kansas City, united by their shared love for the beautiful game. Their companionship extended beyond the soccer field, as they discovered a mutual interest in padel, a sport that captivated their competitive spirits and deepened their friendship. This shared enthusiasm quickly evolved into a passion, driving them to introduce and popularize padel in Kansas City.
Determined to bring this exciting sport to their community and aiming to create a new sporting culture in their beloved city, Andreu Fontas, Daniel Salloi, Johnny Russell, Graham Zusi, Roger Espinoza and Uri Rosell are joined by engineer Jamie Mahoney to launch La Casa del Padel.”
The newly opened club features two outdoor courts adjacent to the Overland Park Racquet Club in the K.C. suburb of Overland Park, KS and has some big names lined up for its grand opening celebrations. So be sure to keep an eye on their Instagram page for updates.
Pickle N Pins, Metairie, LA
As we reported the instant the news broke last month, beloved former New Orleans Saints legend and Super Bowl Champion, Drew Brees, will soon be opening a multi-sport facility just outside New Orleans that will feature two padel courts — the first in the state of Louisiana.
While Brees has always been an outspoken fan of pickleball, his new venture known as “Pickle N Pins” marks his first foray into the world of padel, and according to a press release shared on Facebook, in addition to those two sports, Pickle N Pins will also feature axe throwing, cornhole, darts, and duck-pin bowling.
Of this new project he’s undertaking with business partner Darren Balsamo, Brees told a local media outlet, “Pickle N Pins is truly one of a kind, nothing like this exists in the country and we are excited to bring it to Metairie first.”
And given Brees’ larger-than-life stature in the entire Gulf Coast region, something tells me that these will be just the first of many padel courts to spring up in that part of the country.
According to reports, Pickle N Pins should be open by September. So please keep an eye out for further updates (and quite possibly some in-person reporting!).
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