Why change is needed to boost UK’s fastest growing sport
Padel is booming in the UK but figures show women and girls are in danger of being left behind.
The tennis-squash hybrid has exploded in popularity over the past few years, and the growth shows no signs of slowing down.
The Lawn Tennis Association, Padel’s governing body, will release its latest figures on courts and participation next week, but one stands out for the wrong reason: Only 30 percent of players are women.
Tennis is the leading global sport for women – the three highest-earning female sports stars of 2025 and eight of the top 10 were tennis players – but so far Padel has an equality problem.
This is something the LTA recognizes, and padel chairman Tom Murray says: “As the national governing body, the LTA is committed to opening up padel, breaking down barriers to create meaningful opportunities for women and girls to explore, play and thrive in the sport.
“As part of our She Rallies plan to make tennis and padel sports truly gender balanced, we continue to work closely with venues across the country to ensure these venues are truly inclusive spaces, including introducing dedicated women and girls-only sessions that can help create welcoming and supportive environments that build trust and connection.”
Pepita Stonor quickly noticed demographic issues after taking up the sport in 2020.
“It was social and fun but there were no women,” he told the Press Association.
After hosting tournaments for her friends and discovering a real appetite, Stonor founded Empower Padel in September 2024 to encourage women to take up and stay in the sport.
Stonor sees huge potential in padel for women’s development, saying: “When I got to my late 40s and met women who had never played sports before, I realized very quickly that a lot of coaching was needed as it was very technical and difficult to start playing tennis or golf at that age.
“Whereas padel is easy to adopt, hard to master, but when we introduced them to the sport, I started to see women, I really loved this sport and I was much more confident.”
Empower Padel currently has a database of 2,500 women, organizes numerous events and aims to become the largest community of female padel players in the world.
Stonor believes the sport needs to quickly tackle its gender imbalance, with Padel still in its infancy in the UK.
She says: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Some of the ladies in Women in Football told me that, whereas in football they destroy things, Padel has the chance to have a fresh start and it’s really great.”
“In some established countries, such as Spain and Argentina, there are good statistics on men and women playing socially, but when you get to the competitive level, only 28 percent of the top players were women, according to a recent report.
“So there’s a problem there and there’s definitely a problem for the lads too, because a lot of competitions in the UK have girls’ events being cancelled. “They’re taking like 20 boys and there’s no girls or very few.
“Also, parents, aunts, uncles and anyone who plays padel need to think: ‘Okay, does my sister play, does my nephew play, does my goddaughter play?’ “He’s making a real effort to get girls on the field.”
