Britain Hits One Million Padel Players — and the P1 Shows Why

The Milestone: A Million Active Players

On 15 May 2026, the LTA announced that Britain had passed the one-million-active-players threshold in padel — a milestone that would have seemed implausible a decade ago and still stands as one of the most dramatic growth stories in European sport. The country now has 1,825 padel courts across 551 venues, up from 870 courts at 293 venues at the end of 2024.

The growth curve is steep by any measure. There were 15,000 padel players in the UK in 2019. By 2023 that figure had reached 129,000. A year later, 400,000. And by May 2026 — just seven years after a near-standing start — the number had crossed a million. Tom Murray, LTA Head of Padel, described it plainly when the data was published: "Reaching the milestone of one million people now playing padel in Britain marks a defining moment in the sport's growth."

Who Is Playing and How Often

Around two-thirds of UK padel participants also play tennis, suggesting the sport has held on to existing racket-sport audiences while simultaneously opening up to new ones. Approximately 51,000 adults now play padel at least twice a month — double the figure from the previous year. Awareness among the broader public has also shifted sharply: 43 per cent of UK adults now recognise the sport, compared with just 23 per cent in 2023.

The infrastructure backing this growth is substantial. More than 1,676 coaches have completed the LTA's introductory padel CPD programme, with 427 holding the full instructor qualification. The UK government has committed £3 million to covered padel facility development in 2026/27, a signal that the sport is no longer treated as a niche trend in Westminster either.

London Leads, the Regions Are Catching Up

London remains the single largest padel market in the country by courts and players, with booking slots at well-established clubs frequently selling out days ahead. But the growth is spreading outward. Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds are all reporting significant infrastructure expansions, and the LTA's Activator programme is spreading introductory padel across community venues nationwide.

The average UK padel facility currently runs two to four courts, but clubs with eight or more courts in urban centres are becoming increasingly common — a sign that the commercial model is maturing well beyond its boutique origins.

A P1 as the Logical Next Step

Against this backdrop, the arrival of the Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour in London this week reads as a natural progression rather than a promotional gamble. The London P1 — held at Olympia in West Kensington from 4–9 August — is the tour's first event on British soil. As a P1, the second-highest tier below the Majors, it carries €479,068 in total prize money and presents the full top of both the men's and women's rankings.

World number ones Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia head the men's draw, motivated by their Pretoria final defeat — which ended their run of 27 consecutive final appearances — at the hands of Alejandro Galán and Federico Chingotto. The Round of 32 has been underway at Olympia since Tuesday, with the quarter-finals set for Friday and the final on Sunday 9 August. For a country that grew from 15,000 to a million padel players in seven years, the P1 is not a surprise — it is the next logical chapter.