Tennis has undoubtedly had a significant history in the world of racket sports. In terms of news outlets and media coverage, that racket sport is indeed the epitome. However, racket sports have got a new angle in the form of padel and pickleball.
Padel is one of the trends that has literally taken the entire world by storm. And that storm has entered the tennis courts, where even the best players have begun to acknowledge it. Here are the top 5 tennis players who love padel.
5. Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek is still very young and has a lot to achieve in her career. The Polish tennis star has won six Grand Slam titles in her already legendary career. However, she is also watching padel grow before her eyes.
The World No.4 did play padel while testing the Technifibre padel rackets alongside Daniil Medvedev. Swiatek has participated in many padel events in the buildup to recent Grand Slam events, including last year’s US Open. However, for now, she is fully committed to professional tennis and remains keen on adding more trophies to her career.
4. Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal is someone who hasn’t just enjoyed a great tennis career, but has even lived on the tennis courts after his retirement. The Spaniard opened a tennis academy in Mallorca in 2016, where the world’s best tennis talent is graduated every year.
However, padel has caught up with the tennis world so much that the academy had no option but to expand its empire. Nadal, along with the other team members, decided to build padel courts at the academy, and a separate coaching team was assigned to that.
Nadal spoke about the growth of padel back in 2021, when he was in the last few years of his competitive tennis career. “I don’t know what the future will be like,” Nadal said as reported by The Tennis World. “I will continue with my tennis career. Love sports in general & play golf. I think I’ll grab a padel racket, why not? I am sure that in the future I will have more time to enjoy other sports. Padel is growing, and I think it will be fun because it’s easier to play.”
3. Andy Murray
Andy Murray is still trying to build stability in his career after retiring from tennis in 2024. The British icon had coached Novak Djokovic during late 2024 until mid 2025. Moreover, he has been seen on the golf course.
However, he has never shied away from his liking of padel. In 2022, two years before his retirement, Murray gave an interview to Unsquashable. The former World No. 1 shared insights into why he likes padel.
“It’s lots of fun, easy to learn & people like the fact that you play in pairs, so it’s sociable too. It’s already started to totally reinvigorate clubs & started to attract new people that had never played tennis before. I think it can only be a good thing for tennis. One of the big barriers to people picking up tennis rackets is that they find tennis clubs intimidating or expensive. Most padel tennis courts are available for people to play on without having to join a club, so that’s a real bonus.”
“If you look at how quickly it is growing across the world, I can’t see it being a fad. It’s played all over South America & it’s now the second-highest participation sport in Spain after football. In the past couple of years, it’s really taken off in places like Italy, Scandinavia & Dubai & so I think it’s going to be around for a while. I think people are predicting it will become an Olympic sport by 2032.”
Murray won two Olympic singles gold medals as a professional tennis player in 2012 and 2016. Considering many tennis players like Jack Sock have become professional padel players, who knows, Murray might return to padel to add more Gold medals to his locker.
2. Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz, the current World No.1 tennis player, has expressed a liking for padel. In an interview with BeIN Sports in 2025, the Spaniard said he played the game whenever necessary while visiting the Premier Padel courts in Miami. “I really love padel. I try to play every time I can. It’s my first time here, and honestly, I’m really excited to watch it,” Alcaraz said.
Alcaraz also spoke about his relationship with Arturo Coello. “We’ve never trained together, but when I saw him at the tennis, I told him that someday he should play tennis and I’ll play padel with him,”
Coello became the youngest padel player to be ranked World No.1. This is a similar achievement to Alcaraz, who is the youngest player in tennis history to be ranked year-end World No.1. Alcaraz achieved that in 2022, the year he won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open.
1. Novak Djokovic
Arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, Novak Djokovic, has been giving some interesting insights about padel. The Serb, just like so many others, has played padel but has also spoken about how it can negatively impact tennis in the coming years. During the Wimbledon 2024 fortnight, Djokovic was asked about the future of tennis, and he gave the angle of padel to answer this question.
According to Tennis365, Djokovic believed that the tennis clubs would soon be converted into padel clubs. “Now we have the paddle or padel, as you call it in the States, that is growing and emerging. People kind of have fun with it and say, Yeah, but tennis is tennis. “
“Tennis is the king or queen of all the racket sports, that’s true. But on a club level, tennis is endangered. If we don’t do something about it, as I said, globally or collectively, paddle, pickleball in the States, they’re going to convert all the tennis clubs into paddle and pickleball because it’s just more economical. You have one tennis court. You can build three paddle courts on one tennis court.. It’s just much more financially viable for an owner of a club to have those courts.”
Although Djokovic has supported padel and encouraged new trends, he also remains concerned about his own sport and the significant gap between the richest and the poorest tennis players. Given the gap, there is a chance that racket players will opt for padel in the future rather than tennis.
Conclusion
The growing interest in padel among top tennis players clearly shows that the sport is more than just a passing trend. From legends like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to rising stars like Carlos Alcaraz, the support for padel highlights its global appeal and accessibility. Its easy learning curve, social gameplay, and fast-paced action make it attractive not only for professionals but also for beginners entering the world of racket sports.
If you are new to the game and want to understand how to get started, rules, and essential gear, make sure to check out our Padel Beginner Guide. It will help you take your first step into this rapidly growing sport with confidence.
