Padel Court: Where the Holiday Begins With a Serve
From the cypress-fringed clay courts of Italy to courts suspended between jungle and sea in Thailand, the world’s great hotel tennis courts offer a peculiar luxury—the chance to chase a yellow ball through landscapes most people travel thousands of miles merely to admire. Indians have never been ones to organise their holidays around tennis academies and golf courses but with the pickleball craze around the country, they are beginning to look for courts wherever they travel. Industry estimates suggest the number of pickleball courts in India grew from roughly 200 in early 2024 to more than 1,200 by 2025, with three to four new courts appearing every week across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Delhi. Padel’s footprint is smaller. However, the glass-walled court has become, for a certain class of urban Indian, what the golf course was for their fathers, a place where business gets done, and where families bond.And many families in India are bonding over games. Shyam Sadasivam, a life coach in Bangalore, came to tennis through his 16-year-old. The boy started playing four years ago, post-Covid, and Sadasivam felt inspired to pick up a racquet himself. When his son finished tenth grade, the reward they chose was to get in the car and drive to Chennai and then Pondicherry, to a beach property with a very nice court by the sea. They played morning and evening for three days. Sadasivam decided then that for their next annual family holiday, they’d book a hotel with tennis courts. Some family members wanted a pool and a spa, the grandparents were happy at the beach, and Sadasivam and his son dreamt of playing tennis every free minute. They found all of it at Jetwing Lighthouse in Galle. “Good location, good courts, good service, a local community with memberships that keeps the courts alive,” Sadasivam says. Despite the fact that they have access to a court in their gated community in Donnanakundi, Bengaluru, where a friendly tournament is underway even now, it is good to play while on holiday, he says.The hospitality industry has understood this. Take Oleander Farms in Karjat, which has added padel and pickleball courts as demand for racquet-sport amenities has grown. Many premium villas in Alibaug and Karjat now come with private padel and pickleball courts where guests can switch from morning games to sunset cocktails, turning what were once weekend homes into miniature luxury clubs of their own. From the best five-star hotels in Indian cities to hillside hideaways, the new status symbol of luxury hospitality is no longer the infinity pool but the glass-walled padel arena or a floodlit pickleball court. In North Goa, properties and clubs around Assagao have begun adding padel and pickleball facilities aimed at both tourists and local players.
