Padel Tops SFIA’s Mid-Year Growth Data as Pickleball Slows: Where Racket Sports Are Shifting

For five years pickleball held the title of America’s fastest-growing sport in the Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s (SFIA) surveys. The mid-year report SFIA published on August 20, 2026 gave the growth headline to a different racket sport: padel was the fastest-growing activity it highlighted, up 14.5% in only its second year of SFIA tracking. Pickleball, SFIA said, grew 1.3% in the first half of 2026, its first sign of moderation.

That is a shift in momentum, not in size. Padel is a doubles game played by two pairs with perforated rackets inside a walled court, and by our math from SFIA’s counts the U.S. had about one padel player for every 23 pickleball players in 2025. Here is what the participation data, the court build-out and the investment show, and what it means if you are thinking of trying it.

Trend Signal

60/100 Steady momentum

1. Emerging
2. Rising
3. Mainstream
4. Peaking
5. Cooling

Fastest-growing activity SFIA highlighted at mid-2026, from about one million players

SFIA’s August 2026 mid-year report named padel, up 14.5%, the fastest-growing activity it highlighted and said pickleball grew 1.3% in the first half of 2026; SFIA counted 1.07 million U.S. padel players in 2025.

Our editorial reading of the cited data, not a forecast. How it is scored

By the numbers

• +14.5%Padel participation growth in SFIA’s mid-year report, released August 20, 2026SFIA
• 1.07MAmericans who played padel in 2025, per SFIA’s 2026 Topline Participation ReportU.S. Padel Association
• 1,000+Padel courts open in the U.S., across 31 states, as of April 2026U.S. Padel Association
• 24.3MAmericans who played pickleball in 2025, per SFIASFIA

The numbers behind the shift

SFIA added padel to its annual survey for the first time in its 2026 Topline Participation Report, which covers 2025. According to the U.S. Padel Association (USPA), the national governing body, that report counted 1,073,000 Americans who played padel in 2025: 835,000 played one to seven times, and 238,000 played eight or more times. SFIA’s mid-year update, released August 20, 2026, then showed padel participation up 14.5%, the fastest of the activities it highlighted.

Pickleball growth is slowing. SFIA counted 24.3 million pickleball players in 2025, but its mid-year data showed growth of 1.3% in the first half of 2026, which SFIA called the first sign of moderation after five straight years as its fastest-growing sport. The National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA), using a separate survey, found pickleball participation grew 6.5% in 2025 after 55.6% in 2024, as reported by SGB Media.

Both sports sit inside a larger racket boom. The USPA, citing SFIA, says racket sports participation rose from 13.9% of the U.S. population in 2020 to 20.6% in 2025, with seven of the eight racket sports SFIA tracks gaining in 2025 and Gen Z participation in racket sports reaching 27.1%.

Measure	Padel	Pickleball
U.S. players in 2025	1.07 million	24.3 million
Played 8+ times in 2025	238,000	7.5 million
SFIA mid-year growth reading, as SFIA describes it	+14.5%	+1.3% in the first half of 2026

Padel has the momentum; pickleball still has more than 20 times the players.

Courts are the bottleneck

Padel cannot grow faster than courts get built. The USPA counted just over 1,000 courts open across 31 states as of April 2026. The 2026 Global Padel Report from Playtomic and PwC Strategy& counted 330 new U.S. courts added in 2025, according to Athletech News, with growth concentrated in Florida, Texas, California and select East Coast cities, where the report links demand to affluent consumers looking for social fitness. Playtomic’s co-founder Pablo Carro said the U.S. is still in the early innings.

Globally the sport is already large. Playtomic’s report counts 58,300 courts, 19.4 million players and nearly 20,000 clubs worldwide, and Athletech News reported that almost 8,000 new courts were added worldwide in 2025. The U.S. share of that base is small.

The court itself explains the pace. Under International Padel Federation (FIP) rules, a court is a 10-by-20-meter rectangle, about 33 by 66 feet, fully enclosed by walls of glass or another hard, smooth material completed with metal mesh, with at least 6 meters, about 20 feet, of clear height throughout. We read that as the main brake on growth: every new court is a construction project, and an indoor one needs a tall building.

Where the money is going

Investors are betting on the U.S. market anyway. On March 24, 2026, the Pro Padel League announced a $15 million Series A led by Rick Schnall, co-chairman and governor of the Charlotte Hornets, with Left Lane Capital among the other investors. The league, which raised a $10 million seed round in March 2025, has 10 teams across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and scheduled 2026 events in New York, Los Angeles, Playa del Carmen, Guadalajara and a December championship in Miami.

The grassroots numbers are moving too. The USPA says its club membership grew 51.5% in 2025 and individual membership grew 53.5%. It sanctioned 104 open tournaments in 2025, and its 2026 schedule listed 255 as of April.

The counter-signal is access. As Athletech News reported them, the Playtomic and PwC findings tie U.S. growth to affluent consumers and a handful of states, which suggests many Americans still cannot play near home. Pickleball, by contrast, remains a mass-market sport whose wholesale sales grew 22% in 2025, according to SFIA.

Padel gear is its own category

A pickleball paddle will not work. FIP rules cap a padel racket at 45.5 centimeters (about 17.9 inches) long, 26 centimeters (about 10.2 inches) wide and 38 millimeters (about 1.5 inches) thick, with a hitting surface perforated by holes measuring 9 to 13 millimeters in the central area. The racket must carry a non-elastic cord of up to 35 centimeters (about 13.8 inches) that the player wears around the wrist, and its use is obligatory.

The ball has its own specification too: 6.35 to 6.77 centimeters in diameter, 56.0 to 59.4 grams, and a bounce of 135 to 145 centimeters when dropped from 2.54 meters onto a hard surface. For comparison, USA Pickleball caps a paddle’s combined length and width at 24 inches and its length at 17 inches, with no limit on thickness.

• Racket: check the weight, the shape and that a wrist cord is attached, since FIP rules require one
• Balls: buy cans labeled for padel, which has its own size, weight, bounce and pressure rules
• Shoes: match the outsole to the court surface at the club you book

Who should try padel now, and who should wait

If there is a club within reach, the entry cost is modest: one racket, a can of balls and court time. New U.S. courts in 2025 were concentrated in Florida, Texas, California and select East Coast cities, according to Athletech News’ account of the Playtomic report, and the Pro Padel League’s three U.S. stops for 2026, New York, Los Angeles and Miami, fall in those markets.

If the nearest court is hours away, wait. By our count, just over 1,000 courts in 31 states leaves 19 states without an open court in the USPA’s April 2026 figures, and buying gear before you can book a court does not help.

Pickleball players have no reason to abandon their paddles. By our math, pickleball still had about 23 players for every padel player in 2025, and it still grew in the first half of 2026, just slowly. Padel is a second sport to try, not a replacement.

What to watch next

• SFIA’s next full-year Topline report, for whether padel holds double-digit growth off its small base.
• The USPA court count, for how fast the roughly 1,000 courts open in April 2026 spread beyond 31 states.
• Pro Padel League attendance and new club openings outside Florida, Texas and California.

Where to start

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More: Sports and Recreation trends and how the Trend Signal is scored.

Questions readers ask

Is padel replacing pickleball?

Not by size. SFIA counted 24.3 million pickleball players and 1.07 million padel players in 2025. Padel is growing faster: SFIA’s mid-year report named it the fastest-growing activity it highlighted, up 14.5%, and said pickleball grew 1.3% in the first half of 2026.

How many padel courts are there in the U.S.?

Just over 1,000 across 31 states as of April 2026, according to the U.S. Padel Association. The Playtomic and PwC Global Padel Report counted 330 new U.S. courts added in 2025, according to Athletech News.

Can I use a pickleball paddle for padel?

No. International Padel Federation rules require a perforated racket no longer than 45.5 centimeters, about 17.9 inches, with a mandatory wrist cord, and padel balls have their own rules for size, weight, bounce and pressure.

How big is a padel court?

Under FIP rules it is 10 by 20 meters, about 33 by 66 feet, inside walls of glass or another hard material, with at least 6 meters, about 20 feet, of clear height over the court.