Padel: A Discipline Booming in France

An increasingly popular racket sport, padel has been continuously developing in France for several years.

Ugccp - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Campo_de_Padel.jpg

Adrien Guyot

le 03/12/2025 à 13h01

2 min to read

Extraits de Dossiers

On its website, the French Tennis Federation provides an overview of the success of padel in France with a brief statement: 'In France, padel has been booming since the early 2000s, and the number of players has continued to grow since the FFT obtained ministerial delegation in 2014.'

A sharp increase in licensed players over the past ten years

In June 2025, the organization also released new figures regarding padel: for the first time in its history, France surpassed the milestone of 100,000 licensed players, representing an increase of 42.5% compared to the last study conducted in 2023/2024 (70,500 licensed players at that time).

Responsible since 2014 for structuring the development of padel in France, the FFT continues to rejoice in the rising number of practitioners of the sport, as well as the resources made available to enthusiasts. Indeed, as stated in its press release on June 17, 2025, the French Tennis Federation noted a 40% increase in the number of padel courts.

Nearly 3,000 courts (exactly 2,917) are thus available in France: 'The FFT intends to continue and strengthen the development of padel in France, notably through the construction of new courts and the organization of tournaments across the country,' concludes the French Tennis Federation.

French padel represented at the professional level

At the professional level, Johan Bergeron is the highest-ranked Frenchman among men. As of November 24, 2025, he is ranked 111th in the world. Bastien Blanqué (117th) and Dylan Guichard (119th) follow closely. Among women, one must look within the top 30 to see the first French player. Alix Collombon is 27th, while Léa Godallier is positioned at 60th place and Carla Touly is 79th.

Furthermore, France is a country that hosted two stages of the Premier Padel 2025, the main professional circuit of the sport. In 2025, Bordeaux hosted a tournament from June 30 to July 6, as did Paris from September 8 to 14. The circuit continues to grow year after year. Indeed, in 2023, only the capital organized a tournament of this circuit on French soil. Bordeaux only appeared the following year, in 2024, before being renewed a year later.

Find the full investigation

Find the full investigation 'The Rise of Padel: Bad News or a Threat to Tennis?', which will be available in its entirety the weekend of December 7 on TennisTemple.