The guide · Equipment

What to buy, and what to borrow.

Padel gear is sold on power, which is almost exactly the wrong thing for anyone who has played fewer than fifty times. Here is what each difference actually does.

If you're about to buy your first racket: don't, yet. Borrow the club's for three or four sessions. When you do buy, a round head, on the lighter side, with a soft core and a fibreglass face will serve you better than anything marketed at advanced players — and cost less.

The racket

No strings. A solid, perforated head with a short handle, and a set of limits the rules fix tightly:

Every legal racket is within a few millimetres of every other, so the differences that matter are shape, weight, core and face.

Shape — the one that actually matters

Weight and balance

Most rackets sit between about 350 and 375 g. Lighter is easier to swing at the net and gentler on the arm; heavier gives more power on a clean strike and costs you reaction time.

Balance matters as much as the number. Two rackets of identical weight feel completely different if one carries that weight low in the handle and the other high in the head. Head-light reacts faster; head-heavy hits harder. For a first racket, head-light.

Core

• Soft EVA or foam. More comfortable, more forgiving, more ball on the face for longer. Easier on the elbow. The sensible first choice.
• Hard EVA. More control and more power for a player who already strikes the ball cleanly, and more lively feedback through the arm when they don't. Also tends to last longer.

Face

• Fibreglass. Softer, more flex, more forgiving. Better for beginners and for anyone with a sensitive elbow.
• Carbon fibre. Stiffer, more precise, more power transferred — and less tolerant of a mishit. Usually paired with the harder cores and the pointier shapes.

Balls

They look like tennis balls and nearly are. The rules put a padel ball at 6.35–6.77 cm across and 56–59.4 g, pressurised to 4.6–5.2 kg per 2.54 cm² — slightly smaller and a little softer than a tennis ball. That lower pressure is what keeps rallies alive off the glass rather than skidding away.

Two practical notes:

• They go flat. Pressurised balls lose pressure from the moment the tube is opened, whether or not you play with them. A set that has lived in a bag for three months will feel dead.
• You can play a social game with tennis balls, and you will notice. They sit up higher and come off the glass faster.

Shoes

Most courts are artificial grass dressed with sand. A herringbone or omni sole bites into that; a flat gym sole slides on it.

Ordinary trainers are fine for the first few sessions, with one exception worth stating plainly: not a running shoe with a tall, soft heel. Padel is constant sideways movement, and a cushioned heel rolls. It is the only piece of kit on this page that is a safety point rather than a performance one.

The small things that are worth it

• Overgrips. A pound or two each, and they change how the racket feels more than most people expect. Replace when they go slick.
• Protector tape around the head. Rackets meet the glass and the floor. A few pounds of tape saves a lot of racket.
• A second ball tube. Three balls, so a lost one doesn't end the session.

What not to buy first

1. A pro-level diamond racket. It will make you worse and your elbow sore. These are tools for players who already strike the ball in the same place every time.
2. A racket because a professional uses it. They are playing a different sport at the same net height.
3. Anything, before your third session. You genuinely do not yet know what you like, and the club racket is free.

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Where the figures come from

The racket and ball measurements are from the Rules of Padel published by the International Padel Federation, in the revision effective 1 January 2026. The shape, core and face descriptions are how the market is organised rather than anything the rulebook defines — manufacturers use these terms consistently, but they are not regulated categories.

Common questions

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