The padel boom in Asia: why the sport is growing so fast

In a growing number of Asian cities, a padel court that did not exist in 2023 is now fully booked from six in the evening. Bangkok, Bali, Jakarta, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore have all added courts at a pace that would have seemed unlikely a few years ago, and the sport now has a regional professional tour, lifestyle circuits backed by global brands and a place at the Asian Games.

This article looks at the numbers behind the boom, the events driving it and what the growth means in practice for a player in Bangkok, Bali or Phuket. Where figures come from industry estimates rather than audited counts, we say so.

Two reports frame the size of the sport, and they count differently, so they should be read separately. The International Padel Federation's World Padel Report 2025 puts active players at more than 35 million, with 77,300 courts and over 24,600 clubs across 150 nations. According to the FIP, 14,355 courts were built in 2025 alone, taking the global total up by 15.2 per cent, and the number of FIP-organised tournaments rose from 182 in 2024 to 290 in 2025.

The Playtomic and PwC Global Padel Report 2026 uses a narrower method, based on the booking platform's own data and market analysis. It counts 19.4 million players, 58,300 courts and nearly 20,000 clubs, and projects 91,000 courts worldwide by 2028. The difference between the two reports comes from methodology, not from a dispute about growth. Both describe a sport adding courts at double-digit rates every year.

The FIP report attributes 6.8 per cent of the world's players to Asia. Compared with Spain, Italy and Argentina, which between them account for most of the world's courts, that is a small base. It is also why the region matters: the mature European markets are growing at moderate rates, while Asia is starting from close to zero in most countries.

The result is that a single new club can change a city's padel scene overnight, and national growth rates of several hundred per cent are common. Thailand went from 15 courts in 2022 to 140 courts on the Thailand Padel Association's 2026 list, and to 180 courts in The Padel Society's separate August 2026 census. Our guide to padel in Thailand explains those two counts in detail.

The Asia Pacific Padel Tour (APPT) describes itself as the tour uniting Asia Pacific's top talent and its communities. It runs tournaments in three tiers: Grand Slams, with prize pools of US$13,000 and more and ranking points in every draw, Challengers and Opens. It keeps separate professional and amateur rankings for men's, women's and mixed pairs, and launched club team rankings for the 2026 season.

Recent and upcoming events span Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, Pakistan and the Philippines, including Japan's first Grand Slam in 2026. In Thailand the tour has played a Grand Slam in Bangkok at Pad Thai Padel in January 2026, which drew an international field, and its first Pattaya Grand Slam at Prime Padel Pattaya in July 2026. Every APPT event runs amateur draws next to the professional ones, which is what makes the tour relevant to club players and not only to touring pros.

Brand-backed circuits are a sign that padel has reached a wider audience. The Tatler Padel Series 2026, created by Tatler Asia, presented by Standard Chartered and with Club Med as official lifestyle partner, is billed as Asia's first premium padel series. It covers seven cities and eight events with more than 2,000 expected participants. The opening leg was played at Bali Social Club from 23 to 26 July 2026, with Bronze, Silver and Gold divisions, a celebrity pro-am and an entry fee of IDR 1,000,000 per team, before moving on to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Dubai and a regional final in November 2026.

Club Med's own Padel Cup has doubled in scope for 2026. It runs from July to November across eight markets: Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and India. The Bangkok qualifier was held on 2 August 2026, and the winners of each national event go to a Grand Slam finale at Club Med Phuket from 30 November to 3 2027, with prizes supplied by Babolat.

Padel is a medal sport at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from 19 September to 4 October 2026. The FIP oversees the sporting delivery under the Olympic Council of Asia, and FIP president Luigi Carraro described the inclusion as a reflection of the sport's rapid development across Asia. Thailand is sending four athletes, as the Bangkok Post reported, and the Asia Pacific Padel Cup in Manila in June 2026 brought together national teams from seven countries. A team that includes coaches and players from the Pad Thai Padel Academy represented Thailand there.

Indonesia is widely described as Asia's fastest-growing padel market. Industry sources such as the racket brand Skull Padel, citing FIP research, put the country at around 1,000 courts and 400,000 amateur players, concentrated in Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya and Bandung. These are industry estimates rather than audited counts, but the direction is not in doubt: Bali in particular has become a destination where visitors expect to find courts, coaching and a community they can join for a week or a season. That is why Pad Thai Padel Canggu opened with five indoor courts in Pererenan in August 2026.

Thailand is the other South East Asian market with real momentum. The Thailand Padel Association lists 51 clubs across Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui, Hua Hin, Pattaya and the islands, and reports more than 5,000 regular players. Bangkok is the centre of the weekday game, while Phuket and Pattaya now host tour events of their own.

• More courts. Booking a peak-time slot is getting easier as clubs add capacity, and the shift towards indoor and roofed courts means the rainy season no longer stops play.
• More events. Weekly Americanos and Mexicanos are now standard, and amateur draws at APPT, Tatler and Club Med events give club players a real tournament experience. See what is coming up on our events page.
• Better coaching. Professional players and coaches from Spain and the wider circuit are relocating to Asia. At Pad Thai Padel the Bangkok academy is led by a former Premier Padel professional and the Bali academy by a circuit coach and an active touring pro; see the academy.
• A level system. Apps such as The Padel Society rate players so that Americanos and leagues can be run level against level, which is what keeps beginners and advanced players both coming back.

Asia holds a small share of the world's padel players today, and that is exactly why it is where the growth is. Pad Thai Padel is building along the region's busiest corridor: Rama 4 in Bangkok, with Cloud 11 due in November 2026, five indoor courts in Canggu, Bali, and a club in Rawai, Phuket opening in 2027. Wherever you land, there will be a court and a game at your level.