There's a familiar pattern padel seems to follow everywhere it lands: a friend mentions it, then another, and within a couple of years this booming sport has quietly taken over the local sport scene, with social clubs and events filling the calendar to get you onto the court for a midweek hit.
As recently as 2023, Australia had just five padel clubs across the country. Today there are 33, ten of them in Sydney alone, more than any other city nationally, with Melbourne close behind on nine.
It’s still a small percentage of the estimated 38 million registered players globally. But with a +560% increase in clubs, courts, and players across Australia in just three years, it’s clear this padel pandemonium is showing no signs of slowing down. And it’s just made its way to the most iconic venue in the country.
On 15–16 August, a custom-built court will rise on the Northern Broadwalk of the Sydney Opera House for The Padel Invitational presented by UBS, the first time professional padel has been played in Australia at this scale and against this backdrop.
With tickets starting at $30, the weekend will run across two days: a Saturday showcase, including Celebrity 1 Point Padel, professional exhibition matches and a harbourside afterparty; Sunday will feature a Community Padel Invitational, where Australia's own club competitors get their turn on the same court before elite exhibition matches close things out.
Premier Padel stars Juan Martín Díaz (former World No. 1 and seen as padel’s greatest showman), Martín Di Nenno, Alejandra Salazar, and Marina Lobo are set to headline the international field, alongside homegrown names Pat Rafter (former Australian world No.1 tennis player) and former world No. 26 Casey Dellacqua.
RELATED: Game, Set, Stay: The World’s Most Beautiful Luxury Tennis Hotels
Australia’s edition, held at one of the world’s most recognisable destinations, is the latest instalment in its global Craft of Sport series, which has already run similar activations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Miami, and the Hamptons, each one pairing a sport on the way up with a venue built to turn heads.
So whilst 33 clubs across the country still represents a small base by global standards, the direction of travel, combined with Brisbane's 2032 Olympic bid on the horizon, makes the Opera House weekend look more like padel's official arrival party in Australia. It certainly won’t be one to miss.