The little-known sport padel that is the talk of Florida, Mexico and parts of California is growing in popularity in Tucson with three padel venues offering nearly two dozen courts for Tucsonans to play.
In mid-March, Padel Alley opened its eight outdoor padel court facility at 5943 E. Speedway. About a week later, The Pad added seven indoor courts along with nine pickleball courts when it opened at 300 S. Toole Ave., adding to PadelAZ’s two courts that have been around since 2023.
Padel uses a tennis ball that has less bounce than its clay court cousin.
Padel is similar to tennis and racquetball; it’s played on a rectangular court like tennis and is enclosed by glass similar to racquetball. The ball looks like a tennis ball, but it doesn’t bounce like a tennis ball, and scoring follows tennis.
Padel was created in the late 1960s in Mexico and arrived in the United States in 1993, when the first padel court was built at The Houstonian Club in Houston, Texas. The popularity has grown slowly until the last couple of years when Florida started opening padel court facilities mainly in Miami.
Mladen Kozak, the first to bring padel to Tucson, practices his underhand serve at Padel Az.
Tucson got into the game in 2023, when Mladen Kozak opened PadelAZ at his Maracana Indoor Sports Arena, 555 E. 18th St. The Bosnian native who has lived in Tucson since 1998 said his indoor soccer customers encouraged him to invest in padel courts.
“Guys from the Middle East were begging me to put in a padel court,” he said. “Over there they have hundreds and thousands of courts.”
During the pandemic in 2020, Kozak and his wife researched the sport and in January 2023, created what Kozak said was the first indoor padel court west of Florida. PadelAZ added a second court in January 2024.
The number of players who have picked up the sport in Tucson has grown exponentially from the 60 to 80 players ranging in age from 35 to 45 that started out at PadelAZ to as many as 500 playing on Kozak’s courts and the new padel facilities.
Padel Alley, which opened in the spring, has eight outdoor padel courts.
Padel Alley is the only outdoor padel facility in Tucson with eight courts. It’s owned by former tennis player: Oscar Quiroz, who played tennis in Mexico and picked up padel in Spain during the pandemic. Amongst Quiroz, are owners of The Pad Tucson, Riva and Andrew Mackie, who played tennis in their native Canada. Riva Mackie also was a member of the Canadian national padel team.
Both the Pad and PadelAZ host tournaments and leagues for all skill levels.
Riva Mackie, center, instructs her students on the proper serving position.
Tucson’s padel courts are working together to promote the game, including through a WhatsApp group.
“We’re all very different, but we are all very aware that we need to work together,” Quiroz said.
Arizona Sonoran News is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.
