Safi – You’ve probably driven past one without realizing what it was: a fenced, floodlit court behind a cafe, four people knocking a ball off the walls. That’s padel, and over the last couple of years it’s quietly become a fixture of evenings in Morocco’s cities.

Courts are going up where there were none. If you haven’t played yet, you probably know someone who has.

So, what is padel?

Padel is a racket sport played in doubles, on a small court enclosed by glass walls topped with metal mesh. The ball can be played off those walls, much as in squash.

The rackets are solid and stringless, while the balls are slightly softer than standard tennis balls and the serve is played underarm. 

Thanks to the enclosed walls that keep the ball in play, beginners can rally almost immediately, making it much easier to pick up than tennis.

Why it caught on so fast

The appeal lies in its simplicity: padel is enjoyable from the very first game, while tennis can take years to truly master.It’s inherently social by design: four players sharing a compact court, close enough to talk and laugh between points rather than being isolated at opposite ends of a full-size court. 

That mix of low effort and good company has turned out to be exactly what people were looking for.

More hangout than workout

Which is why padel doesn’t even feel like exercise so much as it feels like going out, like plans with friends rather than a workout.

People book a court the way they’d book a dinner, then drift to the cafe afterwards for coffee or something colder. 

Standing WhatsApp groups usually handle who’s playing on Thursday. Couples use it as a date. Colleagues swap the usual sit-down lunch for a quick match instead.The match is almost the excuse. The hangout is the point.

The clubs are half the appeal

The venues play a big role as well. New clubs are embracing the aesthetic, with open-air courts glowing under night lighting, and on-site cafés and lounges that let you play, shower, and then stay for a drink without ever leaving the space.

They photograph well, which never hurts a trend. A padel club has quietly become somewhere you’d happily spend a whole evening, not just 40 minutes of cardio.

Put all that together and the numbers follow. Industry figures put Morocco at around 150 courts and some 2400 regular players, most of them in Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech, with new ones still going up. 

For a sport that was barely here a few years ago, that is a real shift in how people spend a free evening.