The padel market in St Petersburg, a racket-and-ball game resembling a cross between tennis and squash, reached 1.1 billion rubles by October, growing by 400 million over the year. These conclusions were reached by analysts at FitnessData, a firm that studies the sports industry.
There are currently 28 clubs in the city where padel can be played, up from 20 a year ago. The total number of courts has reached 122. Analyst Yelizaveta Konovalova told journalists that over the last year the number of courts in St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region rose by 65 per cent, while in Moscow and the Moscow Region the increase was 49 per cent.
Supply is following demand: the number of players per court has grown by half, and more than 25,000 people have tried padel at least once. Court occupancy exceeds 60 per cent. According to specialists, investments in opening a club may pay back within two to three years. Further growth is held back by a shortage of suitable premises, most of which are already occupied.
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