Four indoor tennis courts at the Lea Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre are set to be turned into seven double and two single padel courts, reports Marco Marcelline

A plan to replace tennis courts inside the Lea Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in the Olympic Park with padel courts has prompted outrage from the venue’s users who say they were not consulted. 

The Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA) last week approved the plans which would see its four indoor tennis courts turned into seven double and two single padel courts.

The venue also boasts six outdoor tennis courts which would remain in operation if the much criticised £500,000 idea, first drawn up by Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) goes ahead. 

In its business case promoting the move, the LVRPA said it expected monthly padel users to be more than double the 4,000 tennis players who currently use the venue each month.

Using the same scoring system as tennis (15, 30, 40, game), padel has seen a recent surge in popularity, with over 400,000 adults and juniors in Britain playing the sport at least once last year – up from just 15,000 in 2019.

Padel is played with solid, stringless rackets and balls that are similar to tennis balls but with slightly less pressure. Players serve underhand, and the ball can bounce off the walls before being returned by the opponent.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has slammed the plans, describing them as “particularly disappointing”. 

A spokesperson told the Echo: “The LTA and Tennis Foundation invested half a million pounds in the original tennis facility which is an important legacy from the London 2012 Paralympics. The courts are still heavily used with over 700 children on the programme, 100,000 players accessing the facilities each year, a thriving disability programme and links to local schools.

“We will be engaging with LVRPA and the operator GLL to encourage them to consider other options that can see both tennis and padel played on site.”

Julian Wharton lives just a five minute cycle from the Lea Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and plays tennis there every week, having taken up the sport during the pandemic for the first time since his childhood.

He said the “unnecessary” decision to close the indoor courts would mean he would instead go to a private tennis club located a 20-minute drive away from him.

LVRPA’s move would essentially make playing tennis unplayable during winter months, he said, adding: “I seriously injured myself playing on a wet court in February so playing indoors is one of the only ways to continue to train at a good level properly and safely through the winter.”

That view was echoed by Kim Le, who wrote on a Change.org petition against the plans: “My children specifically go to tennis classes at this centre because classes take place on indoor courts meaning whatever the weather lessons don’t get cancelled. There are tennis classes at our local park but we prefer this iconic venue for its indoor courts!”

The LVPRA said it had created a fund to help community groups to “transition to the outdoor courts, learn padel or, if needed, to find alternative facilities”. 

Defending its plans, a spokesperson from the company said tennis would still remain “well catered for” with “at least 90%” of coaching programmes moving to the six outdoor courts.  

They continued: “The usable inside court space for the community will increase by more than 140%. Padel is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and its introduction at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre will broaden the racquet sports on offer. There will be seven doubles and two singles courts that we estimate will double the number of people using the indoor sports hall to over 100,000 a year.”

Keen padelista Marcus Lange, who started playing the sport two years ago, said padel’s popularity owed itself to it being “more accessible” to people of all abilities. 

He told the Echo: “It’s much more inclusive; you can start a padel match feeling quite inept but finish it feeling like you’ve really got to grips with it. It’s definitely more addictive that way. It’s also more sociable [than tennis] because it’s mainly played as a doubles game.”

Agreeing with the LVPRA’s assessment that there is growing demand and need for more padel courts in the capital, Marcus said: “London needs more courts to drive the price down a bit; padel is expensive at the moment because of how ‘trendy’ it is. If prices don’t go down it could become seen as a privileged sport, much like tennis is.”

Marcus, who runs a regular padel group for queer men and non-binary players called Serve at the nearby Stratford Padel Centre, also stated that he loved the sport’s intrinsically collaborative and social nature.

He added: “The social aspect is always great because you can meet new people through it. It’s a great way to exercise and do something different than just going to the pub.”

The LVRPA expects construction on the courts to start in August, before opening to the public on 1st October this year.

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