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, opened its eight outdoor padel court facility at About a week later, added seven indoor courts along with nine pickleball courts when it opened at , adding to ‘s two courts that have been around since 2023.
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.
Tucson got into the game in 2023, when Mladen Kozak opened PadelAZ at his Maracana Indoor Sports Arena, The Bosnian native, who has lived in Tucson since 1998, said his indoor soccer customers encouraged him to invest in padel courts.
Mladen Kozak, the first to bring padel to Tucson, practices his underhand serve at PadelAz.
“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 60 to 80, 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 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 was also a member of the Canadian national padel team.
Riva Mackie teamed up with her son at The Pad in Tucson on Thursday, Sept 11, 2025. Mackie and her husband opened the indoor padel facility in March.
Both the Pad and PadelAZ host tournaments and leagues for all skill levels.
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.