Famous Athletes Who Invest in Padel

Curious which big names are putting real money into padel?

Famous athletes investing in padel isn't a rare headline anymore, it's a pattern. From tennis champions building their own academies to NBA owners backing entire leagues, some of the biggest names in sport are putting real money behind padel's growth, not just showing up for the occasional celebrity charity match.

This guide looks at why athletes are drawn to padel as an investment, and walks through several of the clearest examples: Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Cristiano Ronaldo, Serena Williams, and the group of former pros backing the Pro Padel League in North America.

Why Athletes Are Drawn to Investing in Padel

Padel has grown from a niche Spanish pastime into one of the fastest-expanding sports in the world, with tens of millions of players across more than a hundred countries. For athletes with money to invest, that combination of rapid growth, social appeal, and a relatively low barrier to entry for new players makes padel businesses, clubs, leagues, and equipment brands, an attractive place to put their name and capital.

There's also a natural fit for many of these athletes personally. Retired tennis players in particular tend to pick up padel quickly, since the skills transfer well, which makes it an easy sport to both play socially and understand as a business.

Note

Valuations, ownership stakes, and investment figures in fast-growing private companies change often. Treat the numbers below as a snapshot rather than the current, exact figures.

Rafael Nadal: Building an Academy Empire

Rafael Nadal opened the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, Mallorca, in 2016, and padel has become a significant part of that campus alongside its tennis facilities. The Academy has since launched the Rafa Nadal Academy Padel Tour, an amateur circuit that now runs events in six countries, including a 2026 debut season in the United States with stops in Miami, Austin, and New York.

On the financial side, Nadal sold a 44.9 percent stake in the Academy business to Spanish investment firm GPF Capital for a reported €94.1 million, while retaining majority control. The deal was framed as a way to bring in additional resources for expansion, including further growth of the Academy's padel programming.

Andy Murray: Backing the UK's Biggest Padel Operator

Andy Murray became an early investor in Game4Padel back in 2019, a company focused on building out padel courts across the UK. Since then, the business has grown into the country's largest padel court operator, with a valuation that has climbed past £27 million through several funding rounds that also attracted other high-profile athlete investors, including footballers Virgil van Dijk, Jamie Vardy, and Tammy Abraham.

Murray has gone further than most athlete investors by moving into team ownership as well, launching a professional padel team, Team AD/vantage, that competes in the Hexagon Cup, an international team exhibition event.

Cristiano Ronaldo: Building His Own Padel City

Cristiano Ronaldo has taken one of the more ambitious routes among athlete investors, backing a large-scale padel development called Cidade do Padel near Lisbon, Portugal, with a reported investment of around €6 million alongside businessman Filipe de Botton. The project, planned on roughly 15,000 square meters of land in Oeiras, is set to include 17 padel courts, several of them covered, along with a central show court with seating for up to 2,000 spectators.

Ronaldo has since expanded his padel footprint further by acquiring the Lisboa Racket Centre, an existing multi-sport racket club in Lisbon that already includes padel, tennis, and squash courts alongside a gym.

Important

Not every athlete "investing" in padel has put in the same kind of capital. Some, like Nadal and Ronaldo, are building entire facilities, while others are equity investors in operating companies, or simply high-profile brand ambassadors for the sport.

NBA Money Behind the Pro Padel League

In North America, much of the athlete investment has gone into the Pro Padel League, a team-based competition founded in 2023 that now features ten teams across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Former NBA star Carmelo Anthony has invested through his firm Melo7 Tech Partners, while reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee owns the league's Florida Goats franchise. Tennis pro Frances Tiafoe and polo player Nacho Figueras have backed the New York Atlantics.

The league's growth has also drawn traditional sports finance into the picture. A recent funding round was led by Rick Schnall, co-chairman and governor of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets, underscoring how padel is increasingly attracting capital from people who already run professional sports franchises.

Serena Williams and the U.S. Padel Push

Since retiring from professional tennis, Serena Williams has built an active investment portfolio through her venture capital firm, and she's regularly cited alongside Nadal, Beckham, Ronaldo, and other athletes as one of the sports stars who have backed padel ventures and club expansions in the growing U.S. market. She's also taken on a more visible, hands-on role at times, including a padel-focused partnership appearance in Miami that combined the sport with a broader brand activation.

Other Athletes Getting Involved

The list of athletes backing padel keeps growing well beyond the biggest names above. David Beckham has been named alongside Nadal, Ronaldo, and Williams as one of the sports figures who have backed padel ventures and club expansions, and reports have linked him to a potential padel team ownership stake in the UK. Former footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović has also been reported to have backed padel venues, part of a broader trend of retired football stars moving into the sport's business side.

Even active athletes outside tennis and football are getting involved. Formula 1 driver Lando Norris has been floated as a potential padel team owner in the UK's push to professionalize the sport, a sign that athlete interest in padel investment isn't limited to any single sport or generation.

What This Wave of Investment Means for the Sport

When athletes with genuine business track records put money behind padel, it tends to do more than fund a single club or league. It brings media attention, credibility with other investors, and often a template that other operators copy, whether that's Nadal's academy-and-tour model or Murray's court-operator approach in the UK.

It also signals something about where the sport is headed. Analysts already estimate the global padel market is worth around $2 billion, and continued athlete investment is one of the clearest indicators that people with real financial stakes in sport expect that growth to continue for years to come.

For everyday players, this wave of investment mostly shows up as more courts, more clubs, and more organized competition in places where padel barely existed a few years ago. Whether or not any single athlete's venture succeeds, the combined effect of so much high-profile money entering the sport at once has clearly accelerated how fast new facilities are being built.

Advice

If you're curious about a specific athlete's padel involvement beyond what's covered here, check recent sports business coverage rather than social media posts, since investment details and figures are often reported more accurately by financial and sports business outlets.

From academy campuses in Mallorca to a padel city outside Lisbon and an entire professional league in North America, the athletes putting money behind padel are betting on more than just a fun way to stay active after retirement. They're betting that the sport's current growth curve has real staying power, and so far, the numbers backing that bet have only gotten bigger.