Kerry Packer’s surprise connection to sport taking over Australia
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Exclusive: Despite its reputation as the hottest ‘new’ trend in fitness, padel boasts a surprisingly rich history.
Originating in the 1960s as a fast-paced mix of tennis and squash, the game has deep roots in European sporting culture.
Kerry packer was an early adopter of padel. The Fairfax Photo Library
While the sport’s recent global explosion has been spurred on by high-profile converts, including Formula 1 drivers and international celebrities, padel actually had an early adopter in Australia: media mogul Kerry Packer.
Australian tennis legend Pat Rafter revealed the billionaire’s surprising connection to the sport.
“You know who put (a padel court) in? Kerry Packer in the ’80s. But back then, because he was so big into polo, all the polo players were Argentinians. The best players in the world are Argentinians and Spanish,” Rafter said exclusively to nine.com.au.
“So they’re the two best nations in the world. He built a court at his place up in Palm Beach in the ’80s. And back then, it was concrete walls and concrete ground. So it was very different.
“He built one for them so they could play it. That was Kerry Packer - he built it for his mates.”
Rafter admitted that padel had several false starts in the Australian sporting scene, but believes the timing is finally right for it to stick, with the Padel Invitational taking place in Sydney this month.
“Henri Leconte came out here in Australia at least 10 years ago, maybe longer. Got the timing right, but no one (was interested) and it was right, even then,” Rafter said.
“But it’s funny, you’re ahead of your time, you’re too far ahead (and) people won’t take it. And that’s what’s happened for a long time. Didn’t work.”
Today, the landscape is entirely different.
Padel has been warmly embraced by Tennis Australia, alongside the similar variant pickleball, as it looks to build a broader family of racquet sports.
Rafter is padel’s biggest advocate, having well and truly left his tennis days behind him, but the former world No.1 was quick to weigh in on an age-old debate: can elite tennis stars transition to padel and instantly dominate?
For him, any transferable skills are out of the equation.
“Oh, it’s very different...none of them. You can’t just drop over,” Rafter admitted.
“You can’t just… it’s a little bit like going, ‘Alright, you can play a great racquet sport, I’m going to put you in a squash court.’ It doesn’t work.
“So (Carlos) Alcaraz, I think he’s got great hands. He knows how to play a bit. But you put him against the top guys, he won’t win a game.
“He can have the best partner in the world, and they will probably still lose love and love because they will go to him the whole time. So he’d have to wait. It’s not going to happen straight away. No one will make that transition. It’s too different a sport.
“But I like the way you’re thinking. Because we always think, ‘Can someone cross over?’”
Looking ahead with Brisbane 2032 in the distance, many new sports are eyeing up the possibility of being named in the program for the Olympics.
Padel has only been adopted in recent years across the world. Tennis Australia
With LA 2028 handpicking sports to bolster the US medal tally, Australia could eventually leverage a growing padel scene for glory on the international stage.
“Yes. It’s going to happen. Whether it happens in Brisbane or happens in the next one, it doesn’t matter,” Rafter declared.
“Because there was 17,000 at an event in Buenos Aires, at one match. So people are watching.
“In six years’ time, this sport’s going to be big here in Australia. I think it’s actually the perfect time to put it in.”
