“Let me take you back to Acapulco in 1974…” So begins The Padel Paper‘s extraordinary conversation with 90-year-old Lewis Deyong, the Englishman who played on the world’s first ever padel court with an eclectic group of aristocrats in Mexico — and now, over 50 years later, is building his own UK padel empire.
Lewis is just as loquacious, razor-sharp and quick-witted as I suspect he was throughout his globe-trotting career as a renowned backgammon player and gambler, when he parted many unsuspecting blue bloods from their money in Monte Carlo, the Bahamas and Las Vegas over several glasses of very expensive Pinot Noir.
The high-rolling circles Lewis moved in during the 60s and 70s earned he and his wife Jane regular invitations to Villa Corcuera, a lavish art deco home owned by Henrique and Viviana Corcuera in the exclusive gated community of Las Brisas, Acapulco. Viviana, a keen tennis player, was frustrated that their garden was too small to accommodate a tennis court. A stone walled court was completed in 1974, new rackets designed and Viviana thereafter spent hours perfecting the rules and parameters of the sport she called padel. It has changed very little to the padel we know and love to this day.
Not many people working in modern-day padel can claim they were there to witness our wonderful sport’s genesis, but Lewis played regularly on that very first prototype court and is now a major shareholder in Advantage Padel, which is about to open its first club in the village of Kingsley, Hampshire. Further clubs in Aldershot, Bournemouth and other locations across the UK are due to follow by the end of 2025.
Lewis, a lifelong rackets player and still a member at Queen’s Club, is joined in the new venture by Head of Operations, Steve Summers, Olly Burry of Titan Property Developments and Steve Matthews, former Sales and Operations Director at David Lloyd Leisure and founder of Virtus Leisure Management.
Lewis’s gift for ebullient storytelling means we are best handing over to him for the remainder of this tale, to recount padel matches under palm trees with bounders, baronesses and even the notorious Henry Kissinger…
“Back in the 60s and 70s I was very involved in backgammon and it’s with just a touch of hubris that I tell you it was me who originated the Backgammon World Championships that still take place to this day. Quite a few players were in that social milieu of St. Tropez, Monte Carlo and Acapulco, so my wife Jane and I were always invited to spend a few weeks each year in Los Nardos, a beautiful villa owned by our friends the Davidoffs. We’d been staying there for years.
“On day one of one particular visit, I was told there was ‘a little surprise coming after breakfast,’ which Acapulco style, meant at around 1pm! We drove to a boutique art deco villa, the Villa Corcuera. On arrival we descended a stone path through a stunning lush green hanging garden, and at the bottom, lo and behold, there was an attractive Mayan courtyard with stone walls, across which was set a tennis net. There it was, the first padel tennis court ever built.
“A few of the Corcuera neighbours were already there (I guess they ate an early breakfast!), sides were chosen, doubles only, and those waiting their turn sat in a pretty little shaded arbour courtside, soon surrounded by drinks and delicious local tapas. The chat between the players and the watchers went on non-stop. Jokes in Spanish, English and French flowed back and forth and nobody took the score too seriously.
“I soon realised that this was the ethos of padel: amiable, collegiate, plus a sense that we were enjoying something completely new, different and exclusive. A perfect scenario for a group of friends to get together and have fun. From then on, padel dominated our holiday afternoons. This convivial ethos is now the most important element in designing our Advantage Padel clubs; giving people a place to have a coffee or glass of wine and mingle.
“The following year, some neighbours, the Arango family, had also built a court and took their turn to host the group, which had now grown to a dozen. Within a few years, there were 15 courts inside the perimeters of the Las Brisas gated community. For the record, the best players were Manolo Arango and Jean-Noel Grinda. Jean-Noel’s son Nalle went on to be France’s No.1 padel player and is now the director of Advantage Padel’s affiliate club, the thriving PadelX in Miami.
“Soon afterwards came the real game-changer: Villa Arabesque, the winter home of Baron and Baroness di Portanova (pictured above), Ricky and Sandra to their pals. Ricky was from a noble Italian family and his father had married into a monster Texas oil fortune, of which Ricky was now one of the heirs.
“Villa Arabesque had 46 live-in staff and six armed guards. Moorish style, complete with a ballroom for 400, several waterfalls, plus six swimming pools, a disco and a breathtaking padel court. There was some tiered seating for guests, plus a self-contained changing room, the whole place dressed in brilliant white marble, a sports club for the gods! There was a very welcoming, happy atmosphere.
“Naturally the afternoon game switched permanently to this venue, as Sandra, born in Texas, had become an avid padelista. Among her guests were John Gavin, the American ambassador and Henry Kissinger, the former U.S. diplomat and still a gigantic influence during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan. Of all of us, Henry had the greatest desire to win, with no chit chat or laughter from him. Sadly, he was also the worst player, with absolutely zero athletic ability. He was the only person in padel tennis history who ever struggled with the serve!
“For better or worse, Kissinger often chose me as partner, which meant me running non-stop around the court, while Henry controlled a small corner of the net, and the score, of which I may add there were occasional ‘discrepancies!’. That was really annoying, because nobody wanted to contradict Henry Kissinger, so they always looked to me to correct him!
“One afternoon Mrs Lady Bird Johnson (widow of former President Lindon B. Johnson) arrived in her private jet. With her was Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the director of the world renowned Marbella Club on the Costa del Sol. He took one look at padel and exclaimed, ‘This is perfect, perfecto!, for Marbella!’
“Thus padel arrived in Spain and the rest is history: 80,000 courts, 10 million players, and still growing fast. Perhaps all of you, who now love the game, maintain a little of that original Mexican camaraderie? Whilst you play, please occasionally give a ‘thank you’ to that little group of happy jokers (sadly almost all gone now) who helped to take this wonderful sport from the Garden of Villa Corcuera and bequeath it to the world.”
