Abstract

Due to the social importance of paddle tennis in Spain, a systematic review of the literature that reflects its characteristics and evolution will add to our knowledge about it and lay the theoretical foundations for a booming sport. The aim of this paper is review the origins, development, characteristics, and social impact of paddle tennis. To this end we reviewed the following databases: Web of Science (main collection), SportDiscus, Scopus, Dialnet, the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport’s Theseus and Google Scholar, using the keywords: “pádel tenis”, “paddle tennis”. We established seven thematic areas for review: 1. Historical; 2. Physiological, body composition and structure; 3. Biomechanics, sports medicine, injuries and their prevention; 4. Psychological; 5. Athletic performance, technical, tactical, educational and game analysis aspects; 6. Sociological and socioeconomic; 7. Use of information and communication technologies (ICT). In total, we analyzed 53 specific paddle tennis studies (articles, books, theses, and websites). The main conclusions are that the most studied area is athletic performance, technical, tactical, educational aspects and analysis of the game.