Photo: Kilian Jordan © Jonas Meinecke
There is something irresistible about the padel story. It begins in the late 1960s in Acapulco, when a Mexican businessman named Enrique Corcuera, short of space, built a reduced-size tennis court and enclosed it with walls to keep the balls in play. From that constraint, a sport was born. Sixty years later, padel counts more than 24 million players worldwide, and its growth shows no sign of slowing. In French-speaking Switzerland, two addresses naturally stand out for anyone looking to take up the sport seriously or refine their game: David Lloyd Country Club Geneva, in Bellevue, and David Lloyd Veigy, just across the border. What do they have in common? Premium facilities, a growing community and, above all, a unique academy in Switzerland where Kilian Jordan, the country’s number one in the discipline, teaches.
What first appeals about padel is its ability to level the playing field, or almost. The court measures 20 metres by 10, and is surrounded by walls off which the ball can rebound, turning every rally into a test of reflexes and anticipation. Two teams of two players face off, with the ball allowed to bounce once before being hit. This official bounce gives padel its distinctive tempo: fast-paced and intense, yet never out of reach.
Kilian Jordan, who plays the sport at the highest level, enthusiastically sums up what makes it unique: “Padel has a very social side and it is also very accessible, which makes it particularly appealing. Anyone can play with anyone, whatever the age and level of the participants. If you put four beginners on a court, even if they have never held a racket in their lives, they will have fun.” This immediate accessibility, combined with a steep learning curve, explains much of the enthusiasm the sport arouses among executives and senior managers, always looking for activities that combine physical efficiency with a relational dimension.
To understand what David Lloyd represents in Geneva’s wellness landscape, one must first grasp its origins. Country Club Geneva, established more than forty years ago on the heights of Bellevue in a green setting just ten minutes from the city centre, was originally one of the region’s most sought-after sports venues, owned by the Bertarelli family. In 2020, David Lloyd Leisure, the leading UK fitness and wellness group in Europe, acquired it to make it the 124th club in a network that now has more than 710,000 members worldwide, and launched a deep transformation with a clear ambition: to bring the site up to the excellence standards for which the group is known across the continent. The result matches the investment. Accessible by car and public transport, the club now offers facilities that span the full spectrum of modern wellbeing: five indoor and four outdoor tennis courts, a golf practice area facing the lake, a fitness space of more than 1,800 m² with more than sixty group classes per week, a heated 25-metre indoor pool complemented by a children’s pool, a Kids Club for children from 3 months to 13 years old, and, crowning it all, a Spa Retreat combining an ice cave, plunge pool, hammams, a Finnish sauna and sensory showers, designed for those seeking both recovery and performance. In a context where executives are increasingly looking for spaces that meet both the body’s demands and the mind’s needs, David Lloyd has built a coherent, comprehensive response.
Building a padel court is not something that happens by chance. The foundations, the quality of the surface, the acoustics in enclosed spaces: every detail shapes the playing experience. David Lloyd Country Club Geneva has four indoor padel courts, ensuring year-round play whatever the weather, a major advantage in a region where dedicated indoor padel infrastructure remains scarce. David Lloyd Veigy, meanwhile, offers four outdoor courts, ideal as soon as the good weather arrives. A special membership even allows unlimited play at both venues, offering welcome flexibility for active members. Beyond the courts, it is the entire David Lloyd ecosystem that makes the difference: on one hand, the sporting discipline of a club founded by a former professional tennis player and built around the demand for technical precision; on the other, a holistic vision of wellbeing that goes far beyond physical performance alone. Padel fits naturally into this offering, as one of the flagship disciplines in a range that keeps expanding.
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