Padel is a racquet sport which combines elements of tennis and squash, typically played in doubles on an enclosed court which is slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. Much like tennis, the ball is allowed one bounce or zero bounces, however you are allowed to play the ball off the walls (often made of glass). It is played with slightly different balls to tennis, and with smaller but heavier padels.
The sport originated from Mexico in the late 1960s and is considered to be one of the fastest growing sports in the UK.

Pickleball is a racquet sport which is somewhat similar to mini tennis. It is played on a smaller court than tennis and has a slightly different court layout including an area called “kitchen”. Much like tennis the ball is allowed 1 bounce or zero bounces. It is played with a plastic ball that has holes in it, and with smaller pickleball rackets which are similar to those used in Padel. Players can play singles or doubles.

The sport originated from the USA in 1965, and like padel, is experiencing rapid growth both in the UK and globally.

The new site has been designed to maximise the real estate in front of the Racquets Office, much of which is currently underused, and to reduce the impact on our current tennis offering.

The addition of the two new padel courts (shown in blue below), with the reorientation of the three new pickleball courts (blue/ pink), will mean that we will only lose one hard court, Court 19. The remaining court, Court 18, will be reorientated into the same direction as the other hard courts.

During this project, the Racquets Office and Racquets Hut will both be renamed to reflect our expanded racquets offering.

VIEW LAYOUT

The aim is for the project to take 3 months; this is weather dependant. We will keep you updated of any changes.

We are intending to start the project on Monday 14 July 2025.

During the project we will lose access to two hard courts (current courts 18 & 19) and the mini-red courts. We will also lose access to the Racquets Hut during the build. There will continue to be access to the Racquets Office and the toilets.

The Racquets Hut is out of the scope of this project, but the Maintenance Team will be refreshing both the Racquets Hut and the toilets ahead of the new courts being opened.

Yes, the whole programme will run as normal. There may be some court changes to the programme, but these will be communicated to you by the coaching team.

In exactly the same way you currently book tennis and squash courts. Head to the Lensbury app, put the time and court into your basket, and check out.

All courts will be access controlled – this will apply to all of the roadside courts. You will only be able to access the courts if you are an active member of The Lensbury, by scanning the QR code at each court gate, or as a hotel guest.

The courts will be available to book for one hour at a time.

Yes there will be a limit of two courts per week, per member, per sport. This will be reviewed after the initial settling in period of the first few months, as we ascertain the popularity of these new facilities. We are anticipating that the courts will be very popular, particularly when first introduced.

We encourage all bookings to be with four people, to maximise the number of people that can use the courts. It is also more fun playing doubles.

Members and hotel guests.
If you would like to bring a guest in to play, you may only do so, in line with the Club Rules. All guests participating in an ‘Activity’, are required to purchase a Guest Pass from Members’ Reception. Failure to do so may lead to termination of membership.

Yes. Access to all the new facilities is included in your membership of The Lensbury.

Opening times will be 7am-10pm.

Due to planning constraints, these padel courts, pickleball courts and Court 18 may only be floodlit during the hours of 9am – 10pm Monday to Saturday, and 9am – 6pm on Sundays, as required. All floodlights in this section will be set with timers, to ensure these timings are adhered to.

Basic equipment will be available to hire, but members are encouraged to purchase your own padels, paddles and balls. A limited selection of equipment will be available to purchase at Members’ Reception.

Yes, all competitions, socials and events will be run through Matchspace, The Lensbury’s Racquets App.

For the first few weeks, we will be running complimentary ‘introduction’ sessions, to ensure as many members get to try these new facilities as possible.
There will also be a launch event to open these facilities – further details will be shared in due course.

Yes we have qualified padel coaches at the club and we will run a coaching programme for both adults and juniors. We hope to have a qualified pickleball coach in due course. We will communicate more about these offerings nearer the time.

Potentially – let us see how these new courts are received. Please note, it took over two years to get approval from Richmond Council for these new courts.

Yes – there will be complimentary introduction sessions in the first few weeks, to ensure as many members as possible get the opportunity to try these new sports.

Please join Matchspace, The Lensbury’s racquets app, available for all of our racquet sports. This will enable you to join competitions, events, receive racquet updates and connect with other members looking for a game.

Download Matchspace: www.lensbury.com/15728-2/

Our initial priority is for our members and hotel guests to get access to these facilities; we will then look at other corporate opportunities in due course.
One of the planning conditions attached to Richmond Council’s approval for this project is a Community Use Agreement, which necessitates that The Lensbury gives:
• public access to three roadside tennis courts and both padel courts four times per year on weekends between October and April 1pm – 8pm, and
• access to schools within the Richmond Borough to two roadside tennis courts between 11:30 – 3:15pm on weekdays during term time (preference given to state schools).
Further details will be shared by The Lensbury regarding the public access once the project has been completed. If anyone knows of a school within the Richmond borough that might be interested in the term time weekday access to the two roadside tennis courts, please contact tennis.manager@lensbury.com.

Please note the racquets contact email will be updated to reflect our wider racquets offering. We will notify all members when this happens.