Best Padel Shoes

I’m using this page to compile what I think are the best padel shoes on the market today. It’s a short list for now, and I will expand this page as I go. Meaning, as I play lots more padel haha.

Salming Recoil Strike

The Salming Recoil Strike are actually designed for squash but I played with them most of the year on the padel courts and loved them.

The just have a little more cushioning than your typical squash shoes. Which is nice because I find padel courts are a little harder on my body than squash courts, so I appreciate the extra cushioning.

Padel courts are usually this carpet stuff laid down over concrete or macadam / asphalt — not exactly springy surfaces. Wheares squash courts are usually “sprung” meaning the floor has a little bit of give to it and they are a little easier on the knees. In my opinion anyway.

With squash shoes it’s beneficial to have a shoe that’s light and low to the ground because there’s so much lunging and recovery in that sport. With padel though, I don’t mind a slightly heavier shoe. The steps you take in padel are a bit smaller, so I think a bit of extra weight is a fair tradeoff to get some extra cushioing.

Aside from all that, I love the cosmetics of these shoes.

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Video

Here’s a video I put together for the Salming Recoil Strike:

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K-Swiss Hypercourt Express 2

I liked the K-Swiss Hypercourt Express 2 pretty much the same as the Salming Recoil Strike from a performance standpoint. They have great cushioning and grip. The stability may be even a little better than the Salmings. The only reason I put these second is the Salmings went better with my Adidas padel outfits 🙂

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Here’s a review I put together for the K-Swiss. The video focuses a lot on pickleball but I also used them extensively for padel.

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Salming Rebel

The Salming Rebel are the only shoes I’ve tried that are made explicitly for padel. They have a herringbone pattern on the sole, which is good for grip on padel courts. Padel courts have a special type of sand on top of the carpet and some courts have more sand than others. The courts I play at in Philadelphia are not particularly sandy, but I once played padel in Barcelona, and the courts there were quite sandy in comparison. Having the herringbone pattern should give you better traction on all courts but especially on the sandier padel courts. I believe that herringbone sole pattern is also used on clay court tennis shoes.

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Here’s my video review of the Salming Rebel:

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What Is Padel?

If you’re a squash player and don’t know much about padel, it’s a racket sport played in an enclosed space that combines elements of tennis and squash.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padel

Here’s a quick clip so you can see some padel gameplay. I’m on the near left.

Why Trust My Opinion

I’ve been playing padel for about 3 years now, ever since it first landed in Philadelphia. I play at a fairly high level relative to everyone here at home, though we’re all still relative newcomers to padel compared to many countries in South America and Europe, where padel has been around for much longer and where most of the top pros come from. I’ve also been reviewing squash shoes for over 10 years and have seen and tested many shoes over the years.