A sport with royal history
Padel is often traced back to 1969 Mexico, when businessman Enrique Corcuera set up the first-ever padel court at his holiday home in Acapulco. But the history of the sport goes back even further.
In the 19th century, passengers on British cruise ships played a similar game with tennis rackets, and in the 1910s, ‘platform tennis’ became popular in Washington and New York. Over the next decade, wooden floors and high walls were added to the courts to protect them from the harsh winter conditions.
The sport travelled to Spain in the 1970’s through one of Enrique’s close friends, Spanish aristocrat Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe-Langenburg. After visiting his friend in Acapulco, Prince Alfonso brought it back to his exclusive Marbella Club, where socialites took up the game instantly.
A similar thing happened in Argentina after millionaire Julio Menditenguia discovered padel in Marbella. He brought it back to the South American country, where there are now more than two million officially licensed players.
56 years after the first court was built in Mexico, Limerick’s own visionary, Peter Brazil, owner of Padel LK, brought the sport to Limerick city.
“I have worked in the travel industry for 22 years,” Brazil explained. “In the travel industry, we would have many colleagues overseas. A lot of my friends that I go golfing with are from Portugal and Spain, they got me into padel.”
The Limerick entrepreneur, who also works at Limerick Travel, saw the potential in this new sport: “So many people were coming back from their holidays, and talking about the sport and playing it. And that is when I said ‘yeah, let’s bring this to Limerick’.”
A perfect storm
Opening a new business comes with risks and challenges. Although padel was not completely new to Ireland, it was no easy task to introduce a sport that many had never heard of.
One of the biggest challenges for Padel LK was finding the right location.
“Trying to find a unit with proper ceiling heights and the requirements we had for the sport was really hard,” shared Peter. Limerick is not only where Brazil was “born and bred”, but from a business model perspective, the Treaty city was an ideal candidate.
After the 2008 economic crash, many commercial units in Limerick had been left empty. One of those units, based in Ballysimon, became the home for Padel LK in January 2025.
The unit’s proximity to the motorway was an attractive quality for the emerging business. The location makes it accessible not only to greater Limerick, but to Tipperary and Clare.
However, during his interview with the Limerick Voice, the businessman discussed extensively how the economic situation and the daily population of Limerick city were the determining factors, creating a “perfect storm.”
“We don’t realise how lucky we are with the industrial parks at our doorstep, all the businesses in Annacotty and Plassey, with Shannon Airport on our doorstep. We have UL, we have TUS, we have Mary I. There are an awful lot of multinationals now in Limerick. The domestic economy is strong.”
A promising future
It has been just over a year since the business opened its doors. “The week that we opened, there was a storm, and three weeks before, there was snow,” recalls Brazil. “We couldn’t even get into the facility, and that’s why there was a delay in opening. With the wind, we thought the roof might fall off.”
Despite the troubled inauguration, Padel LK has had a successful first year.
In November of 2025, they hosted the first ever Irish Padel Open. The event brought visibility to the sport and the facility, and the businessman was “delighted to be part of it.”
When you walk into Padel LK, you quickly realise why it is a success; state-of-the-art installations, friendly staff, and a great atmosphere. Brazil describes padel as “fun, exciting, energetic, and full of laughter,” and available to a wide demographic: “We have anything from literally eight years old, up to 80.”
This February, their wellness and recovery unit will be opening with a high-end sauna, a steam room, two ice baths, a hot-tub, and four sets of recovery booths, expanding their offer beyond padel tennis.
Limerick Voice was also informed that there are plans underway to open up new padel facilities in the country: “Once we realise that what we have, the model, kind of works, we are happy to try and see if we can grow the sport in other parts of Ireland. So, there’s a journey there, and we have commenced that journey on other sites around Munster.”