The Every Padel club in Uppsala, Sweden, on Sept. 10.

The Every Padel club in Uppsala, Sweden, on Sept. 10.

Photographer: Erika Gerdemark/Bloomberg

Sweden Holds Grim Warning for the $4 Billion Padel Craze

Padel centers in the biggest Nordic country are being converted to warehouses and budget grocery stores after the racket sport’s pandemic boom turned into a bust.

Padel, the racket sport craze currently sweeping across much of the planet, has turned into a cautionary tale for investors in one of the countries that first fully embraced it: Sweden.

Padel centers in the biggest Nordic country are being converted to warehouses and budget grocery stores after the racket sport’s pandemic boom turned into a bust. Almost 90 padel-related companies have filed for bankruptcy this year, according to data from credit reference agency Creditsafe.