Du tennis au padel : nos meilleurs spots pour faire du sport de raquette à Lyon

Need for speed

Created by two pupils at Harrow School in late-nineteenth-century England, squash is played on a fully enclosed court, with walls or glazed panels, which the players aim to bounce the rubber ball off. Fancy a go? Try O Fluence Sport, a sports centre with four squash courts and as many badminton courts.

A breeze from the south-west

© Pascale Navarro

You don’t need to go far to play Basque pelota. Since 2016, the Jean Vilar sports complex in Villeurbanne has been home to the only pelota court in the Lyon urban area. There, you can play ‘paleta’, one of the many variations of Basque pelota, and also one of the less technically demanding forms. The idea is to throw a rubber ball against the front wall, which your opponent must then hit back using their wooden racket (the ‘paleta’ or ‘pala’) within the limits of the court (the ‘cancha’).

Tennis meets squash

Born in 1969, from the imagination of a Mexican businessman who wanted to prevent escaping balls, padel is played on a tennis court surrounded by glass panels and fences, which the ball can be bounced off. Very fun and less technically demanding than tennis, it is currently one of the most popular sports in Spain! You can try it at Esprit Padel, in
Saint-Priest, for example, which boasts the largest complex in the Lyon region.

In the footsteps of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

© Hugo Laubepin

The brand new All In Tennis Academy created by former tennis champions Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Thierry Ascione officially opened its courts this autumn. Located in the heart of OL Vallée, in Décines, it has twenty tennis courts, seven indoor and outdoor padel courts, a semi-Olympic outdoor pool, a fitness area, a well-being area and soon a restaurant...

Take the shuttle

Inspired by poona, a traditional game imported from India by the English in the nineteenth century, badminton can be played in singles or doubles. You can try it at Bad’s, a centre of the sport since 1999, which has four badminton courts, as well as five squash courts and four recently added pétanque pitches!