PSG's Qatari owners are taking popular sport Padel global with new global tour

It's a sport enjoyed by 25 million people around the world, with David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Jurgen Klopp, Andy Murray and Zlatan Ibrahimovic already fanatics.

Now Padel - a hybrid of tennis and squash - is set to be supercharged thanks to investment from the Qatari owners of Paris Saint-Germain.

A new global tour aims to take the sport beyond its usual heartlands of Spain and Argentina - where only football is more popular in terms of participation - to everywhere and everyone.

Backed by Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Qatar Sports Investments, a new Padel tour with sizeable prize money will begin this year and hopes to expand to 25 annual tournaments by 2024.

Lovers of the sport - which has a 50-50 split of male and female players - even hope to get it in the Olympics for Los Angeles 2028.

Padel is usually played in doubles on an enclosed court roughly 25 per cent smaller than a normal tennis court.

As in squash, the ball can be played off the glass walls, creating longer and more exciting rallies and some extraordinary shots. The scoring system is the same as normal tennis.

With less distance to cover, Padel is less physically demanding than ordinary tennis, making it accessible to more people.

It's popularity is growing beyond Spain and Argentina, where most of the world's Padel courts are located. But there are devotees from all over the globe.

Klopp had a Padel court installed at Liverpool's training ground after his staff and players discovered the game while on a training camp in Tenerife.

His assistant Pep Lijnders joked that Klopp is 'fanatical' about playing and 'starts to walk around like Conor McGregor' if he wins too many games.

Swedish star Ibrahimovic has poured his own cash into opening a series of Padel Zenters across Europe having been himself converted to the sport.

His erstwhile Manchester United team-mate Paul Pogba even gave him a hand at one of the centres.

Former England and United icon Beckham tried out Padel while in Miami last year and was apparently a natural.

Zinedine Zidane also loves the sport, opening the 'Z5' Padel centre in Provence in November last year with the public able to book a court for 90 minutes for around £10 each.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Murray also loves the sport and took on former footballer Peter Crouch at Padel in a funny Comic Relief video in 2020.

Fellow tennis royalty Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic also see the value in either playing or investing in the growing sport.

The former Barcelona defender Carles Puyol showed his dedication to the sport - and winning by running through a pane of glass to win a point.

Now that the International Padel Federation has partnered with Al-Khelaifi and QSI, it will have its own global tour, also featuring four 'Grand Slams'.

Al-Khelaifi said: 'The world has only seen the tip of the iceberg of what the sport of padel can achieve on the global stage.

'Padel players are some of the most talented, inspiring and gracious athletes in the world of sport - it's time for this wonderful game and its incredible athletes to be showcased to fans around the world.'