New Delhi, July 9 -- Stop with the pickleball mania already. There's another racquet sport whose star is rising and anyone who finds pickleball boring loves it. Say hello to padel-the hottest game in town today. "It's impossible to find a court in the mornings or after office hours on any given day in Mumbai. Everyone wants to play it and despite a dozen or more courts, I cannot find a free slot if I don't book way in advance," says Tunali Mukherjee, 38, a screenwriter from the city. The padel boom, according to Mukherjee, is insane at the moment.

"There is a luxury club coming up in Worli and another one is in the works in the office district of Lower Parel. There are more than a dozen padel facilities in South Mumbai alone. And most of...