Padel: A fast-growing sport backed by Roger Federer, Juan Martin Del Potro

WATCH: Juan Martin del Potro—tennis' Gentle Giant—reveals plans to comeback for the 2023 US Open.

Listen up, tennis fans. It’s not just pickleball stealing the spotlight that we have to worry about these days.

There’s a newer, shinier, padel-ier sport making waves among fans—and even luring away our very own breed of pros.

If tennis and squash had a baby, it would be named Padel. Invented in Mexico in the 1960s, Padel is a sport where the ball—a decompressed tennis ball—can bounce off the glass walls enclosing the courts, and the equipment used is a cute little carbon-fiber "pala" racquet.

In case you’re still on the fence about playing Padel, perhaps hearing that the recently retired Roger Federer is making moves with this new racquet sport will sway you.

And he’s not the only one. Ons Jabeur and Taylor Fritz recently battled it out with palas in Miami, and last week tennis' gentle giant himself, Juan Martin del Potro, became an adviser of the Miami Padel Club, a team participating in this year's inaugural Professional Padel League.

Saving the best for last, the incredible Roberta Vinci—a five-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 in doubles—has an official ranking of No. 78 on the World Padel Tour.

Should tennis fans be worried about this this Padel boom? Not at all. We should be proud of paddle sports making moves worldwide—it’s like seeing your cousins thrive in the real world. And in Spain and Italy, Padel is already the new king of the courts.

We might as well get on board, because it looks like Padel is here to stay. The sport already has over 25 million players worldwide, and its massively growing in popularity in the US, where the amount of Padel courts is expected to double in 2023.

If anything, it’s pickleball that needs to be fearful. We’ve got nothing to worry about, right?