Self-Proclaimed ‘Racketista’ Penny Lane Is on a Mission to Make Padel Cool

The 2024 SI Swimsuit rookie founded a business with the intent of making her favorite racket sport more chic.

Penny Lane.Ben Watts/Sports Illusrtated

Penny Lane, a 2024 SI Swimsuit rookie, is a self-proclaimed “racketista,” a term that refers to her love for all racket sports. Her appreciation started with the game of tennis, and, while attending a tournament in Acapulco, Mexico, she discovered a new passion: padel.

“I was obsessed with it. [My friend and I] were playing every day. We [said], ‘When we go back to L.A., we need to start playing it,’” she explains on the set of her SI Swimsuit photoshoot in Porto and the North, Portugal. “And so we go to L.A., and nothing’s happening. There’s no courts here. It’s really hard to get onto any private courts.”

Because it was “so popular everywhere [else],” the two were surprised by the lack of padel play in Los Angeles and decided they needed to rectify the situation. Guided by their love of the “tennis aesthetic,” Lane and photographer Grace Adèle decided to launch Pleasure Padel Club, a company focused on creating a community for the sport and retro-inspired athleisure.

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Their goal, in short, is to make “padel a bit more cool and have that kind of cool, chic aesthetic to it,” she says.

With a love of both tennis and padel, Lane has also embraced the popular sport of pickleball. Initially, she “was very much against it” but recently has “been converted to think it’s cool,” Lane explains. 

“Padel is amazing because it’s really fun. It’s really quick and easy,” she says of the sport and notes that she feels the same about pickleball. According to Lane, it’s an “easy” and “fun” game that “anyone can play.”

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