Five racquet sports, five separate rule books.

All five sports are played with a racket or paddle, and that is close to where the likeness ends. Tennis and badminton are played across a net on an open court. Pickleball uses a tennis-type net on a much smaller court. Padel is played in pairs across a net inside walls. Squash has no net at all: two players share an enclosed court and play the ball against a front wall. Each sport has its own governing bodies, and each sport's rule-making body publishes its own rules.

The five sports side by side

Each row below comes from that sport's own rule book, in the edition named. The figures are not comparable measures of anything; they are simply what each document sets.

Every sport above has a detailed page in this section: tennis, pickleball, padel, squash and badminton.

What each rule book says its game is

Tennis

The foreword to the ITF Rules of Tennis 2026 names the International Tennis Federation as the sport's governing body, responsible for its rules. Member nations voted in October 2025 for the body to trade as World Tennis, Sportcal reported, but the 2026 rule book still says that references to the ITF mean ITF Limited. Singles and doubles share one court, which is wider for doubles.

Pickleball

The 2026 USA Pickleball rulebook (Section 1) describes a paddle sport that mixes elements of badminton, table tennis and tennis, played with a perforated ball as singles or doubles. Two features set it apart in the rulebook's own account: the two-bounce rule, under which the serve and the return must each bounce before anyone may volley, and the non-volley zone, which reaches 7 feet from the net on each side and in which a player may not volley.

Padel

The FIP's 2026 rules describe a game played by pairs across a net, on a court closed in by walls and metal mesh. The ball may be played off the walls, and in set cases play may continue outside the court after the ball leaves over the walls (Rule 16). The serve must be struck at or below waist height and goes diagonally into the receiving box. A wrist cord fixed to the racket is obligatory.

Squash

The World Squash Singles Rules 2025 describe two players in a court returning the ball alternately after a serve (Rules 1.1 to 1.3). A good return reaches the front wall above the tin and below the out-line before it bounces on the floor (Rule 6.2). Because the game is played at speed in a confined space, the rules open by naming two principles: safety and fair play.

Badminton

The BWF Laws define singles as one player per side and doubles as two. Play is with a shuttle rather than a ball, and at the moment of service the whole shuttle must be below 1.15 m from the court surface (Law 9.1.6). The same Laws include clauses, printed in italics, that apply only to Para badminton.

Where each game is said to have begun

Every one of these origin stories has more than one version. The history section gives each in full; in short:

• Lawn tennis: the International Tennis Hall of Fame dates Major Walter Clopton Wingfield's patent to 23 February 1874; another Hall of Fame history says his game was unveiled in December 1873, Wikipedia dates his rules and sets to March 1874, and whether he fully patented the game is disputed. Wikipedia says Harry Gem and Augurio Perera had played their own lawn game at Edgbaston, Birmingham, for years before that. See lawn tennis and Wingfield.
• Badminton: the Badminton Museum says the game grew out of battledore and shuttlecock at Badminton House in England in the early 1860s and probably went from England to India. A popular account, repeated by Olympics.com as summarised in search results, has British officers bringing it from India to Badminton House in 1873; no museum or governing-body source read for this site records that 1873 occasion. See badminton origins.
• Squash: Wikipedia places its start at Harrow School around 1830; the World Squash Library says during or just before the 1850s. See squash at Harrow and after.
• Pickleball: HistoryLink records summer 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, as the accepted date, and also records accounts giving 1963 and 1966. See pickleball on Bainbridge Island.
• Padel: the FIP dates it to 1969 in Acapulco, Mexico; a 2023 article in the Aspetar Sports Medicine Journal says 1968. See padel from Acapulco.

One name, two meanings

"PPA" means two different things on this site. In pickleball it is the PPA Tour, a professional tour. In padel it is the Professional Padel Association, the players' association that helped found the Premier Padel tour. They are unrelated.

Related games this site does not cover

• Beach tennis: governed by the ITF, whose 2026 rule book carries the Rules of Beach Tennis as Appendix XI.
• Squash 57 (formerly racketball): played on the squash singles court, as the WSF court specifications note.
• Table tennis, racquetball, platform tennis and real tennis: separate games, outside the scope of this site.