The smaller court size adds a strong emphasis and advantage to net play and creates a fast and reaction-based game.

During year 1898, paddle tennis was invented by Episcopal minister Frank Peter Beal in Albion, Michigan.

Afterwards, the sport spread in lower Manhattan where Beal wanted to create recreational activities for neighborhood children.

The first tournament was held in 1922, and the United States Paddle Tennis Association (USPTA) was formed the following year.

Elected chairman of the USPTA rules committee, he wanted to make the game more appealing to adults, and instituted features including an enlarged court and an underhanded serve.

Platform tennis is a similar sport invented in 1928 in Scarsdale, New York by James Cogswell and Fessenden Blanchard.