Former England rugby star Joe Marler on his new-found love of padel

It was during the following World Cup, in France in 2023, that he and several other members of the England squad discovered padel.

 

Since his retirement last November, the Harlequins legend has devoted himself with characteristic gusto to the 20x10. The former prop even charted his attempts to become a padel pro in an irreverent and hilarious series on social media.

 

We caught up with Marler at Rocket Padel Beckton, where he was a team captain at the first 2025 event on the Pro Am Padel Tour, which brings pro padel players and celebrities together in a fun, cause-driven competition.

Joe, tells us about your progress in your quest to become a pro padel player

I wanted to be a pro - then I played the pros! You look at all the clips on social media and you think, 'Yeah, I can do that!' Then you see it live, and you think, 'Hmm, I may have been a bit disrespectful in believing that I could make it!' The pro players are unbelievable to watch live. The battles between Louie (Harris) and the Fonz (Alfonso Patacho) here today have just been unbelievable.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that most things I do are tongue in cheek, so becoming a pro wasn't a serious ambition. My thinking was that I needed to get into something competitive that would keep me driven once I left rugby. Padel gave me that the very first time I tried it.

I got addicted to chasing the ultimate rally - those spectacular clips of the pros going back and forth and the adrenaline pumping. That's what I was after. But I quickly realised that I am nowhere near capable of doing that! Not yet, anyway. But the beauty of padel is that it is a game for everyone. Anyone can play and enjoy it.

I still needed to satisfy that competitive animal within me - and beating my kids at football in the garden, or even Uno in the kitchen, wasn't really going to cut it for me! Usually they beat me at that anyway, so I needed something else. It has replaced that competitive side of things and keeps me ticking over.

So where do you play?

I play at Padel4all at The Saffrons in Eastbourne, usually with my brother-in-law and two mates. The beauty of it is you can turn up and play with anyone and I love meeting and playing against randoms. I've also joined the box leagues. It gets quite competitive, especially when there's hot-headed young males who see my name on the app and think they can take me on!

I try to bring my attributes from the rugby field to the padel court, but there weren't too many - mainly sledging and slowing the game down.

When did you first set eyes on the game?

During the 2023 Rugby World Cup, we were based in a beautiful place in Le Touqet. Where we trained there was a racquets centre with several padel courts. We were like, 'What's this?'

I'm not joking - about eight or nine of us in that 31-man squad must have played more padel than rugby during that World Cup. We were instantly addicted. We went straight to the courts after training every day and we had to hide from the physio. He said to us, 'Get off there, you've got to play Argentina at the weekend!'

Danny Care, Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly and Jamie George were pretty good. Surprisingly George Martin was also good. He had no real finesse about him but his serve was lethal and he has quite an intimidating presence on the court. I think flankers and centres make for good padel body types.

What have been the biggest lessons so far?

Trying to work out that power doesn't actually matter that much in padel takes years. It still hasn't clicked with me. The amount of times I wind up for a smash and send it into the back glass or into the net, I may never learn.

It's a bit like golf. We chase that one beautiful moment where you hammer a drive down the middle of the fairway, then you think, 'This is it! I've nailed it. I'm going to be a pro!' I've done one pop-out volley ever, but that was during a coaching session, so it doesn't really count.

How do you compare to your fellow team captain Jason Manford?

Jason is solid. He's a percentage player. He knows how to get the ball back. He's got a padel academy in his name, so he must be half decent. But I'll say this: he's dull. Not his comedy, of course, just his padel. He gets the ball back, hits it down the middle, it's consistent, but it's boring. Unfortunately, it's the kind of padel that tends to be successful at our kind of level, but it's completely against all my instincts.

You're supporting the mental health charity CALM. Do you think there's a link between padel and positive mental health?

For me, it's an overwhelming yes. Getting exercise, catching up with people and having that time to yourself is massively important for me, especially now I don't have that camaraderie of rugby on a day-to-day basis. It makes a huge difference.