Zmash Padel: Michigan's Entire Padel Scene Is One Club
Zmash Padel: Michigan's Entire Padel Scene Is One Club
Eight courts, 32-foot ceilings, and three Red Wings alumni — inside the only padel club in the state
Padel Lands in Metro Detroit
Michigan has exactly one padel club. Not one notable club, or one flagship club — one, full stop. Zmash Padel opened in Sterling Heights on January 4, 2024, and more than two years later it is still the only dedicated padel facility in the state listed on Padel Browser.
That is an unusual position for a club to occupy. In Florida or Texas, a new club opens into a crowded market and has to differentiate itself on price, coaching, or vibe. Zmash didn't join a scene. It had to become one — recruit the players, teach the rules, and build the habit from nothing, in a state where most people had never seen a padel court.
The Red Wings Connection
The reason padel reached Metro Detroit at all runs through Sweden. As Crain's Detroit Business reported, Zmash was launched by three former Detroit Red Wings — Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall and Gustav Nyquist — alongside Robert Kjellberg, a former Swedish professional padel player, with co-founders Mikael Sjödahl and Johan Lindfors.
Zetterberg found the sport after retiring in 2019 and moving home to Sweden. He told The Hockey News it was one of the few activities that didn't aggravate the back trouble that ended his NHL career while still giving him a real workout — and that he got "really, really hooked."
That backstory carries more weight than a typical celebrity investment. Sweden is one of the most padel-dense countries in the world; the founders weren't betting on a trend they had read about in a deck, they were importing a sport they already played several times a week. It is a pattern we have traced across the country in Celebrities & Athletes Betting Big on US Padel — the most durable US clubs tend to be built by people who play, not people who spotted a market.
Inside the Facility — 8 Courts, 32-Foot Ceilings
Zmash runs eight glass-enclosed indoor courts over blue turf, under 32-foot ceilings. Per Social House News, the court dimensions meet the standard required to host international competition.
The ceiling height is the spec worth dwelling on. Padel is a lob-heavy game, and 32 feet is genuinely generous for an indoor build — plenty of American indoor clubs are warehouse conversions with clearance in the low twenties, where a well-struck lob hits the roof and the tactical heart of the sport quietly disappears. Zmash was purpose-built rather than retrofitted, and it shows in that one number.
When it opened, Zmash was widely described — including on its USA Padel listing — as the largest indoor padel facility in the United States. In early 2024, that was a fair claim. It is not true anymore, and why it stopped being true is the most interesting thing about it.
Four US clubs on Padel Browser now exceed it: Urban Padel in Doral and Xcel Padel West Palm both run 12 indoor courts, Replay Club in Boynton Beach has 10, and Racket Social Club Denver has nine. Zmash went from national record-holder to fifth-largest in roughly two years without changing a thing about itself. That is the real shape of US padel growth, and we break the numbers down in The Growth of Padel in the US.
One superlative does still hold: Zmash is comfortably the largest indoor padel facility in the Midwest. The next closest open club is Proximo Padel in Chicago at seven courts.
Why Michigan, and Why Now
Weather, mostly. Michigan's outdoor season is short and unreliable, which makes indoor-first the only model that works this far north — the same logic behind buildouts in Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Minneapolis. We mapped the regional picture in The Growth of Padel in the Midwest, and the Chicago cluster in Where to Play Padel in Chicago.
The other half is simple math: Metro Detroit is one of the largest metro areas in the country with only a single padel option. Eight courts sounds like a lot until they are the only eight for several million people.
The founders appear to agree. Zetterberg has said Zmash has long-term plans for additional southeast Michigan sites, with Canton, Plymouth and Ann Arbor named as candidates, and Crain's reported interest in a second location in western Oakland County. None of those has opened yet — but Michigan's count of one looks more like a starting point than a ceiling.
How to Play There
Zmash Padel
Sterling Heights puts the club about 30 minutes north of downtown Detroit, off the M-59 corridor — an easy drive from Troy, Rochester Hills, Warren and most of Macomb and Oakland County. Because it is the only club in the state, the membership skews broad rather than niche: hockey players and tennis converts who came for the novelty, Swedish and Latin American expats who already knew the sport, and a steady stream of complete beginners. There is a pro shop, a lounge, and coaching on site, and the club carries a perfect 5.0 Google rating.
Address: 6635 Sterling Dr S, Sterling Heights, MI 48312 | Phone: (947) 231-6515
Courts: 8 | Type: Indoor | Ceiling: 32ft | Rating: 5.0★
Court bookings run through Playtomic, and you do not need to be a member to reserve one — memberships exist, but non-members are welcome to book. Published hours are 9am–9pm Monday through Friday and 9am–6pm on weekends. If you have never played, book a lesson or a clinic rather than an open court; padel's scoring is borrowed from tennis but the walls change everything, and an hour of coaching will save you a frustrating first session.
You can check availability at Zmash and browse everything else in the state on our Michigan padel courts page.
Frequently Asked Questions
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