HEAD Tour Court Bag 40L

Tennis Nuts lists one main compartment, a shoe compartment and a big zip pocket on the outside for things you want in a hurry: keys, a wallet, a tube of balls. Adjustable handle straps take the load. The whole bag folds, so it can ride inside a bigger bag on a trip and come out when you reach the courts.

What it doesn't have is a padded racket compartment or a thermal lining. Both belong to HEAD's racket bags, such as the Tour Padel Bag L, which has the same 40 litre rating but is cut as a racket bag, about 60 cm long.

Physically, yes. The FIP caps a padel racket at 45.5 cm including the handle, and the bag is 50 cm on its longest side, so a racket lies flat with a little to spare. Whether you should is another matter. Nothing in the bag holds the racket still, and the frame ends up rubbing against shoes and bottles.

If you do use it, put the racket in a cover from our padel racket covers and pack it on top. For one racket and a full change of kit, though, a bag with a racket compartment such as the HEAD Tour 25L backpack is the tidier answer.

Players who travel to padel weekends and want a spare bag that folds into the case, anyone who plays after the gym and needs a duffle for the other half of the day, and families who share a racket bag between players but each want their own kit bag. The shoe compartment is what makes it more than a plain holdall, because sand-filled turf shouldn't touch a clean towel.

Pair it with a racket bag from our range of padel bags, or with a padel racket in a cover if you're buying your first kit. The nearest racket bag in the same range is the 40 litre HEAD Tour Large. If you're also picking court footwear, see our padel shoes.

Shoes go in the shoe compartment, soles inward. Towel, change of clothes and washbag in the main space. Keys, phone and a tube from padel balls in the outside pocket. Folded flat, it takes almost no room at the bottom of a suitcase, which is the best argument for owning one.