Padel Rules Explained: Serve, Walls, Faults and Scoring

The serve

The serve is the only time the painted lines really matter. The rules:

• Stand behind your service line, on the same side of the centre line as the box you are serving from.
• Bounce the ball behind the service line, then hit it at or below waist height.
• Keep at least one foot on the ground as you strike, and don’t step on the line.
• The ball must clear the net and bounce in the diagonally opposite service box. Lines count as in.
• You have two attempts, as in tennis.

What makes padel’s serve different from tennis is what happens after the bounce. If a good serve then hits the back or side glass, it is still in play: the receiver can wait for it to come off the wall. If it hits the wire mesh after bouncing, it is a fault. A serve that clips the net and lands in the box is a let and is replayed, unless it then hits the mesh, in which case it’s a fault. Our guide to the padel serve goes into placement.

The one-bounce rule and the walls

This is the rule that makes padel padel.

1. Your shot must cross the net and bounce on the opponents’ floor first. If it hits their glass or mesh before bouncing, you lose the point.
2. On your side, the ball may bounce once and then hit any of your walls, glass or mesh, as many times as it likes. You can play it any time until it bounces a second time.
3. You may hit the ball into your own walls to get it back over the net. It is legal, and occasionally the only option.

Faults and lost points during a rally

You lose the point if:

• the ball bounces twice on your side;
• your shot hits the opponents’ walls or mesh before bouncing on their floor;
• your shot hits the net and doesn’t go over, or goes out without bouncing on their side first;
• the ball touches you, your partner or your clothing (except your racket);
• you touch the net or the net posts with your body or racket while the ball is in play;
• you hit the ball twice, or both partners hit it;
• the ball hits the ceiling or overhead lights at an indoor club (most clubs play this as a lost point for the hitter).

When the ball leaves the court

If your shot bounces on the opponents’ side and then flies out of the court, over the walls or through a side opening, the point is yours unless they can get to it. On courts with openings and enough space outside, the rules let players run out and hit the ball back before it bounces twice. That is the origin of the por tres and por cuatro. Many UK clubs have no space to do this, in which case the point is simply won.

Scoring

Padel uses tennis scoring: points go 15, 30, 40, game; a set is the first to six games, with a tie-break at 6–6; matches are usually best of three sets. At 40–40, many clubs and social formats play a golden point: one deciding point, with the receiving pair choosing who receives it. Full details are in how padel scoring works.

Etiquette worth knowing

• Call your own side’s lines and double bounces honestly.
• Don’t walk behind a court while a point is on.
• Wear a racket strap: the wrist cord is required, because a racket flying into glass is nobody’s idea of fun.
• Arrive with balls, or buy a tube at the desk.

If you are new, start with how to play padel, then check your level before joining an open match.