How to Play Padel

An important component of padel is the wrist strap located at the base of the handle. This must be secured around your wrist before serving to your opponent. This is done for safety purposes.

Players change sides during odd games.

Serving

On each serve, a player has two chances to serve the ball over the net and onto the opponent’s side of the court. The serve must be crossed, meaning that the serve must cross the court diagonally to the opposite quadrant of the opponent’s court.

The serve must be underhand and stay below the player’s waist.

The ball must bounce once in the opponent’s court and cannot bounce off the walls before being returned by the opponent.

Walls

The walls can be used in two ways: the ball can bounce and hit the wall before the volley is returned on your side of the court, or the ball can be hit against the wall to land the ball on the opponent’s side of the court.

Scoring

Your team will score a point in the following circumstances:

• If the ball bounces twice on the opponent’s court
• If the ball strikes an opposing player
• If the ball hits a fixture such as wire fencing or a post before going over the net or into the opponent’s court.

The scoring system is similar to tennis:

• First point: 15
• Second point: 30
• Third point: 40
• In the case of a 40-40 score, players can use Deuce/Advantage scoring or golden point scoring.

Golden Point

In place of Advantage scoring, players can use the golden point rule when a deuce is reached-

• The golden point occurs when the score reaches deuce during any game.
• The receiving team chooses whether the service will come from the right or left of the court.
• The team that wins that one single point wins the game.

Winning

To win, an individual or team must win three sets. To win a set an individual or team must win six games by at least two games. If not, there is a tiebreaker game to determine the winner of the set.