The rules, scored

Padel borrows its scoreboard from tennis and its geometry from squash, then adds rules that belong to neither. What follows is the official version, taken from the International Padel Federation rulebook in application since 1 January 2026. The court is a 10 by 20 metre rectangle, fully enclosed, walls of glass or solid material with metal mesh above. Everything below happens inside that box.

The serve is underhand

Every point begins the same way. The server stands with at least one foot behind the service line, bounces the ball on the ground inside their own service box, and strikes it at or below waist height, with at least one foot on the ground. The ball must travel diagonally over the net and bounce inside the receiver's box. The lines count as good.

You get two attempts. Missing the ball entirely when you swing at it is a fault, as is touching the service line with your foot. One detail that surprises tennis players: a serve that bounces in the correct box and then hits the glass is perfectly legal and playable. A serve that bounces in the box and then touches the metal fence before the second bounce is a fault. Glass keeps the serve alive, mesh kills it.

If the serve clips the net and still lands correctly in the box, it is called and replayed, as in traditional tennis. A disruption on the first serve means the whole point restarts with two serves; on the second serve, only that serve is retaken.

The scoring is tennis

Points run love, 15, 30, 40, game. A set goes to the first pair to win six games with a margin of two; at five games all you play on to 7-5, and at six all a tie-break decides it. The tie-break is first to seven points with a two-point margin. Matches are the best of three sets.

The rally itself has its own clock: a maximum of 20 seconds between points, 90 seconds at changes of side, which happen after the first, third and every subsequent odd game.

The glass and the mesh

This is the rule cluster that makes padel padel, and it turns on one distinction: the ball must always bounce on the floor before it touches any wall on the opponent's side.

Playing the ball off your own back glass is legal, and central to the game. A return that rebounds off the walls of your own court before crossing the net is a correct return, provided it then lands in the opponent's court. Once the ball has bounced on the opponent's floor, it can hit their glass, their mesh, ricochet through the corner where wall meets ground, even fly back over the net to your side, and it stays in play until the second bounce.

The reverse is fatal. If your shot hits the opponent's walls or fence directly, without bouncing on their floor first, you lose the point. And your own mesh is never your friend: if the ball you hit touches the metal fence on your own side, the point is gone. The full precision: glass on your side can be part of your shot, mesh on your side cannot, and nothing on the opponent's side may be touched before the floor.

Lets and faults

A point is replayed as a let when something outside the game intrudes: the ball splits mid-rally, a stray ball or object invades the court, or play is interrupted by circumstances unconnected to the players. A player claiming a let must say so immediately; play on, and the right to the let is lost.

The list of ways to lose a point is long and specific. Letting the ball bounce twice. Touching the net, the posts or any part of the opponent's court while the ball is live. Hitting the ball before it has crossed the net. The ball touching you, your partner or your clothing. Hitting the ball twice, hitting it with a thrown racket, or both partners striking it. Jumping over the net during the point. Two consecutive service faults. And a modern addition: if a player's wrist cord breaks or the racket is dropped during the point, the pair loses it on the spot. The cord is mandatory equipment, not decoration.

Golden point

Since the 2026 revision, deuce comes in three official flavours. Traditional advantage plays on until one pair wins two consecutive points. The golden point compresses everything: at deuce, one deciding point settles the game, the receiving pair chooses which side takes the serve, and the receivers may not swap positions. In mixed matches, the receiver must be the same sex as the server.

Between the two sits the new star point: advantage is played at the first and second deuce, and only at the third deuce does a single deciding point end the game. Three deuces, then sudden death. Professional padel's answer to a sport that wanted drama, but not too soon.