In short: padel is played by four people on an enclosed court, scored exactly like tennis (15, 30, 40, game), and the walls stay in play once the ball has already bounced on the floor. The serve is always underhand and must land in the opposite service box after one bounce. Learn those three rules and you can play your first match.
Most people who pick up a padel racket for the first time assume it is just small tennis. It is not. The glass and mesh walls behind you are part of the game, the serve rules are stricter, and you almost never play one on one.
The court and the walls
A padel court is 20 meters long and 10 meters wide, split by a net, and boxed in by walls of glass and metal mesh. That size is fixed and much smaller than a tennis court. The back walls are where beginners get confused.
Here is the key rule: after the ball bounces once on your side of the floor, it can hit your own back or side wall, and you are still allowed to play it. What you cannot do is let it hit the wall first before the floor bounce and count that as good. The floor bounce always comes before the wall. If you are still learning to read those rebounds, the basics every new player should know before a first match will save you a lot of missed balls.
The serve: underhand and one bounce
The serve trips up almost everyone. You must hit it underhand, below waist height, and bounce the ball once on the floor before you strike it. You serve diagonally into the box across the net, same as tennis. The receiver then has to let the serve bounce on the floor before returning it. No jumping on the serve.
- Serve underhand, contact at or below waist level.
- Bounce the ball on the ground once before hitting it.
- The serve must land in the diagonal service box.
- You get two attempts, just like tennis.
- The receiver must let it bounce before returning.
- A serve that hits the mesh fence after the bounce is a fault.
Two rules that never bend
Two things stay true on every single point. First, the ball must clear the net and land inside the opposing court. Second, the ball is allowed only one bounce on the floor before you return it. Miss either and you lose the point. Once players get comfortable with rebounds, the next skill to learn is the overhead defensive shot. Our guide to the bandeja and how to control it is the natural next step.
How scoring works
The point count is identical to tennis: 15, 30, 40, then game. Tied at 40 is deuce, and one side needs two points in a row to close it out. Win six games (with a two game gap) and you take the set. Most matches are best of three sets.
At six games each, you play a tiebreak: first to seven points with a two point margin wins that set. The official rules of padel confirm the format is doubles only. There is no singles version in standard competition, so you always play two against two.
Grab a partner, walk onto a court, and serve underhand. The walls and the scoring make sense faster once the ball is in the air.