Padel looks complicated from the outside and feels obvious after one game. The scoring is borrowed from tennis, the serve is underarm, and the walls are your friend. Learn these few rules and you'll walk onto the court knowing exactly what's going on.
This is the plain-English version: no rulebook jargon, just what actually happens in a game and the handful of things that catch beginners out. By the end you'll know how to keep score, how to serve, and what to do when the ball flies past you into the glass.
Come and learn it on court — we'll teach you as you go.
The basics: how a game is played
Padel is doubles — two against two — on an enclosed court split by a net. One team serves, the other returns, and you rally until someone fails to return the ball legally. The ball must bounce on the floor once on your side before you hit it (volleys are allowed too, except on the return of serve), and your shot has to clear the net and land in the opponents' court.
The big twist is the walls. After the ball bounces on the floor, it can come off your own back or side glass and you can still play it. That single rule turns desperate defence into a real part of the game.
Scoring: it's just tennis scoring
If you've ever watched tennis, you already know this. Points go 15, 30, 40, then game. The first team to 40 that wins the next point takes the game — unless it's 40–40.
Points in a game
At 40–40 it's deuce. From there a team must win two points in a row: the first wins "advantage," the second wins the game. Lose the point on advantage and it goes back to deuce.
Win six games (by a margin of two) and you take the set; win two sets and you take the match. One thing worth knowing: most social and club games use a golden point — at deuce, the very next point decides the game. It's faster and a lot more dramatic, and the returning team usually gets to choose which side receives.
How to serve (underarm, every time)
The serve is the part beginners worry about and then realise is easy. It's always underarm, and you get two attempts, just like tennis. Here's the whole rule in four points:
- Stand behind the service line and bounce the ball once on the floor first.
- Hit it below waist height — contact must be at or under your waist.
- Serve diagonally into the opposite service box, just like tennis.
- After the bounce it can touch the side glass and stay in — but if it hits the metal mesh fence, it's a fault.
Playing the walls
This is what makes padel padel. After the ball bounces on the floor on your side, it'll often carry on into your back or side glass. You're allowed to let it rebound off your own walls and play it back over the net. So a ball that's "past you" usually isn't lost at all — you turn, let the glass do the work, and flick it back.
You can also bounce the ball off the opponents' walls with your own shot, as long as it lands in their court first. What you can't do is play the ball straight onto a wall on your side before it has bounced on the floor — and you can never let it bounce on your floor twice.
The ball must bounce on the floor first, then it can use the walls. Floor first, walls second. Get that, and the rest is feel.
Three rules beginners get wrong
Nobody expects you to know everything on day one. But these three trip up almost every newcomer, so you'll be a step ahead just knowing them.
Overhand serving
Old tennis habits die hard. In padel the serve is always underarm, below the waist, after a bounce. No big overhead toss.
Volleying the return of serve
You can volley during most of a rally, but the return of serve must bounce first. Let the serve land, then play it.
Smashing your own wall first
If the ball is heading for your glass, wait for it to bounce on the floor before you play it. You can't take it off your own wall before the floor bounce.
Padel rules: the common questions
Now go and use them
Rules make a lot more sense with a racket in your hand. Book a court, or come to a beginner session and we'll walk you through every one of these on court.