Padel Rules Explained
The 16 rules that matter most — serving, scoring, the walls and common faults.
Serving
- The serve must be underhand and below the waist
- The serve must land in the diagonal service box
- You get two serve attempts
- Foot faults on serve
Scoring
- Scoring is the same as tennis: 15, 30, 40, game
- Golden Point decides deuce in most modern formats
- Players change ends on odd games
Walls
- You can play the ball off your own glass walls
- A ball that hits the opponent wall before their floor is your point
- Hitting your own fence after the floor bounce is allowed; direct fence contact is not
Play
- The ball may only bounce once on the floor
- You may volley, but never volley the serve
- You may play the ball around the net post
- A ball leaving the court over the walls is out
- Padel is almost always played as doubles