The court
- — Size: 20m long × 10m wide.
- — Net: 88cm at the centre, 92cm at the posts.
- — Walls: glass at the back (3m high), metal mesh on the sides.
- — Service line: 6.95m from the net on each side. The serve is hit from behind it (not the back wall).
- — Service boxes: split by a centre line into right and left boxes on each side of the service line.
Serving rules
- — The serve is underhand — struck at or below waist height.
- — You must bounce the ball on the floor first, then strike it.
- — You serve from behind the service line, not the back wall.
- — The serve must land in the diagonally-opposite service box and bounce there before the receiver hits it.
- — You get two serve attempts per point. A serve that hits the net cord and lands in is a let — replay (unlimited).
- — A serve that lands in the service box and then hits the side wall is good (the receiver plays it). A serve that lands in the service box and then hits the back glass wall before the receiver plays it is a fault.
How the walls work
The walls are the defining feature of padel. After the ball has bounced once on the floor on your side, you may let it carom off any wall — back glass, side mesh, or both — before returning it. You may also play it directly off the bounce without using a wall.
What you cannot do: hit a ball that has touched a wall before bouncing on the floor on your side. The order is always floor → wall (optional) → your shot. Not wall → floor → your shot.
You also cannot hit your own walls when returning the ball over the net. Your shot must clear the net into the opponent's side directly — your walls are out for you. Once the ball is on the opponent's side, their walls are in for them.
Scoring
- — Point progression: 0 → 15 → 30 → 40 → game (tennis scoring, identical).
- — Deuce: at 40-40, you need to win two consecutive points to win the game (advantage → game).
- — Set: first to 6 games, win by 2.
- — Tiebreak: at 6-6 in a set, a 7-point tiebreak (win by 2) decides the set.
- — Match: best of 3 sets.
scoreboard
live.
Gold point (sudden death at deuce)
Gold point — also called punto de oro, sudden death, or no-ad scoring — replaces the tennis advantage rule. At deuce (40-40), the next point wins the game outright. The receiving team chooses which side they want to receive the gold point on. There is no advantage and no second deuce.
Gold point is the standard scoring on the FIP and Premier Padel tours. It's also nearly universal at club leagues because it makes match length predictable. The Premier Padel tour also uses it specifically because it produces more dramatic point-by-point pressure.
When a ball is in or out
A ball is "in" if it lands inside the lines of the opponent's side of the court (not counting the side mesh or the back glass — those are walls, not playing surface). A ball that lands on a line is in.
A ball that goes over the back glass or out the top of the cage is out — even if you might claim it would have come back. A ball that hits a metal post supporting the cage and bounces back into play is out (the posts and the cage edges are out of play).
A ball that hits the opponent's wall before bouncing on their floor is out — same logic as the wall rule on your own side. Walls are only in play after a floor bounce.
Frequently asked
Are the walls really in play?
Yes — once the ball has bounced once on the floor on your side, you can let it bounce off any combination of walls and then play it back. This is the single most distinctive thing about padel. Tennis players take a few sessions to stop trying to take the ball before it hits the wall.
Can you smash the ball out of the cage?
Yes — and it's legal. If you smash the ball, it bounces on the opponent's side, then bounces over the back glass and out of the cage, you win the point. The famous "por tres" (out the side) and "por cuatro" (out the top) shots are show-stoppers in pro padel.
How does serving work in padel?
Underhand, struck at or below the waist, with a mandatory floor bounce first. Two attempts per point. Diagonal into the opposite service box, which must bounce in the box before the receiver plays it. Lets are replayed unlimited times.
Padel vs paddle tennis?
Different sports. Padel is the Spanish/Latin American sport invented in 1969 with the glass cage and walls in play. Paddle tennis is an older American sport played on a smaller hard court with no walls. They get confused constantly.
How long does a padel match last?
Best-of-3 padel matches typically run 60-90 minutes. With gold point, you trend closer to 60. Without it, deuces can drag a single game out for several minutes.
Can you play padel singles?
Technically yes — there's a singles configuration on a narrower court — but in practice padel is overwhelmingly a doubles sport. The court was designed for four players and walls in play, and singles is rare even at pro level.
What is "por tres"?
Por tres ("through the three", referring to the gap between the side mesh and the cage post) is the show-stopping padel shot where you play the ball <em>off</em> the side wall, OUT of the cage, and back around the post — bouncing on the opponent's side legally before exiting. It looks like a magic trick. It's legal.