What is padel?
Padel is a racket sport typically played as doubles on a small, glass-enclosed court.
Scoring is the same as tennis and the rules are similar, with the big difference being that you can play off the walls. The balls look identical, but padel balls have a little less pressure. Long rallies are frequent, seemingly impossible shots are common and points often culminate in drama and laughter. It’s addictively good fun.
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So here is a summary of the rules of padel.
Overview
and scoring
• Padel is played in sets, and each set is made up of games, with scoring exactly as in tennis: 0-15-30-40-game.
• It is most commonly played as doubles.
• To win a game, a player MUST be ahead by at least two points.
• The first team to win at least six games and be ahead by two games wins the set.
• Typically matches are three sets, with the first team to win two sets declared the winner.
Getting Started
• Play begins with an underarm serve diagonally across the court, bounced first and hit below waist height.
• The serve must land in the opposite service box and is valid as long as it doesn’t hit the cage after the first bounce – it can hit the glass walls.
• If the serve hits the net and is not out then the server gets a further try, a let.
• The server has a first and second serve as in tennis.
In Play
• During play, players can play a ball directly back, can volley or can play off any of the glass walls on their side of the court.
