What Is Padel?

Every point begins with a serve. In padel, the serve is always underarm — the server must bounce the ball on the ground behind the service line and strike it below waist height. This is one of padel's most beginner-friendly features: unlike tennis, you don't need to learn a complex overhead serve motion. Everyone can serve from day one.

The serve must land in the diagonally opposite service box. The ball may then hit the side or back wall after landing without the point being lost — giving the receiver more time to react. Once the serve is in, the rally begins.

During the rally, you can let the ball bounce once before hitting it, or volley it before it bounces (as in tennis). The crucial difference: after that first bounce, the ball can deflect off any wall and still be in play. You can also deliberately play the ball into your own back wall — called a salida por cristal — to create angles that wrong-foot your opponents.

Points typically end at the net with a smash, a volley winner, or when a team fails to return the ball before the second bounce. The net — like in tennis — is 88cm high at the posts and 88cm in the centre (slightly different from tennis). Because the court is small and all four players are involved, points tend to be fast and tactical rather than long baseline grinders.

Padel scoring is identical to tennis: points go 15 – 30 – 40 – game. Games make up sets (first to 6 games, with a 2-game lead). Matches are typically best-of-three sets, with a tiebreak at 6–6 in each set. For a full rules breakdown including the golden point rule and tiebreak formats, see the Padel Rules Guide.

One notable rule in professional padel is the golden point (or punto de oro): at deuce (40–40), instead of playing advantage, the receiving team chooses which side to receive on and one sudden-death point decides the game. This makes professional matches faster and eliminates the marathon deuce sequences common in tennis.

Padel consistently beats every other racket sport in the “hours to first fun rally” metric. There are three structural reasons:

1. 1

   The court is small

   At 20m × 10m, you cover far less ground than in tennis. Even unfit players can reach most balls within their first session.

2. 2

   Walls give you a second chance

   Unlike tennis, where a shot that goes wide is simply lost, in padel the ball can deflect off the back wall and still be playable. Beginners rally longer because they get more chances per point.

3. 3

   No overhead serve

   The underarm serve is mastered in minutes. You don't need to develop a separate serving technique before you can play a real point.

Most beginners are genuinely rallying and enjoying the game within the first 30 minutes on court. A single lesson with a qualified coach — who will correct your grip, position, and movement early — means you'll build good habits from day one rather than un-learning bad ones later.

Padel is frequently described as a cross between tennis and squash, and that analogy is accurate. It shares tennis's scoring system and net-play tactics, but the enclosed court and wall dynamics are pure squash. Here's how the two compare:

Padel courts are available in dedicated padel clubs, multi-sport leisure centres, and tennis clubs that have converted or added padel courts. Spain has over 20,000 courts — you're rarely more than a few kilometres from one in any major Spanish city. The UK, France, Sweden, Italy, and the UAE have seen the fastest recent growth in new court construction.

For standard dimensions, surface types, and what a padel court looks like inside, see the Padel Court Guide.

Most clubs offer court hire by the hour (typically £15–30 / €18–35 per hour for the full court, split four ways). Equipment hire — rackets and balls — is usually available at the desk. You don't need to own anything to play your first game.