Padel Rules: Scoring, Serving and How the Walls Work

Padel scoring runs on the same point sequence as tennis, 15, 30, 40, game, played to six games a set and best of three sets, but the serve is always underarm and the court’s glass and mesh walls stay in play through every rally. Those two facts, tennis-style scoring paired with a serve and wall system tennis doesn’t have, are what every other rule in the sport builds on.

• Scoring runs 15-30-40-game to six games a set, win by two, best of three sets, with three options at deuce: traditional advantage, golden point, or the newer Star Point, agreed before the match starts.
• The serve is underarm, bounced once first, struck at or below waist height, aimed diagonally, with one foot behind the service line and two attempts allowed per point.
• The walls stay live after a correct bounce, but a broken wrist cord or a dropped racket costs the point outright regardless of where the ball is.

How Do You Score in Padel?

Padel’s Rule 1, under the FIP Rules of Padel, Review of application 01.01.2026, sets the point sequence directly: the first point won is called 15, the second 30, the third 40, and the fourth wins the game, unless both pairs have reached three points each, at which point the score is called deuce. A set is won by the first pair to reach six games, always with a margin of at least two games over the other pair.

At deuce, the rulebook lists three ways a game can resolve, and the format must be agreed before the match starts rather than assumed. The default described first is traditional advantage scoring: the pair that wins the next point after deuce gains advantage, and winning the following point too wins the game, but losing it sends the score back to deuce, repeating until one pair wins two points in a row. Golden point, the second option, plays a single sudden-death point at deuce instead, with the receiving pair choosing which side to receive on and the winner of that one point taking the game; the receiving players cannot switch positions to receive it, and in mixed doubles specifically, the receiver on that deciding point must be the same sex as the server. The Star Point, added to the rulebook as of 1 January 2026, sits between the two: it gives each pair up to two chances to close out the game with consecutive points before forcing a single deciding point, with the same mixed-doubles receiving rule as golden point applying to its own decider. Tournament organizers choose which of the three formats a given event uses, and club or recreational play is free to use any of them by agreement.

A set that reaches six games apiece is settled by a tie-break rather than extended indefinitely, following the same general shape as a tennis tie-break, with points called by number rather than the 15-30-40 sequence. The rulebook also provides for shortened match formats at events that choose them, including a match tie-break played to ten points in place of a full third set, though the standard best-of-three-sets format with a regular tie-break at six games apiece remains the default.

Choice of ends and the right to serve first is decided by a coin toss or an equivalent draw before the match begins, with the pair that wins the toss choosing either the side of the court, the right to serve or receive first, or passing that choice to the other pair. Players change ends whenever the total number of games played in the set is odd, the same convention tennis uses, so the change happens after the first game, the third, and so on rather than at fixed intervals.

How Do You Serve in Padel?

Every padel serve is underarm, bounced once on the floor behind the service line before contact, and struck at or below waist height. Under the current rulebook, the server must keep at least one foot behind the service line and between the extension of the central service line and the side wall, a change from the two-feet requirement in the previous edition, and that foot cannot touch the service line, the central line extension, or the service box itself before the ball is struck.

The current edition also added a stricter timing rule: the ball cannot cross the service line or the central line extension before the server makes contact, meaning the bounce and the strike both have to happen while the ball is still within the server’s own service box. This sits alongside the foot-position change as one of the more consequential updates for players used to an older edition of the rules.

The serve must land diagonally in the opposite service box. A serve that lands correctly and then touches the side wall stays in play, but one that touches the metallic mesh fence is a fault. Each server gets two attempts per point, similar to tennis: a fault on the first serve allows a second attempt, and a second consecutive fault costs the point.

Service rotates by pair rather than by individual point. One partner serves an entire game before the serve passes to a player on the other pair, and partners alternate which of them serves each time their pair’s turn comes back around, keeping both players serving roughly equally across a full match. A serve that touches the net or net post and still lands correctly in the target box is called a net service under the rulebook rather than a fault, and is replayed exactly like a fault-free serve. That is a distinct category from a let, which covers the ball splitting, outside interference, or the receiver not being ready, all replayed under a separate rule.

The receiving side has more positional freedom than the server does. While the server is constrained to a specific spot behind the service line, the receiver and their partner can stand anywhere within their own half of the court, and the receiver isn’t required to wait in the diagonal box the serve is aimed at before the ball is struck. That freedom narrows at a golden point or Star Point decider, where the receiving pair still chooses which side to receive on but cannot change positions once that choice is made.

How Do the Walls and Glass Work in Padel?

Padel is built around one rule that has no equivalent in tennis: under Rule 12 of the FIP Rules of Padel, a ball that hits any part of the enclosure, the walls, the metallic mesh fence, the net, or the net posts, after first bouncing on the correct side of the court remains in play and can be returned before it bounces a second time. The rule is explicit that the mesh and its frame count as part of the fence in their entirety, so a ball rebounding off either is treated identically as far as staying live.

That same rule works in reverse, too: a ball that reaches the wall or mesh before bouncing on the floor first isn’t a legal continuation of play, it’s simply out, since the walls only come into play after the correct initial bounce, never before it. Players are also authorized to leave the court entirely to play a ball that has traveled beyond the enclosure, under Rule 16, but only where the specific court meets FIP’s safety-area and access requirements; out-of-court play isn’t automatically available on every court, since a facility that skips the required safety area or access points doesn’t qualify.

The glass and mesh construction that makes all of this possible is a specific build, not an incidental design choice: FIP’s court rules require the enclosure’s mesh to sit at a fixed diagonal opening size and wire thickness, and the entire structure, from tempered glass to welded mesh, has to deliver a uniform, predictable bounce for the wall-play rules to function as written.

Two separate rules cover disruptions that have nothing to do with a clean winner or a fault. Rule 10 handles outside interruptions unconnected to either pair, a ball splitting, an object entering the court, or any similar unexpected event, and the point is replayed as a let rather than awarded to either side. Rule 11 covers interference between the players themselves: if a player disrupts an opponent’s shot deliberately, the point goes to the opponent outright, but if the disruption is involuntary, it’s a let and the point is replayed, escalating to a lost point for a second involuntary interference by the same pair.

What Counts as a Fault or Point Loss in Padel?

Rule 13 of the FIP Rules of Padel lists the specific ways a point is lost outright, separate from simply failing to return the ball. A player loses the point if they, their racket, or anything they’re wearing or carrying touches the net, the net posts, the tension cable, or any part of the opponent’s side of the court while the ball is in play, and the same rule covers standard faults like hitting the ball twice, including a carry where contact stretches out and changes the ball’s exit, both treated as a double hit. A return that bounces twice before it’s struck, or one that lands outside the opponent’s court without first satisfying padel’s wall-play sequence, also ends the point under the same rule.

Equipment failures are treated just as strictly. Under Rule 13, a player who breaks their safety wrist cord or drops their racket during a point loses that point immediately, regardless of where the ball is or who was winning the exchange. It’s a stricter standard than most faults, since it applies even when the equipment failure has nothing to do with where the ball actually goes.

Attire is governed separately, under the rulebook’s conduct and etiquette section rather than Rule 13’s point-loss list, but the consequence escalates in a specific order: players must wear suitable sports clothing and footwear, and failure to comply results in a fault first, with disqualification following if the issue isn’t corrected. Padel rackets carry a mandatory, non-elastic wrist cord specifically because of how strictly Rule 13 treats a broken one, which is worth knowing before stepping on court with worn or damaged equipment.

Rule 15 covers a narrower, more unusual case: if the ball gets stuck in a hole in the metallic fence after bouncing correctly in the opponent’s court, or lodges on the flat surface on top of a wall, the point is won outright rather than replayed, since there’s no way for either side to continue the rally. Combined with Rule 14’s definition of what counts as a correct return in the first place, the rulebook covers a point’s outcome from multiple angles rather than leaving edge cases to interpretation.

Padel Rules FAQs

Sources

International Padel Federation, “Rules of Padel,” Review of application 01.01.2026

Padel Rules, “Padel Rules 2026: Complete FIP Rulebook Guide,” accessed August 2026

Padeli, “The Padel Serve,” accessed August 2026

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