Padel rules for beginners: how to play your first match
Rules version: this article follows the FIP Rules of Padel, revision applying from 1 January 2026 (approved in Acapulco on 28 November 2025), which the Spanish federation (FEP) also publishes as its own rules of play. Published 2 November 2026 · last checked 2 November 2026. We re-read the FIP and FEP texts whenever they change and update this page; the sources are listed at the end.
The short answer: padel is played two against two on a walled court. Each point starts with an underarm serve that bounces diagonally into the opposite service box. In a rally the ball may bounce once on the floor on your side, and it can come off the glass after that bounce before you hit it. Scoring is 15, 30, 40, game; six games with a two-game lead win a set, and a match is usually the best of three sets.
A ball flies past you towards the back of the court. You stop, sure the point is over, and your partner shouts: “Leave it! It’s coming back!”
It was. A ball that has bounced on your floor can rebound off the glass and still be played, so the back wall often gives you a second chance to reach it. Most of what surprises beginners in padel comes from the walls.
You do not need the whole rulebook for your first match. Learn how a rally works, then the serve, then the scoring. The odd cases are easier to remember once you have played a few points and have something to hang them on.
How is padel played?
The standard game is doubles: two pairs, one on each side of the net, on a court enclosed by glass walls and metal fence. Every point starts with an underarm serve, and the pairs then hit the ball back and forth until one of them fails to make a legal return. The walls are in play, which is the main thing that makes padel different from tennis.
Scoring follows tennis: points make games, games make sets. A standard match is the best of three sets, so the first pair to win two sets wins (FIP Rule 1, Option 1 §3). You do not need to know tennis to follow it; the count is explained step by step further down.
For kit you need a padel racket, padel balls and sports shoes suitable for the court. The racket has a wrist strap, and wearing it is compulsory (The racket §9). Since 2026, if the strap breaks or the racket slips out of your hand during a point, your pair loses the point (Rule 13 §1r). That is one of the rule changes for 2026.
The most important rule: one floor bounce
During a rally you can hit the ball before it bounces (a volley) or after its first bounce on your side. You must return it before it bounces on the floor a second time (Rule 13 §1c). The one exception is the return of serve, which must bounce first.
Note that the rule counts bounces on the floor. Once the ball has bounced on your floor, it stays in play if it then hits the glass or the fence, and you have to return it before it touches the floor again (Rule 12 §3). The wall does not reset the count: bounce, glass, bounce is two floor bounces, and the point is gone.
When is the glass in play?
During a rally, these are the common cases on your side of the court:
| What happens on your side | What it means | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| The ball lands, hits the glass and comes back towards you | Still in play: hit it before the next floor bounce | 12 §3 |
| The ball lands, hits the fence and rebounds | Still in play: hit it before the next floor bounce | 12 §3 |
| Your opponents’ shot hits your glass or fence before bouncing on your floor | Their shot is a fault: your pair wins the point | 13 §1g |
| The ball lands, hits the glass and lands again before you reach it | Your pair loses the point | 13 §1c |
Those are rally rules. On the serve the fence has an extra restriction, covered in the serve section below.
Can you hit the ball against your own glass?
Yes. During a rally you may hit the ball into one of your own walls, as long as it then goes over the net and bounces in the opponents’ court (Rule 14 §1b). Your own metal fence is different: if your shot hits your fence, or your own floor, your pair loses the point (Rule 13 §1l).
So a ball coming off the fence towards you is fine to play, but you cannot play your shot into your own fence. In your first games you will rarely try a shot off your own back glass, but it helps to know it is legal when an opponent does it.
Do shots have to land inside the service boxes?
Only the serve has to land in a particular box. During a rally the ball can bounce anywhere on the opponents’ floor (Rule 14 §1b), and the service line does nothing once the serve is over. A deep shot that lands behind the service line and carries on to the back glass is a good shot, so keep playing.
How to serve in padel
The padel serve is bounced, underarm and diagonal. In order:
- Stand in your service zone. The first point of a game is served from the right-hand side of your court (Rule 6 §5). Stand behind the service line, between the side wall and the imaginary extension of the centre line, with at least one foot behind the service line until you have hit the ball (Rule 6 §1). Neither foot may touch the service line or that imaginary centre line (§3).
- Bounce, then hit. Bounce the ball on the ground inside your zone, behind the line; it may not cross the service line or the imaginary centre line before you hit it (§2). When you hit it, the ball must be at or below your waist and at least one of your feet must be on the ground (§4).
- Aim across. The ball must go over the net and bounce first in the service box diagonally opposite. A ball on a line of that box is good (Rule 6 §5, Rule 7 §1c).
- Use the second serve if you need it. A fault on the first serve gives you a second one from the same side. A second fault loses the point (Rule 6, opening paragraph, and Rule 13 §1q).
After each point, switch sides: right, left, right, left, until the game ends (Rule 6 §5). On a golden point or a Star Point the receivers choose the side instead, which is covered in the scoring section.
Our advice for a first match: bounce the ball somewhere comfortable, hit it low, and aim for the middle of the diagonal box. There is enough to think about without trying to make the serve fancy. The changes to the foot rule in 2026, and every serving fault with a diagram, are in our padel serve rules.
Glass after the bounce is fine; fence is a fault
A serve that bounces in the correct box and then hits the glass is a good serve, and the receiver plays it off the wall like any other ball (Rule 12 §3).
If the serve bounces in the box and then touches the metal fence before its second bounce, it is a fault (Rule 7 §1e). That is still the case if it hits the glass first and the fence after. “It bounced in” does not settle every service argument.
What happens if the serve touches the net?
If the serve clips the net or the posts, lands in the correct box and does not touch the fence before its second bounce, it is a “net” and the serve is replayed (Rule 9 §1a).
A net touch does not save a serve that is otherwise a fault: if it lands outside the box, or bounces in and then hits the fence, it is a fault. And a net on the second serve repeats only the second serve, so you do not get two fresh attempts (Rule 9 §2c).
How do you return the serve?
Let it bounce in your service box, then hit it before it bounces a second time (Rule 8 §1). You can take it straight after the bounce or let it come off the glass first. You cannot volley the serve: if it hits you or your partner, or either of your rackets, before it bounces, the point goes to the server (Rule 8 §5).
Padel scoring: points, games and sets
There are three counts to keep apart. Points add up to a game, games add up to a set, and sets decide the match.
Points: 0, 15, 30, 40, game
Both pairs start at zero, also called love. Your first point takes you to 15, the second to 30, the third to 40. Win one more and you win the game, unless the other pair has also reached 40 (Rule 1, Option 1 §1).
The serving pair’s score is called first. If you are serving and have won two points to your opponents’ one, the score is 30-15.
The numbers look odd, but you are only counting points won. They just have different names from one, two and three.
What happens at 40-40?
At 40-40 the score is deuce, and how the game ends depends on the scoring method the match uses. The 2026 rulebook offers three:
| Method | How the game ends from deuce |
|---|---|
| Advantage (Option 1) | Win the next point for the advantage and the point after for the game. Lose the advantage and you are back at deuce, with no limit on how often. |
| Star Point (Option 2) | Advantage as above, but at most twice. If the game reaches deuce a third time, one deciding point is played. |
| Golden point (Option 3) | One deciding point at the first deuce. Whoever wins it wins the game. |
On a golden point or a Star Point, the receiving pair chooses whether to receive on the right or the left, and the two receivers may not swap positions for that point. In mixed doubles the player of the same sex as the server receives (Rule 1, Option 2 §1 and §2, Option 3 §2 and §3).
Agree on the method before a friendly match starts; at a competition, the organiser’s rules say which one applies. “We always play it this way” settles nothing if the other pair always plays it another way. Our Star Point guide walks through the capped-advantage format, and the golden point guide covers the single deciding point.
Games: six to win a set, two clear
You need six games and a lead of two to win a set (Option 1 §2). So 6-4 ends the set and 6-5 does not. From 6-5 the set either ends 7-5 or reaches 6-6, which normally goes to a tie-break.
The tie-break at 6-6
In a tie-break you stop counting 15, 30 and 40 and count single points: 1, 2, 3 and so on. The first pair to seven points with a two-point lead wins, so 7-5 ends it and 7-6 does not. Whatever the tie-break score, the set is recorded as 7-6 (Rule 1, Tie-break §1, §2 and §4).
The serve changes too. The player whose turn it is serves one point, from the right; after that each player serves two points in a row, in the set’s order (Tie-break §3). The padel tie-break rules go through the full sequence and who serves the next set.
Some formats replace the third set with a single match tie-break, to 7 points or, more often at clubs, a super tie-break to 10, both won by two clear (Rule 1, Alternative score methods §1b and §1c). That is a choice of match format, separate from the ordinary tie-break at 6-6. The whole count, with a game played out point by point, is in how padel scoring works.
Who serves, and when do you change ends?
A draw decides the start. The pair that wins it chooses to serve or receive first, chooses the end, or asks the opponents to choose first; the other pair gets the remaining choice (Rule 4 §1). After that the pairs alternate service games, and the two partners in each pair take turns.
With partners A1 and A2 against B1 and B2, the service order runs:
| Game | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Server | A1 | B1 | A2 | B2 | A1 |
One player serves the whole game; you do not hand the serve to your partner after each point. The order is fixed for the set, and each pair may choose again which partner serves first at the start of the next set (Rule 6 §8).
The receiving order is fixed for the set in the same way: decide which of you receives on the right and which on the left (Rule 8 §2 and §3). That only governs who takes the serve. The rules do not fix positions once the serve is returned, so during the rally either partner can go anywhere on your side of the court.
The pairs change ends when the total number of games played in the set is odd, so after the first game, the third, the fifth and so on (Rule 5 §1). In a tie-break they change ends every six points (Rule 5 §2). This means moving to the other end of the court, which is a different thing from swapping receiving sides within your pair.
For who serves the second set, after a tie-break, or when somebody serves out of turn, see who serves in padel.
Other ways to lose a point
Besides missed shots and second bounces, these lose the point for your pair:
| Situation | Result | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| You, your racket or anything you carry touches the net or posts while the ball is in play | Your pair loses the point | 13 §1a |
| The ball touches your body or clothing (yours or your partner’s) | Your pair loses the point | 13 §1j, §1k |
| Your shot hits your own floor or your own fence | Your pair loses the point | 13 §1l |
| Both partners hit the ball on the same return | Your pair loses the point | 13 §1o |
| You hit the ball twice | Your pair loses the point | 13 §1i |
Each of these ends the point on its own, so getting the ball back over the net afterwards changes nothing.
On balls down the middle, our advice is to call early. “Mine!” is much more useful before both rackets get there.
Before your first match, agree on the details
Settle three things before a friendly match: the method at 40-40, the match format, and who serves and receives first.
Then say the score before each serve, serving pair first. It takes two seconds and catches a disagreement before another rally makes it harder to untangle. Our guide to refereeing your own match has the rest of the habits we use when nobody is in the umpire’s chair.
You can also let PadelRef keep the count. It shows the score, who serves and from which side, and announces the score aloud. You still award the points and make the calls on court; the app does the counting. With a Bluetooth remote you can add points without reaching for the phone.
Nobody remembers every exception in their first match. Learn the basic sequence, agree the format, and ask when something unfamiliar happens. And when the ball flies past you towards the back glass, wait a moment before you give up on it.
Sources and further reading
The FIP rule text on this page was checked against the Spanish original on 2 November 2026.
- FIP, Rules of Padel, revision applying from 01.01.2026: The racket §9, Attire, Rule 1 “Score in a game” (Options 1 to 3, Tie-break, Alternative score methods), Rule 3 “Position of the players”, Rule 4 “Choice of sides and service”, Rule 5 “Changes of sides”, Rule 6 “The serve”, Rule 7 “Serve fault”, Rule 8 “Return of serve”, Rule 9 “Repeat or ‘let’ and ‘net’ serve”, Rule 12 “Ball in play”, Rule 13 “Point lost”, Rule 14 “Correct return”, Rule 16 “Authorized out-of-court play” (English, corrected upload of 10 January 2026): padelfip.com/…/FIP_Rules-of-Padel-1.pdf. Spanish original, Reglas del Pádel, La pala, Indumentaria and Reglas 1, 3 to 9, 12 to 14 and 16: padelfip.com/…/FIP_Reglas-del-Padel.pdf. If the FIP link moves, we keep a reduced-size copy of the Spanish text as downloaded on 7 October 2026; the FIP site is the authoritative version.
- PadelRef, Padel serve rules 2026: what counts and what is a fault.
- PadelRef, How padel scoring works: points, games, sets and tie-break.
- PadelRef, Star Point in padel: how the 2026 scoring rule works.
- PadelRef, Golden point in padel: one point decides the game at 40-40.
- PadelRef, Padel tie-break rules: 7 points, serve order and the next set.
- PadelRef, Who serves in padel? First serve, second set and tie-break.
- PadelRef, Padel referee: what they do and how to referee your own match.
- PadelRef, Padel rules 2026: every FIP rule change, explained.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have to let every shot bounce?
No. During a rally you can volley the ball before it bounces. The exception is the return of serve: the receiver must let the serve bounce in the service box first, then hit it before it bounces a second time (FIP Rule 8 §1).
Can you play padel with two people?
The FIP rules describe doubles: two pairs, four players (Rule 3 §1). Some clubs have smaller courts for singles, but the rules of play are written for the doubles game. Check which kind of court you are booking.
Can you use your own glass to set the ball up for a second hit?
No. You may play the ball off your own glass, but only as one stroke that then lands in the opponents’ court (Rule 14 §1b). Each return is one hit by one player: hitting the ball twice, or both partners touching it, loses the point (Rule 13 §1i and §1o).
Why do players sometimes run outside the court?
Some courts have the safety area around the side openings that the rules require, and on those courts out-of-court play is allowed (FIP Rule 16). A ball that bounces and then leaves over a side wall or through a door can be chased and returned from outside; over the back wall, the point is lost. On a court without that space, the point ends as soon as the ball leaves. Ask the club before you try it.
Where are the official padel rules?
The International Padel Federation (FIP) publishes the Rules of Padel on padelfip.com, in the Spanish original and an English translation. The current revision applies from 1 January 2026. A beginner’s guide explains the rules; when a case is disputed, the rulebook is what counts.
Keep the real score, live.
Pair your remote and let PadelRef call the score for you.