Quick answer. The rules of padel are simple. You play doubles on a 20m by 10m enclosed court, serve underarm after one bounce, and score like tennis. The ball may bounce once on your side. You can play it off the walls after it has bounced, but a shot that hits your opponents' wall before bouncing in their court is out. Checked 4 November 2026 against the FIP rules that apply from 1 January 2026.
The International Padel Federation (FIP) sets the rules of padel. In Britain the LTA is the national governing body and explains the same rules for beginners. If you want to find a court first, see padel courts in Brighton & Hove. To compare padel with other racket sports, read padel vs tennis vs pickleball.
The court
The FIP says a court is 10m wide and 20m long, measured inside. A net splits it in half. The net is 0.88m high at the centre and 0.92m at the posts. Each side has a service line 6.95m from the net, and a centre line divides the space between them into two service boxes.
The court is fully enclosed. The end walls are 4m high in total: the first 3m is a wall, often glass, and the top 1m is metal fence. The side walls come in two FIP versions, a stepped design or a glass design, and both finish in mesh. Each side has an access point, usually a door.
Players and equipment
Padel is mainly a doubles game: two players against two. The LTA says some courts are built for singles, but about 90% of the world's courts are doubles courts. The ball is a rubber ball 6.35cm to 6.77cm across, weighing 56.0g to 59.4g. The racket is solid and perforated, no longer than 45.5cm in total. FIP rules require a cord that attaches the racket to your wrist.
The serve
Every point starts with a serve. The rules for it:
- Bounce the ball once, then hit it. The ball must be at or below waist height when you hit it, so the serve is underarm.
- Keep at least one foot on the ground, and stand behind the service line until you hit the ball.
- Serve from the right first, diagonally into the receiver's box. After each point you swap sides.
- You get two serves. Two faults in a row lose the point.
A serve is a fault if it lands outside the receiver's box (the lines count as in), if you miss the ball, or if the ball hits you or your partner. It is also a fault if the ball lands in the box and then hits the metal fence before bouncing again. Hitting the back or side glass after landing in the box is fine, and the point carries on.
If the serve clips the net and lands in the correct box, it is a let, and you retake it. The FIP adds that a let on the second serve only gives you the second serve again. The server also waits until the receiver is ready.
Returning and rallying
The receiver must let the serve bounce in the box. After that, both teams can hit the ball before or after it bounces, but you cannot let it bounce twice on your side. The ball must go over the net, and each team plays it in turn. Only one player in a pair can hit it each time, and you cannot hit it twice in a row.
Using the walls
The ball must bounce in your opponents' court before it touches their wall or fence. After it has bounced on their side, it can rebound off the glass or mesh, and they have to deal with it.
You can also use walls on your own side. The FIP allows a return where the ball hits your own wall first, as long as it then bounces in the opponents' court. You can play the ball off the glass after it has bounced on your side, then hit it back before the second bounce.
If a ball bounces in court and then leaves through the door or over a side wall, the LTA says you can go out and play it. The FIP says this is only authorised on courts with the required safety space around them.
What is out, and what loses the point
You lose the point if:
- the ball bounces twice on your side before you return it
- your shot hits your opponents' wall or fence before bouncing in their court
- your shot hits the fence or the floor on your own side after you have hit it
- you or your racket touch the net, posts or the opponents' side while the ball is in play
- the ball touches you, your partner or anything you wear or carry after your team has hit it
- you hit the ball twice, or you and your partner both hit it
- you hit the ball before it has crossed the net
- you drop your racket or break the cord
A shot that clips the net and lands in the opponents' court stays in play. If the ball splits, or something comes onto the court, the point is a let and you replay it.
Scoring
Padel is scored like tennis. The points are 15, 30, 40 and game. At 40-40 the score is deuce. A set goes to the first pair to win six games by two clear games, and a match is normally the best of three sets. At 6-6 in games, you play a tie-break, won by the first pair to seven points with a two-point lead.
You swap sides after the first game and after every odd game after that. In a tie-break you swap after every six points.
Golden point and star point
The FIP rules that apply from 1 January 2026 list three ways to score a game:
- Advantage. The standard tennis method. From deuce, you must win two points in a row.
- Star point. From deuce, you play for advantage twice. If the game is still level at the third deuce, one deciding point, the star point, settles it.
- Golden point. At the first deuce, one deciding point settles the game.
On a deciding point the receiving pair chooses which side to receive on, and they cannot change positions. In mixed doubles, the receiver is the same sex as the server. The FIP also lists shorter formats, such as a first-to-ten super tie-break in place of a third set.
The rules we read do not say when star point or golden point first appeared, or which one a given club or league uses. Check with the venue or competition. The LTA says padel is scored like tennis, and its glossary lists golden point as a common term.
House rules at UK clubs
We found no primary source on house rules at UK clubs, so we have left them out. Ask the club about scoring and court etiquette when you book.