Padel Rules
A doubles-only racket sport played on an enclosed court, where the ball can bounce off the walls.
Always 2v2 on an enclosed glass-and-mesh court; matches are best-of-3 sets.
- •Identical points-games-sets structure to tennis (15-30-40-game, first to 6 games)
- •At 6-6, a tiebreak decides the set
- •Match won by best-of-3 sets
- •The ball may bounce off the back and side walls before being returned; this is padel's defining feature
- •Serves are underarm, hit below waist height
- •There's no real singles format; padel is essentially always doubles
The walls change everything
Padel's enclosed court is what separates it from tennis. A ball that rebounds off the back glass is still live and can be played, which means points that would be over in tennis continue, and rallies are correspondingly longer and more tactical.
New players spend their first month letting playable balls go, assuming the point is lost. Fifteen minutes spent on the back-wall rebound and the defensive lob at the start of a league raises the standard of every subsequent fixture.
Running a padel league on limited courts
Court supply is the binding constraint almost everywhere padel is played, and peak slots book out weeks ahead. A league needs a standing block booking rather than week-by-week reservations, and off-peak slots are both easier to hold and considerably cheaper.
Fixed pairs entrench ability and collapse whenever one player is away. Rotating partners each round, with points awarded to individuals, keeps the league balanced and means a holiday costs one fixture rather than a pair's whole season.
Common questions
How is padel scored?
Exactly like tennis: 15, 30, 40, game, and sets to six games with a tiebreak at 6-6. Many leagues use the golden point, where deuce is decided by a single sudden-death point, because it makes match length predictable on a court booked by the hour.
Can you play padel as singles?
Padel is a doubles game and courts are built for it. Singles padel exists on narrower courts but is rare, so plan your league around pairs and rotate partners if you want individual standings.
Do you need your own racket?
Most venues hire rackets for a small fee, which removes the barrier for anyone trying the sport. Balls are the real recurring cost, as pressurised padel balls lose their bounce faster than tennis balls and need replacing every few sessions.
What is the golden point?
A sudden-death point played at deuce instead of requiring a two-point advantage. It is standard in professional padel and widely used in leagues, because it makes match length predictable when courts are booked by the hour and pairs are waiting to play.
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