Padel Tennis: Basic Rules and Technique

Your New Favorite Sport – Here Comes Padel!

Padel is a dynamic sport with simple yet essential rules. At OLIVER-SPORT, we know what matters most. Here you'll get a great overview of padel technique and padel rules so nothing stands in the way of your success on the padel court.

What Does a Padel Court Look Like?

A padel court looks like a scaled-down tennis court, fully enclosed by up to four-meter-high glass walls and mesh fencing (20 meters long, 10 meters wide).

• The Surface: Mostly artificial turf with quartz sand, allowing for fast, secure movements.
• Equipment: Played with solid rackets (stringless) and special padel balls.

How Does Playing Off the Walls Work?

The walls are the ultimate game-changer in padel! Mastering their tactical and rule-compliant use not only accelerates your progress immensely, but also unlocks the full, dynamic fun of this sport.

The ball must always bounce once on the ground on your side first. Only then is it allowed to touch the surrounding walls before you hit it back.

How Can I Use the Walls in Padel?

• Defense (The wall as a time buffer): Use the back wall to absorb powerful shots from your opponent. Since the glass wall slows the ball down, you gain valuable milliseconds to reposition yourself.
• Offense (The Chiquita or the Volley): For attacking play, walls on your own side aren't used directly. Instead, you use shots like the Chiquita (a short, precise soft shot) to force the opponent to their back wall, or play the "x3"—a hard volley that bounces in a way that the ball becomes nearly unplayable and flies directly out over the 3-meter side wall.
• The "x4": A powerful smash that, after bouncing in the opponent's court, jumps so high that it flies over the 4-meter back wall.

Tip: Check out our blog post on playing techniques! The most important shots are explained for you here: To the Guide for Padel Shots.

How Do You Score Points in Padel?

A team wins a point when the opposing team commits an error—meaning they fail to end the rally according to the rules. There are several ways this happens:

1. Errors in Flight Path and Bounce

• The ball bounces twice on the ground on the opponent's side.
• The opponent hits the ball directly into the net.
• The opponent hits the ball so that it touches the mesh fence directly on their own side before hitting the ground.
• The opponent hits the ball too high, causing it to land directly out of bounds (for example, over the glass wall without bouncing on the court first).

2. Procedural Errors and Body Contact

• A player touches the net (with their racket or body) while the ball is still in play.
• Hitting on your own side: A player strikes the ball before it has crossed over the net.
• A player hits the ball twice in a row (a double touch).

3. Service Faults

The point goes to the receiving team if the server commits a double service fault. This occurs when:

• The serve is executed above waist height.
• The serve fails to land diagonally into the correct service box.
• The served ball touches the mesh fence directly after bouncing on the opponent's side (touching the glass wall after the bounce is allowed, but touching the mesh fence is a fault).

How Is Padel Scored?

The scoring system is adopted directly from tennis:

• Points & Game: Scored as 15, 30, 40. At 40:40 (Deuce), a team must secure a two-point lead to win the game.
• Sets: A set is won with six games and a two-game margin (e.g., 6:4). At 6:6, a tie-break decides the set.
• Match: Usually played in a Best-of-Three sets format (first to win two sets).

Pro Insight: The exact rules for deuce, advantage, and tie-breaks often decide the match. Find all the details in our dedicated article: Padel Scoring: How to Win Set and Match!