What are the rules of padel tennis?

The rules of padel tennis are quite similar to tennis, although there are some important differences. A padel match is played on a rectangular court divided into four quadrants by a net. Each player has a paddle and faces another player or a team of two players. The aim is to hit the paddle ball in such a way that the opponent cannot return it within the boundaries of the court.

Some of the rules of padel tennis are as follows:

• It is played with a padel ball specially designed for the sport.

• The ball can be hit with any part of the paddle except the fist that holds the paddle.

• The ball must pass over the net and land within the boundaries of the court in the opponent's quadrant.

• If the ball hits the ceiling or the side walls, it is considered a point for the player who receives the hit.

• If the ball does not land within the court boundaries, the player who hit the ball loses the point.

• A padel tennis match is played in three sets, with a total of nine games in each set. To win a game, a player or team must score four points with a lead of at least two points over the opponent.

On this page you will find everything you need to know about the rules of padel tennis. The most important thing to remember and learn when playing padel is the "minimum advantage of 2" rule. Read the rules below and you will understand what it means.

What is padel, simply explained?

"Padel is a racket sport in which players can hit the ball in different ways; before it bounces, after the ball hits the court, or even after the ball bounces off the surrounding walls, either on their own glass wall or on the opponent's glass wall."

Rules like this may make you think that padel is a complicated sport, but the truth is that as long as you know the most basic rules of padel tennis it is a very fun sport, not to say addictive. Paddle tennis drives players crazy: there are 13 million players in the world and it is one of the fastest growing sports in the world.

The rules of padel tennis

Although padel shares the same scoring system as tennis, the same type of ball and a little different, the rules, groundstrokes, technique, court and even equipment are all different.

Scoring system in padel tennis

Padel follows the same scoring system as tennis: 15 / 30 / 40 / Game. That is: 1st score is 15, 2nd score is 30, 3rd score is 40 and 4th score is Game. If you score 4 points and therefore Game, you have won a Game. The player who wins 2 out of 3 games wins the whole match.

How to win a set in padel tennis

The first pair to win 6 games wins a set, but the winning team must always win by 2 games to win a set. For example, 6-4 games. In a tie where both pairs have won 5 games, the players must play at least 2 more games for the winning team to finish with 7-5 games.

If there is a tie at 6 games, 6-6 games, a tie-break or sudden death will be used.

"Sudden death" or "tie-break" in padel tennis

During a tie-break match, the points are called "nil", "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7" etc...

The tie-break is won by the first pair to get 7 points. It must also be a tie-break with a score of 2 more points, 7-5. If necessary, the tie-break continues until a 2-point lead is reached. For example 7-5, 8-6, 9-7, 15-13, 25-22 etc. When a game is won in tie-break, the set is won by 7-6 Games.

The next set starts with a serve by the partner who did not get the first serve in the tie-break. We hope you have learned the rules of padel tennis with this article.

Related articles :

1. World Padel Tour

2. Benefits of paddle tennis