Padel Rules and Scoring Explained

Padel looks like tennis from a distance and plays nothing like it up close. It is a doubles-only game on a small enclosed court where the glass walls are part of the rally, the serve is hit underhand, and the racket has no strings. This reference walks through what the 2026 FIP Rules of Padel actually say about scoring, serving, the walls, and the court, and where rules become organizer choices rather than fixed law.

What is padel and how many players play it?

Padel is a doubles racket sport played two against two on an enclosed court. Under the FIP Rules of Padel, in force from 1 January 2026, there is no official singles format — the rulebook is written for four players. Some venues build narrower courts for casual one-on-one play, but sanctioned competition and the international rules assume doubles only. That single constraint shapes everything downstream: court math for events is always in multiples of four, which is why rotating formats like the padel americano and mexicano are so natural in padel.

How does padel scoring work?

Padel scoring is the tennis point ladder applied to an enclosed game. A game is scored 15, 30, 40, then game; 40-40 is called deuce. A set is the first side to six games with a two-game margin. At six games all, a tiebreak decides the set: first to seven points, win by two, and the set is recorded as 7-6.

Matches are best of three sets. The rules also codify alternative scoring methods an organizer or competition can adopt:

What are the three deuce methods in 2026?

The 2026 FIP rules codify three selectable methods for resolving a game tied at 40-40. The organizer or competition chooses one — none of them is the single universal rule, which is a change worth understanding.

Golden Point — punto de oro — collapses deuce into one point and was the defining feature of World Padel Tour matches. The Star Point is the 2026 compromise: it preserves some of the back-and-forth of advantage but caps it so games cannot run long. For event organizers, the practical takeaway is that "how does deuce work" is now a setting you decide before the first ball, the same way you decide it in social formats like the Mexicano. Skedge runs all three deuce methods, plus the alternative set and match scoring, automatically once you pick them for an event.

How does the padel serve work?

The padel serve is underhand by rule. The server must bounce the ball once on the ground behind the service line, then strike it at or below waist height with at least one foot in contact with the ground. The serve is hit diagonally and must bounce inside the receiver's service box, and the receiver must let it bounce before returning. Two serves are allowed, as in tennis.

Padel adds a serve fault that tennis has no equivalent for: a served ball that bounces correctly in the box and then strikes the metallic fence before its second bounce is a fault. A serve that comes off the back glass after the bounce, however, is good and in play.

How are the walls used in padel?

The walls are in play, with strict directional limits. After the ball bounces once on your own floor it may rebound off your own glass or walls, and you can still play it back over the net. What you may not do is hit the ball so it strikes the opponents' walls directly without first bouncing on their floor. Where a venue is built with a safety zone around the court, authorized out-of-court play also exists, letting a player chase a ball outside the enclosure and return it.

A net serve replays — a let — and there is also a let point for a split ball or interference, where the point is replayed rather than awarded.

What are the padel court dimensions?

A padel court is a fixed enclosed rectangle.

The enclosure is what makes the rally continuous: glass at the lower rear and side, mesh above, with enough overhead clearance for high defensive lobs. Compared with a tennis court the surface is small, but the playable space is larger than the floor because the walls extend the rally.

What racket and ball does padel use?

The padel racket is solid and perforated, with no strings at all.

The ball is rubber and slightly less pressurised than a tennis ball, which keeps rallies controllable off the glass. The mandatory wrist cord exists because the solid racket is a projectile risk on a small shared court.

How is padel different from tennis?

Padel and tennis share the score names and almost nothing else structurally.

If you are comparing scoring systems across racket sports for an event, the tennis scoring and formats guide covers the open-court game, and the racket sports glossary defines the shared terms. Organizers planning recurring play often combine padel scoring with a box league structure for ongoing standings.

How are padel players rated and ranked?

Padel ratings come in three layers, and only the professional ranking is a single authoritative system.

• Professional ranking. The FIP ranking is points-based by tournament tier — Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze — with Premier Padel as the top circuit. Points expire after roughly twelve months, so the ranking reflects recent form rather than career totals.
• National categories. Federations run P-category tournaments, commonly labelled from around P25 up through P500, P1000 and above. The names and point values vary by federation and are not a single global standard.
• Club levels. Apps such as Playtomic, MATCHi and Padel Mates use a self-adjusting numeric level, roughly 0 to 7 with 7 highest, often described in bands from beginner through advanced to pro.

When you are ready to run a padel event with any of these scoring and deuce options handled for you, start an event on Skedge and the format, set scoring and deuce method follow whatever you select. Organizers new to point-based social play can also read creating your first americano for a step-by-step on the most popular padel event format.