NI Padel
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Getting Started

Padel is the easiest racket sport to pick up and the hardest to put down. Everything on this page is what you need for a first session: the court, the serve, the walls, how a point ends, and the handful of things nobody thinks to tell you.

The game

What padel actually is

Padel is a doubles racket sport played on an enclosed court roughly a third the size of a tennis court. The racket is solid and stringless, the ball is a slightly softer tennis ball, and every wall around you is part of the game.

That last part is what changes everything. A ball that would be a winner in tennis comes back off the glass and the rally carries on. Points last longer, the court is small enough that you are never far from the action, and a complete beginner can hold a rally within about ten minutes of walking on. It is also why almost nobody plays once.

If you can play a bit of tennis you will start quicker, and then spend a month unlearning your swing. If you have never held a racket, you are arguably better off.

  • Four players

    Doubles is the game. Nearly every court, club session and tournament here is played two against two.

  • The walls are in play

    Glass and mesh all the way round. A ball off the back wall is still live, which is why the rallies last.

  • Underarm serve

    Bounce it, hit it at or below your waist. Nobody gets aced, so points start properly.

  • Tennis scoring

    15, 30, 40, game. If you have ever kept score in tennis, you already know how.

The court

Twenty metres by ten, and no way out

Same markings as a tennis court in miniature, with one difference that matters more than all the rest: it is enclosed.

Plan of a padel court A padel court seen from above. It is 20 metres long and 10 metres wide, enclosed on all four sides. A net across the middle, a service line 6.95 metres from the net on each side, and a centre line dividing each half into two service boxes. The back walls are glass. The side walls are glass at the corners and metal mesh through the middle. Two players stand on each side. 20 m 10 m 6.95 m NET TO SERVICE LINE

Swipe to see the whole court

A standard doubles court. Drawn to scale. Back walls are glass, and the sides are glass at the corners with mesh down the middle, which is the usual layout although the exact split varies from court to court.
  • Service boxes Four of them, one in each quarter. The service line sits 6.95 m from the net and the centre line splits each half.
  • The net 0.88 m in the middle, rising to 0.92 m at the posts. A little lower than a tennis net.
  • Glass Both back walls, and the corners of the sides. This is the part of the court you will use most.
  • Mesh Metal fencing down the middle of each side and along the top. The ball comes off it dead and unpredictable.
A back wall, seen from the side A back wall is four metres high in total. The bottom three metres are glass and the top metre is metal mesh. A player of average height reaches roughly halfway up the glass. The net is 0.88 metres high in the middle. 0.88 m 1 m mesh 3 m glass 4 M IN TOTAL
A back wall, side on. Three metres of glass with a metre of mesh above it.

Glass low, mesh high

Worth fixing in your head early, because two separate rules depend on it. Glass is smooth and gives a clean, readable bounce. Mesh is metal, kills the ball and sends it anywhere, and on a serve it is the difference between playing on and a fault.

Anything above roughly head height on the back wall is mesh. Everything you will actually use is glass.

The basics

How a point works

Five steps, and you have the whole game. Everything else is detail.

  1. 01

    Serve underarm, on the diagonal

    Bounce the ball once behind the service line and hit it at or below waist height into the box diagonally opposite. Two attempts, the same as tennis.

  2. 02

    The return has to bounce

    The receiver cannot volley a serve. Let it land, then play it. After that first shot, anything goes.

  3. 03

    One bounce on your floor

    Volley it out of the air or take it after the bounce, your choice. What you cannot do is let it bounce twice.

  4. 04

    Then the walls are yours

    Once the ball has bounced on your floor it can come off your glass or your mesh and you play it back from there. That is the shot that makes padel padel.

  5. 05

    Land it in their court

    Over the net and down on their floor. It can hit their walls afterwards, all day long, but never before.

Serving

The serve, done properly

There is no power in a padel serve and that is the point. Get these four right and nobody will ever pull you up.

How a serve is played The server stands behind the service line on the right of the court, bounces the ball on the ground, and hits it at or below waist height. The ball travels diagonally over the net and must land inside the service box opposite. The receiver has to let it bounce before returning it. 1 2 3 4 It has to land in here Receiver must let it bounce Server

Swipe to see the whole court

Serving from the right-hand side, across to the box diagonally opposite.
  1. 1
    Bounce it first One bounce on the ground, behind the service line, on the correct side. You cannot hit it out of your hand.
  2. 2
    Strike at or below the waist Measured at the moment you hit the ball, not where you tossed it. Above the waist is a fault.
  3. 3
    Keep a foot behind the line At least one foot stays behind the service line and off it until the ball has gone. No walking through the serve.
  4. 4
    Land it in the box opposite Diagonally across, inside the lines. Miss the box and it is a fault, and you have one more go.

And then the ones that catch people out

  • Bounces in, then hits the side glass Play on. Coming off the glass after a good bounce is a perfectly normal serve, and a good one.
  • Bounces in, then touches the mesh Fault. Glass is fine, metal is not. This is the rule that catches nearly everybody out in their first month.
  • Clips the net and lands in the box A let. No penalty, take the serve again, and you still have both of them.
  • The receiver volleys it Point to the serving pair. A serve must be allowed to bounce before it is returned.

You get two serves. Serving alternates between the pairs each game, and within a pair each player serves a whole game in turn, so the same order runs all the way through a set.

The walls

One rule, three situations

The rule is simply this: the ball must bounce on the floor of a side before it touches anything else on that side. Every wall question you will ever have comes back to it.

  • Their shot bounces on your floor and comes off your back glass, and you play it BOUNCE FIRST

    Play on

    Bounce, then glass

    Their shot lands on your floor, runs into your back glass and comes out again. You play it off the rebound. This is the ordinary shot of padel and you will hit hundreds of them.

  • Your shot reaches their glass without bouncing on their floor first, which loses the point NO BOUNCE

    Point to them

    Straight into their glass

    Your shot has to bounce on their floor before it touches anything of theirs. Fire it into the glass on the full and the point is gone, however good it looked.

  • You play the ball into your own glass and it loops back over the net YOUR OWN GLASS

    Play on

    Off your own wall

    You are allowed to play the ball into your own glass and let it loop back over the net. Rare, difficult, and completely legal. It gets a cheer every time.

In every panel the right-hand side is yours and the left is theirs. The walls behind you are your friends; the walls behind them are out of bounds until the ball has landed.

Calls

Ways a point ends

The ball hits a player
Point to the other pair, whoever it hit and wherever it hit them. Say sorry, everybody does it, carry on.
Your shot hits your own mesh on the way
Point lost. Once you have struck the ball it has to get over cleanly, so clipping your own fencing ends the rally.
It bounces, then flies out of the court
If your shot bounces on their floor and then sails out over the back fence, the point is yours. Well played.
Unless they go and get it
Where a club has the gates and the run-off space, a player may go out, play the ball back in before it bounces twice, and the point continues. Most social games never see it.
Two bounces on your floor
The most common way a point ends. Wall or no wall, you get one bounce.
A ball comes in from next door
Stop, call it, play the point again. Safety first, and everybody does the same for you.

Scoring

Exactly like tennis

  1. 0Love
  2. 15First point
  3. 30Second
  4. 40Third
  5. GameFourth
  • Six games with a lead of two wins the set. At 6 games all you play a tie-break, first to seven points with a lead of two.
  • A full match is the best of three sets. Tournaments are often shorter than that, and the format for every NI Padel event is published on its own page.
  • 40 all is deuce, and what happens next depends on which system you are playing.

Three ways to settle a deuce

  • Most club play

    Advantage

    1. 40-40
    2. Advantage
    3. Game

    Lose the advantage and it is back to 40-40. No limit.

    The traditional one, and the one you will meet on a club court. Win the point after deuce and you hold the advantage. Win the next and the game is yours. Lose it and the score returns to deuce, round and round, until somebody takes two in a row. It is why a single game can run ten minutes.

  • Leagues and timed sessions

    Golden point

    1. 40-40
    2. One point
    3. Game

    No advantage at all. The first time the score reaches 40-40, the very next point decides the game. Brutal, and popular for exactly that reason: it keeps a match to the clock, which matters when the next four are waiting on the court.

  • The professional game

    Star point

    1. 40-40
    2. Adv 1
    3. 40-40
    4. Adv 2
    5. 40-40
    6. Star point
    7. Game

    The middle ground, and the newest. You get up to two advantages. Lose the second one and the third deuce is a single deciding point. It gives the better pair a proper chance to win the game without one game running away with the schedule. Premier Padel and the FIP tours moved to it in February 2026. You will also hear it called the silver point.

On the golden point and the star point alike, the receiving pair choose which side to take the deciding point from, and they cannot swap positions to do it. In a mixed match the receiver must be the same sex as the server.

Check before you play. The format for any NI Padel event, scoring included, is published on the tournament page before entries open.

Etiquette

The unwritten bits, written down

None of this is in the rulebook. All of it is why people want to play with you again.

Call the score before you serve
Out loud, server’s score first, every point. It settles most arguments before they start.
Your side, your call
You call the balls that land on your half. If you are honestly not sure, the ball is in. Nobody falls out over a doubtful call.
Talk to your partner
Mine, yours, leave it. Two players and one ball in a small space needs a running commentary, and it is not rude.
Wait for the point next door
Never walk behind a live rally. Stand at the back until it finishes, then cross.
Play to the level in front of you
Smashing every ball at a beginner’s chest proves nothing. Social padel runs on people being decent about it.
Leave the court as you found it
Balls picked up, bottles taken with you, gate shut behind you. The next four are already waiting.

Your first session

What to bring

  • A racket, borrowed Solid, stringless, with holes through it. Almost every club hires them for a couple of pounds. Play three or four times before you buy one, and do not start with a heavy head-heavy racket.
  • Padel balls, not tennis balls They look the same and are not. A padel ball is a touch softer and slower. Club sessions normally put them out for you.
  • Flat shoes with grip Clay court or all court trainers. Thick-soled running shoes are the quickest way to turn an ankle on artificial grass.
  • Three friends, or none Book as a four if you can. If you cannot, most clubs run open or mixed-in sessions and make the fours up on the night.
  • Sixty to ninety minutes A standard booking, and about three sets of social padel. You will be warm within ten minutes.

One more thing. Book a beginners session or an hour with a coach before you book a court with three friends. An hour of being shown where to stand is worth about six weeks of working it out yourself, and it is the difference between enjoying padel and finding it frustrating.

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