Padel Serve Rules: How to Serve Without Giving Away Points

The padel serve rules fit on a postcard, if you write small, which is presumably why nobody at club level has read them. Most of us learnt to serve by copying whoever looked most confident on our first evening, and then spent months losing points to faults we did not know existed. This guide covers what the International Padel Federation (FIP) rulebook actually asks of the server and the receiver, plus a few tips for making the serve the dullest, most reliable shot in your game.

Padel serve rules: the basics

A legal serve has to tick several boxes at once. Under the FIP Rules of Padel, the server:

• stands with at least one foot behind the service line, on the correct side, between the imaginary extension of the centre line and the side wall, and stays there until the ball is struck;
• bounces the ball on the ground before hitting it;
• does not let the ball cross the service line or the imaginary extension of the centre line before contact;
• does not touch the service line or that imaginary centre line with their feet;
• strikes the ball at or below waist height, with at least one foot touching the ground at the moment of contact;
• hits it diagonally over the net so that it bounces in the receiver's service box.

That waist-height rule is why every padel serve looks like a polite underarm offering rather than a tennis serve.

Lines count as in. A ball that clips the edge of the receiver's service box is good, however loudly the receiver disagrees.

Which side you serve from, and in what order

The first serve of a game is taken from the right-hand side of the court and goes diagonally into the receiver's box. After each point the server switches sides, so serves alternate right, left, right, left until the game ends. One player serves the whole game, and the pairs take turns: once your opponents have served a game, the next is yours, and you and your partner alternate who serves each of your pair's games.

The serving order is decided at the start of each set and cannot change until the next set. If somebody serves from the wrong side or out of turn, the rulebook says the mistake is corrected as soon as it is spotted, and points already played still count. So does a first-serve fault made before anyone noticed. Useful to know before the inevitable group discussion about whose turn it was.

Faults: the many ways to give away a point

You get two serves per point. Fault on both and the point goes to the receiving pair. According to the FIP rules, a serve is a fault when:

• you break any of the server rules above, such as hitting above the waist or stepping on the line;
• you swing at the ball and miss it, because an intentional attempt to hit the ball counts as starting the serve;
• the ball bounces outside the receiver's service box;
• the ball hits you, your partner, or anything either of you is wearing or carrying;
• the ball bounces in the receiver's box and then touches the metal fence before its second bounce;
• on courts without a safety zone, the ball bounces in the box and then goes straight out through a gate.

The fence rule is the one that catches beginners. Glass is fine, metal is not. A serve that bounces in the box and then hits the back glass, or the side glass, stays in play and the receiver has to deal with it. A serve that bounces in the box and then touches the mesh is a fault, even if it looked like a winner.

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Lets and net serves

If the serve touches the net or the posts and then lands in the receiver's box, it is a "net" and the serve is replayed. There is one catch: if it then hits the metal fence before the second bounce, it is a fault rather than a net.

A serve is also replayed as a "let" if the receiver was not ready. The receiver cannot use that excuse after trying to return the ball, though, so a flailing attempt followed by "I wasn't ready" does not work.

The detail people get wrong is what happens next. If the net or let comes on a first serve, the whole point restarts and the server has two serves again. If it comes on a second serve, only the second serve is repeated.

Rules for the receiver

The receiver has fewer rules, but they matter. You must let the serve bounce in your service box and then return it before its second bounce. Volleying the serve is not an option: if the ball hits you or your racket before it bounces, the point goes to the server. The server, for their part, is not supposed to serve until you are ready, and you are expected to keep up with their reasonable rhythm. The FIP rules allow a maximum of 20 seconds between points, which is less time than most amateur teams spend discussing the previous one.

How to serve better without trying to be clever

Once the rules are sorted, the aim is simple: get the first serve in. Coaching guides recommend placement and consistency over pace at recreational level, because a missed first serve hands the initiative to the receiver and a nervous second serve hands them even more.

A few things worth practising:

• Pick a target before you serve. Common choices are the T, where the centre line meets the service line; the body, aimed at the receiver's hip to cramp their swing; or wide towards the side glass, which often forces a return off the wall. Choose one and commit to it.
• Build one reliable serve first. Add spin and variation only when getting it in has stopped being an event.
• Keep the drop consistent. Same bounce, same height, same contact point. A rushed or wandering drop makes everything after it harder.

If your current serving routine is closer to a three-step process of its own, the Serve, Panic, Blame Glass T-Shirt describes it accurately. And for the friend who learnt all of this last week and now explains it to everyone, the Advanced Beginner Energy T-Shirt is waiting.

Know the rules, serve to a target, and save the blaming of the glass for when it is genuinely the glass. If you want something to wear while practising, have a look at what is currently in the Padel Problems sale.