Padel Serve and Return Rules: A Step-by-Step Guide

How do you serve in padel, which serves are faults, and what can the receiver do? Learn the serve and return rules with clear examples and quick tables.

If you come to padel from tennis, your first serve usually goes like this: you toss the ball up, wind up, and someone across the net shouts "Underarm!" The padel serve is a different animal. It is calmer and more controlled, and the rules around it are a little more detailed. The good news: once you know a handful of basics, the serve becomes the one moment in the rally you fully control.

This guide covers how to serve, which situations count as faults, what the receiver may and may not do, and the details people argue about most. The rules below follow the International Padel Federation (FIP) rules in general, but clubs and local events sometimes play small variations. A quick "what are we playing?" chat before the match is always worth it.

How to serve

The padel serve is hit underarm. The basic steps:

1. Stand in the right place. The server stands behind their own service line, between the centre line and the side wall. Your feet must not touch the line.
2. Bounce the ball. Drop the ball and let it bounce once on your side, behind the service line.
3. Hit at or below waist height. At the moment of contact, the ball must be at or below your waist.
4. Go diagonal. The ball must clear the net and land in the opponent's service box diagonally across.
5. Keep a foot down. At least one foot must be in contact with the ground when you strike; walking, running or jumping into the serve is not allowed.

You get two attempts per point. Miss the first and you take a second; miss both and the point goes to the receivers (a double fault).

Which side do you start from?

The first point of every game is served from the right-hand side (looking at the court from behind your baseline). After that you alternate: right, left, right, left. When the game ends, the serve passes to the other pair, and all four players take turns serving over the course of the set.

What happens after the bounce?

Once the ball lands in the correct service box, it may go on to hit the glass. That serve is good. The detail to watch is the wire mesh (fence): if the ball bounces in the box and then hits the mesh before the receiver plays it, the serve is a fault.

A let costs you nothing: if it happened on your first serve you replay the first serve, and if it happened on your second you replay the second.

Common service faults

The faults that cause the most debate at clubs tend to be:

• Foot faults: touching the service line, or the imaginary extension of the centre line, at the moment of the serve.
• Hitting too high: striking the ball above waist height. Tennis players "hitting down" on the serve is the classic one.
• No bounce: you cannot serve out of the air in padel; the ball must bounce first.
• Wrong box: losing track of which side you should be on happens a lot after long rallies. Calling the score out loud helps.

In casual games, the waist-height rule is judged by eye, and without a referee most pairs simply act in good faith. Some tournaments have their own interpretation of this rule or extra regulations on serve types, so check with the organiser.

Return rules

The receiver has clear rules too:

1. Let it bounce. You may not volley the serve; it has to bounce in the service box first.
2. Glass is fine. If the ball bounces in the box and comes back off the glass, you can still play it before the second bounce.
3. Only the right player returns. The player diagonally opposite the server receives. If the receiver's partner touches the serve, the point goes to the serving pair.
4. The partner can stand anywhere. The receiver's partner usually waits at the net or mid-court; the rules do not fix a position.

Choosing sides

At the start of each set, the pair decides who receives on the right and who receives on the left, and that choice stays fixed for the whole set. Typically the steadier player with the more reliable forehand takes the right, and the player who likes to finish points with smashes takes the left. That is a habit, not a rule.

Receiving on golden point

If you play golden point (a single deciding point at 40-40), the receiving pair chooses which player receives that point. Golden point is very common in short formats and social events. For the full scoring picture, read how padel scoring works.

Serving in social tournaments

In formats like Americano and Mexicano, matches are played to a total number of points, for example 21 or 24, rather than in games and sets. Serving then usually rotates like this: each player serves a few points in a row (four in many groups, two in some), then the serve passes to the next player. This is purely an organiser's choice, and settling it at the start saves arguments later.

In PadelDraw you set the match total (16, 21, 24, 32 or custom) when you create the tournament; the serve rotation is something the players apply on court. Just announce it at the start.

Four small ways to improve your serve

• Think placement, not power. Outright aces are rare in padel. The goal is to put the receiver under pressure: a serve into the body or tight into the corner near the glass is often enough.
• Follow it to the net. The server usually moves forward straight after serving. The serve is how you win the net position.
• Keep the second serve calm. A double fault is a free point. On the second serve, choose accuracy over pace.
• Build a routine. The same number of bounces and the same breath before every serve make it more consistent.

In short

• The serve is underarm: bounce the ball behind the service line and strike it at or below waist height.
• It must land in the diagonal service box; hitting the glass afterwards is fine, hitting the mesh is a fault.
• A serve that clips the net and lands in the right box is a let and is replayed.
• The receiver must let the serve bounce; their partner may not touch it.
• Details vary between clubs, so agree on the rules before you start.

For all the core rules in one place, see our complete guide to padel rules.

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Última actualización: 16 de octubre de 2026