Padel return of serve: a beginner’s guide

Let the serve bounce, read the space you have and choose a return you can control. For a beginner, getting into the rally with a clear plan is a useful first aim. Trying to finish the point with the return can wait.

This guide connects the rules to three practical decisions: where to wait, whether to use the glass and what kind of return to attempt. It includes an original practice session and a simple record you can take to a lesson. Advice here is a starting point to discuss with a coach, not a claim of personal testing or a guaranteed result.

The receiving rules to know first

• The designated receiver must let the serve bounce in the correct receiving box and return it before its second floor bounce.
• You cannot volley the serve. Being struck by it before the bounce, including on your racket, awards the point to the server.
• A correctly bouncing serve can reach the glass and remain playable. A served ball reaching the metal fence before its second bounce is a fault.
• Choose the receiving order at the start of the set and retain it for that set, including its tie-break.

These points summarise FIP rules 7–8. Use the official rulebook for disputed or unusual situations. Our serve rules guide explains the server’s part, while the glass and fence guide covers rebound sequences.

Start with a position you can explain

Before the server begins, notice the receiving box, the nearby side glass and your partner. Ask yourself where you would make contact if the serve came towards your body, towards the centre or towards the glass. If you cannot picture space for one of those options, ask your coach to help adjust your starting position.

Use a comfortable ready position with room to move and keep your attention on the server. Avoid setting your feet once and treating that location as compulsory for every opponent. A starting position is something to review when you see the serve, the court and your own movement.

For a first practice, ask for manageable, repeated serves rather than a mixture of speed and spin. Notice whether you keep meeting the ball too close to your body or feel rushed near the wall. Give that observation to your coach; it is more useful than saying every serve is difficult.

Do not copy a fixed distance from a video without understanding the situation. This guide does not prescribe a universal number of steps from the glass. If the markings are still unfamiliar, read our court markings guide before practising.

Choose the return from the difficulty of the ball

The Padel School’s coaching guidance distinguishes a difficult serve towards the glass from a more manageable ball: simplifying the former, and considering a more assertive return or a lob when there is control. It also discusses a lob as an option for gaining time against a serve towards the T. Those are coaching choices, rather than rules requiring a particular shot.

For your own first sessions, use the decision card below. “Balanced” means you feel able to choose and complete the shot without a desperate reach. The card asks you to notice the situation before choosing the target.

The card is deliberately short. It is an editorial learning aid, not a validated scoring system or a promise that one target works against every formation. Your coach may suggest another option for a particular serve or your current ability.

Using the glass without rushing the decision

Glass practice is easier to organise when reading the rebound is the task. Ask a coach or partner to provide a gentle, predictable ball. First watch where it travels; then discuss where you need space to play. Increase the difficulty only when the previous version feels manageable.

During a return practice, note whether the awkward moment happened before the wall, during the rebound or at contact. Those are different observations. “I could not judge where it would come back” gives you a clearer lesson question than “I need to hit harder”.

Keep a safe distance from the enclosure and avoid chasing a ball into the glass. A difficult rebound is a reason to seek help with the read and movement, rather than force an uncomfortable reach. Use the wall guide to check the sequence separately from the stroke.

An 18-return practice session

This is Padel Handbook’s suggested exercise, not a coaching test with an official pass mark. Practise on a booked court with a partner or coach, at a pace that suits you. Clear loose balls between blocks and make sure everyone knows when the next serve will start. Pause if the court or the movement feels unsafe.

1. Block one: six manageable serves. Agree a broad return target. Keep the serve reasonably repeatable. Record what happened without trying to change your position, target and stroke all at once.
2. Block two: six serves towards the side you found awkward. Ask the server to keep the pace comfortable. Note whether the difficulty was reading the direction, making space or controlling contact. If the feed is too demanding, make it easier.
3. Block three: six serves with one chosen change. Discuss one adjustment with your partner or coach, such as simplifying the return target. Keep the other conditions as similar as possible and record what changed.

Take turns as receiver, then repeat on the other receiving side during practice if useful. You are exploring the task, not changing your receiving order during a match. Do not turn a small practice block into a claim that a technique has been proven to work.

Record three things, not just whether you won

Use a note on paper or your phone after each block. Keep it practical enough to complete while you can still remember the returns.

Illustrative note: “Block two: three of six back in play; twice I felt crowded near the side glass. Ask the coach to watch the space I leave.” These are example numbers, not results from our testing and not a benchmark for other beginners.

A higher return count is not the whole story. If a change makes a comfortable feed easier but becomes unmanageable with variation, record both. Keep the goal of this exercise narrow: identify something you can work on next.

Make a plan with your partner before the point

Tell your partner which return you intend to practise. Agree how you will communicate about the next ball and leave each other space. In social practice, a short conversation between points can stop both players making different assumptions.

A lob is not a cue to run forwards automatically. Notice where it goes and where the opponents are, then make a shared decision about the next shot. Ask a coach to work on that transition if you and your partner keep separating. Doubles positioning deserves its own session rather than several new instructions added to a return drill.

Three problems to bring to your next lesson

• “I feel rushed before contact.” Ask the coach to observe your preparation and the difficulty of the serve you are practising against.
• “The glass makes the ball hard to read.” Show which type of serve caused the problem and ask for a simpler version you can repeat.
• “I get the return in but do not know what follows.” Practise the next ball with your partner as a separate task, keeping the return manageable.

For your next booking, bring this one-question approach alongside our first-match preparation checklist. If the whole point sequence is new, begin with the beginner’s guide to padel.