Padel serve rules: start the point with confidence

On a first visit, the serve can create more questions than the rally. Start with the sequence: take your position, bounce the ball, make contact and aim across the net into the diagonal service box.

Set up before the bounce

Use the service line and the imaginary extension of the centre line to identify your serving area. The FIP rules set limits on your feet and where you may bounce the ball; ask a coach to demonstrate the position rather than guessing from another player’s routine.

A first-serve fault gives you a second serve. If the second serve is also a fault, the point is lost.

Glass and fence are different

A serve that lands correctly and then hits the metal fence before its second bounce is a fault. Do not use “it touched the enclosure” as your only test: the surface and the order of events matter.

During a practice session, ask someone to show a legal serve and a fence fault. Seeing both is often clearer than trying to decide while you are also learning the swing.

Give yourself a repeatable routine

Our practical suggestion is to start with a comfortable pace. Check the receiving player is ready, settle your feet and choose an area well inside the box. Save the attempt to find a narrow angle for a later session.

• Call the score before serving.
• Check which side you should serve from.
• Choose a target with room for error.
• After a fault, reset rather than rush the next attempt.

When a beginner summary is not enough

Net-cord serves, interference and unusual rebounds need the full rulebook. For a competition, use the organiser’s briefing and the current FIP rules. Do not settle an unfamiliar call by applying a tennis rule from memory.

For the points after the serve, see our scoring guide.

Need the wider picture? Read our beginner guide to padel and how the court markings work.

For a bounce-by-bounce explanation, read our padel wall rules guide.