Padel serve rules require the server to stand behind the service line, bounce the ball once on the floor, and strike it underarm at or below waist height. The ball must cross the net and land in the diagonally opposite service box without touching the side wall. Players get two attempts - a second fault loses the point.
What makes a serve legal
Five conditions must all be true for a serve to count. Miss any one of them and it is a fault. This is a closed list - there are no other ways to fault on a serve.
- Feet behind the line. Both feet must be entirely behind the service line at the moment of contact. Stepping on or over the line is a foot fault.
- Bounce first. You must bounce the ball on the floor once before striking it. No striking in the air, no multiple bounces.
- Underarm contact at or below waist height. The strike must happen below the waist - typically measured at hip level, roughly at the natural position of the belt line.
- Diagonal landing. The serve must clear the net and bounce in the service box diagonally opposite the server, on the receivers side.
- No wall contact on the way in. After bouncing in the service box, the ball can hit the side glass - but it must bounce on the floor first.
Foot position and the service line
The service line runs across the court 3 metres in front of the back glass. The server stands behind this line in the appropriate service box (right for even-numbered points, left for odd). Both feet stay behind the line until you have made contact with the ball.
You can drag one foot along the ground during the serve motion, but it cannot touch or cross the line. Lifting a foot briefly during the motion is fine as long as neither foot is touching the line when you strike the ball.
The underarm requirement
The defining feature of the padel serve is that it must be underarm. You cannot toss the ball overhead and strike it like a tennis serve.
The strict rule: the racket must contact the ball at or below waist height. Most players use a motion where they drop the ball, let it bounce, and strike it on the rise at about mid-thigh to hip height. Striking the ball after it has bounced above waist height is also a fault, even if your racket stays low.
Where the ball must land
The serve must travel diagonally - from your service box to the one on the opposite side of the net. The receivers service box is the rectangle bounded by the net, the service line, the centre line and the side wall.
If the ball lands outside the correct box, its a fault. If the ball lands in the box and then rebounds off the side glass before the receiver plays it, that is legal - the receiver must try to return it.
Faults and the second serve
Each point gets two serve attempts. If you fault on the first, you serve again. A second fault means you lose the point outright.
What counts as a fault
- Foot on or over the service line at contact
- Striking the ball above waist height
- Failing to bounce the ball before striking
- Serve that misses the correct service box
- Serve that hits the side glass before bouncing on the floor
- Serve that hits the net and lands outside the service box
- Serve that flies over the fence or hits the ceiling
Lets: serves you get to retry with no penalty
A let is a do-over - no fault counted, no point lost. The two common situations are clipping the net and interference.
- Serve that clips the top of the net and lands in the correct service box - called "let, first serve"
- Serve that clips the net and fails - replay the serve
- Interference from a ball rolling onto court or a similar disruption
There is no limit on consecutive lets. If your serve keeps clipping the net and landing in, you keep serving. See our full let rules for non-serve lets.
Who serves and when
One team serves for a whole game, then serve passes to the opposing team. Within each team, the two players alternate who serves each game. So if you and your partner are serving this game, your partner will serve the next time your team is on serve.
Within a game, the server alternates service boxes each point. Point 1 serves from the right box to the receivers right box. Point 2 serves from the left box, and so on.