Padel serve rules: how to serve, faults and lets

By Alejandro Portillo GuerreroUpdated 19 October 20269 min read

The padel serve rules fit in one breath: stand behind the service line, bounce the ball in your own serving area, hit it at or below waist height with a foot on the ground, and send it diagonally into the opposite box. You get two attempts, a net cord that lands in is replayed, and the serve may hit the glass after it bounces but not the metal mesh. Here is every detail from the official FIP rulebook in force since 1 January 2026, plus how serving works in doubles and in Americano rounds.

Padel serve rules at a glance

Where to stand, and what counts as a foot fault

The server starts in the service area: behind the service line (the line 6.95 m from the net), between the imaginary extension of the centre line and the side wall. The 2026 text says the server stands with a foot behind the service line and must stay in that area until the ball has been struck.

Your feet may not touch the service line or the imaginary extension of the centre line before you hit the ball. The English version of the rulebook also names the area in front of the service line. Players and coaches call a breach a foot fault, a term borrowed from tennis. The FIP rulebook simply counts it as a service fault, the same as any other.

The partner of the server can stand anywhere on their own side, and most stand at the net.

The bounce and the serve height

Every serve starts with a bounce. You drop the ball and let it bounce on the floor inside your own serving area, then strike it. New in the 2026 revision: the ball may not cross the service line or the centre line extension before you strike it, so you cannot drop it in front of the line and step into it.

At the moment of contact the ball must be at or below your waist, and you must have at least one foot on the ground. That is why padel serves look underarm. The rule is about height, not technique: a sliced side-arm serve is legal if contact is at waist height or lower. The 2021 casebook adds a detail people argue about: the limit is wherever your waist is at that moment, so if you bend your knees, the limit drops with you.

A swing counts as a serve as soon as you hit the ball, or try to and miss. Missing the ball completely is a fault.

Where the serve has to land

The serve goes diagonally over the net and must bounce first inside the receiver’s service box. The lines count as in. The first point of every game is served from the right side of your court into the box diagonally opposite. After each point you switch sides: left, right, left, until the game ends.

After it bounces in the box, the serve may hit the back or side glass and is still in play. The receiver can let it come off the glass and return it from there. What it may not touch before its second bounce is the metal mesh. That is a fault. On a court without out-of-court play, a serve that bounces in the box and goes straight out through the door is also a fault.

One case surprises beginners: under the 2021 casebook, a serve that bounces in the box and then flies out over the fence is not a fault. If the receiver cannot reach it, the server wins the point.

Faults and the second serve

You get two attempts. A serve is a fault if:

• you break any of the position, bounce or height rules above;
• you miss the ball when trying to hit it;
• it bounces outside the receiver’s box;
• it hits you, your partner or anything either of you is wearing or carrying;
• it bounces in the box and then touches the mesh before the second bounce;
• it bounces in the box and leaves straight through the door on a court without out-of-court play.

A serve that hits your own wall or mesh before it bounces in the box is also a fault, according to the 2021 casebook. After a first fault you serve again from the same side. A second fault is a double fault and loses the point.

Let and net: when the serve is replayed

A serve is replayed in three situations:

• Net. The ball touches the net or the posts and then lands in the correct box, as long as it does not then touch the mesh before the second bounce.
• Net, then a player. After touching the net, the ball hits the receiver or the receiver’s partner before bouncing.
• Not ready. The receiver was not ready. A receiver who tries to return the serve cannot claim afterwards that they were not ready.

What gets repeated depends on which serve it was. If the let or net happens on the first serve, the whole point is replayed and you still have two serves. If it happens on the second serve, only the second serve is retaken. The rules set no limit on how many nets in a row you can serve.

A let can also stop a rally after the serve, for example if the ball splits or another court’s ball rolls in. Then the point is replayed with two serves, even if the server had already faulted once (2021 casebook).

Who serves first, and the serving order in doubles

Before the match, spin a racket or toss a coin. The winning pair picks one of three options: serve or receive first (the other pair picks the end), pick the end (the other pair picks serve or receive), or ask the other pair to choose first.

At the start of each set, the serving pair decides which partner serves the first game. After that game the other pair serves, and they choose which of them serves. Then the serve passes back and forth for the rest of the set, so with Ana and Luis against Marta and Javi it runs like this:

1. Game 1: Ana
2. Game 2: Marta
3. Game 3: Luis
4. Game 4: Javi
5. Game 5: Ana again, and so on.

The order is fixed for the set and can only change when a new set starts. The same server serves every point of their game, alternating sides. In a tie-break the pattern changes to one point, then two each. See the padel tie-break guide. The free score keeper applies this rotation for you.

Mistakes happen. If someone serves from the wrong side, correct it as soon as it is noticed. Points already played stand, and a first-serve fault still counts. If the wrong player serves, the right player takes over as soon as it is noticed. Points stand, but a single fault does not carry over. If the game has already finished, the altered order stays until the end of the set.

Return of serve rules

• The receiver must let the serve bounce in their box and play it before it bounces a second time. Volleying the serve is never allowed, even if you are standing outside the box.
• If the serve hits the receiver or their partner (or their rackets) before it bounces, the serving pair wins the point.
• If the serve bounces twice inside the box, even if it touches the glass in between, the point goes to the server.
• At the start of each set, the receiving pair decides who receives first. That player receives the first point of each of the pair’s receiving games for the rest of the set, and the partners alternate. They can only swap at the start of a new set.

The one exception to normal receiving is the deciding point at 40–40 in golden point or Star Point scoring. There the receiving pair chooses whether to receive on the right or the left, without swapping positions. The golden point guide covers it.

What changed in the 2026 serve rules

Compared with the 2021 rulebook, the revision in force since 1 January 2026 changes the serve in three ways:

• The bounce: the ball may not cross the service line or the centre line extension before you strike it.
• The stance: the 2021 text asked for both feet behind the service line; the 2026 text says one foot, while still banning contact with the lines.
• Walking, running and jumping: the 2021 clause banning them while serving is gone. You still need one foot on the ground at contact and must stay in your service area until the ball is struck.

Everything else is unchanged. The other 2026 changes are in the padel rules guide.

Club play vs competition

With a referee, the referee calls faults. In social padel there is nobody in the chair, so serving calls come down to the four of you. The usual courtesy, borrowed from tennis, is that the pair on the side where the ball lands calls it, and a doubtful serve is given the benefit of the doubt. If someone keeps serving from well inside the line, mention it at a change of ends rather than in the middle of a point.

If your club or league plays any house rule on the serve, agree it before the first point, not after a disputed one.

Serving in Americano and Mexicano rounds

In an Americano round there are no 15-30-40 games, so serving is shared out in blocks. A common rule for a 24-point round is 3 serves per player in the order A1, B1, A2, B2, then again, changing ends at 12. For 32 points it is usually 4 each, changing at 16. Block sizes vary between clubs. The serve itself (bounce, waist height, two attempts, nets replayed) follows the normal rules. Set-up details are in how to organise an Americano and Mexicano padel.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• FIP — Rules of Padel (review of application 01.01.2026), Rules 3–10
• FIP — Reglas del Pádel (rev. 01.01.2026), Reglas 3–10 (Spanish text)
• FIP — Reglamento de Juego del Pádel (rev. 28.05.2021), with the case decisions
• hostatourney — Americano padel rules (serves per turn, change of ends)

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