Padel tennis is a doubles-only racket sport played on an enclosed court that’s fast-becoming an ideal entry pathway into other racket sports including tennis and squash.
The aim is to win points by hitting the ball over the net and into your opponents’ side in a way they can’t return it before the second bounce.
Know the court
- Smaller than a tennis court, with glass walls and metal fencing.
- The ball can bounce off the walls, similar to squash.
- Net in the center like tennis.
The padel racket is solid, perforated, and shorter than a tennis racket. While the padel ball is similar to a tennis ball, it’s slightly less pressurized. Taking some of the pace off of the ball.
Master basic shots
Most shots will be familiar to anyone who’s played tennis or squash before. They include:
- Forehand & Backhand – similar to tennis but with shorter swings.
- The Volley. In Padel, volley shots and rallies occur more frequently in doubles exchanges.
- Lob shots – used to push opponents back or reset a point – are similar.
- While wall shots make this form of tennis unique. The coach’s advice is – learn to use the glass walls to your advantage.
To serve correctly in Padel you serve underhand only, you bounce the ball behind your service line and hit it diagonally into the service box. The ball must not hit the glass on the serve.
Scoring in Padel is the same as tennis: 15, 30, 40, deuce, advantage – matches are Played in best-of-three sets.
