Rules
Padel serve rules explained
Direct answer
A legal padel serve is bounced in your own service box, hit at or below waist height with at least one foot on the ground, and directed diagonally into the opponent’s box. You get two serves. A serve that clips the net and still lands in the correct box is a let and is replayed.
Tennis players often try to hit a padel serve like a kick serve from the air. That is usually a fault. Padel wants a bounced ball, a compact strike at or below the waist, and a diagonal box.
This is a player-facing summary of the FIP serve rules. Umpires apply the official text.
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Stance, bounce, and contact
Stand with at least one foot behind the service line, between the imaginary extension of the centre line and the sidewall. Bounce the ball on the ground inside the box you are serving from. Do not step on the service line, the centre-line extension, or into the receiving area before you hit the ball.
At contact, the ball must be at or below waist height, and at least one foot must be on the ground. Missing the ball on an attempted serve is a fault.
Direction and order
The first point of a game is served from the right, diagonally into the receiver’s left box (the deuce court in tennis language). After a point, you switch sides. The ball must bounce in the correct box; lines are good. The receiver then plays it before the second bounce.
If you serve from the wrong side by mistake, correct it when you notice. Points already played stand. A first-serve fault that already happened still counts.
The server should not serve until the receiver is ready. The receiver should be ready in a reasonable rhythm. You cannot claim “not ready” if you already tried to return the ball.
Faults and the second serve
You get two serves. Two faults lose the point. Common faults include: bouncing or standing incorrectly, hitting above the waist, missing the box, the ball hitting you or your partner, or (on many courts) the ball bouncing in the box then hitting the metallic fence before the second bounce.
Learn your cage. Door openings and fence lines produce arguments that the rulebook already answers — but only if someone has read it.
Lets on serve
If the serve touches the net and still lands as a good serve in the correct box, it is a let: replay. A let on the first serve means you still have first and second. A let on the second serve is only the second again.
Walk the rules with a partner once. Most club arguments about the serve are people who never agreed what “waist height” meant.
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