The rules of the game of padel are mostly pretty straight forward with the exceptions of a couple of quirks that are often misunderstood. With surrounding walls and fences and different rules for each of them, there are some nuances to consider.

For now this article is somewhat short but we will include some important details as well as link to different videos that explain them better.

Scoring system (identical to tennis)

If you are familiar with the scoring system of tennis you will find padel is easy to deal with as it is exactly the same.

Games

Every game starts at 0-0. The first won point gives 15 points, from 15 it goes to 30 and from 30 to 40. Pretty weird, right? If you win the point when you have 40 (and your opponent have less than 40), you win the game.

If you are at 40-40, it is a so called "deuce". Any team has two win 2 consecutive points at a deuce to win the game. There is no higher number than 40, we just call it "advantage" to the team that now only needs 1 won point to win the game. If the team that had the advantage lost the point we are back at "deuce" (40-40) and again a team needs to win two consecutive points to win the game.

Sets

Sets consists of games and the first team to get 6 games in a set wins the set. Except, for when you are even at 5-5. Then you can win or lose 7-5. If the score in a set becomes 6-6, you move on to a tiebreak.

Tiebreaks

A tiebreak is used to decide a set when the usual amount of games was not able to conclude the set, meaning the game score become 6-6. In tiebreaks you play individual points and the first to 7 points win the set. But you need to with with at least 2 points so 7-6 is not a valid result in a tiebreak.

In many tournaments you also have something called a "match tiebreak" - this is to save time when the result of the first two sets is 1-1. So instead of playing a full third set, you play a match tiebreak which has the same rules as a regular tiebreak, but instead of playing to 7 points to win you now play to 10 points to win.

Matches

A full match in a regular setting is usually a best of three sets. That means that you need two sets to win, and you can win 2-0 or 2-1. Unlike tennis grand slams, there are no best of 5 sets matches in padel tournament play.