The guide · How to play

How to play padel.

You can learn the rules in five minutes. What takes longer is learning where to stand, and that one thing decides more points than every shot on this page put together.

The whole game in three sentences. Get to the net with your partner and stay there, because the pair at the net wins most points. Use the lob to push the other pair off the net so you can take it. When the ball goes past you, let the glass bring it back rather than chasing it.

Before you walk on

Four players, one court, and an hour. Most clubs lend rackets, so bring trainers and nothing else the first time. The warm-up is a few minutes of hitting — use it to find out how the ball comes off the glass, because that is the part no other sport has prepared you for.

If you do not have four, nearly every club runs mixed sessions that put you with three other people at roughly your level. That is how most people start and it is far less awkward than it sounds.

Where to stand

This is the section to read twice.

You and your partner move as a pair, in a line. Both of you at the back, or both of you at the net. Never one up and one back — that formation leaves a diagonal corridor between you that the other pair will find within two shots, every time.

The net is where points are won. From there you can volley down into the gaps; from the back you are mostly surviving. So the shape of a padel point is nearly always the same: both pairs start at the back, and the rally is a negotiation about who gets to come forward.

If you take one thing onto court: when your partner moves up, you move up. When they are pushed back, you go back with them. A pair that moves together beats a better pair that does not.

The four shots worth learning first

1. The serve

Underarm, bounced once, struck at or below the waist, diagonally into the opposite box. Do not try to make it a weapon — you cannot. Put it in, deep, and get to the net behind it. The serving pair should be at the net almost immediately; that is the whole advantage of serving. The exact rules are here.

2. The lob

The most important shot in the sport, and the one tennis players most underrate. In padel the lob is not a desperate scramble — it is how you attack. A good one goes over the net pair's heads and dies near the back glass, forcing them to retreat, and the moment they do, the net is yours. Learn to lob deliberately and your results change in a fortnight.

3. The volley

Short, blocked, down. You are not swinging. From the net you want the ball low, at their feet, in the gap between them — a punched volley into that gap wins more points than anything flashier. Keep the racket in front of you and let the ball's own pace do the work.

4. The ball off your own glass

The shot that makes padel padel. The ball goes past you, hits the back wall, comes back — and you play it. Turn side-on, move back with it, and wait. Everyone's instinct is to rush, and the ball always comes off slower and further than you expect. Give it room, let it drop to a comfortable height, and lift it deep. From the back glass, a lob is usually the right answer.

The shot that makes you not a beginner

Once you can do the four above, the next one is the bandeja — a sliced overhead played from around head height when the other pair has lobbed you.

It is not a smash. A smash from that position either goes out or sits up for them. The bandeja is a control shot: a flattish, sliced, waist-high ball pushed deep into their corner, which skids low off the bounce and gives them nothing to attack. Its purpose is to let you stay at the net rather than to end the point.

Its more aggressive cousin is the víbora — the same shape with more wrist and more sidespin — and the flat smash sits behind both for the one ball a set that genuinely deserves it.

Five habits that cost beginners points

Standing one up, one back. Covered above, and worth repeating, because almost every new pair does it and almost every point it costs looks like bad luck rather than bad shape.
Hitting the ball before the glass has finished with it. Patience off the back wall is a learnable skill and it is most of the difference between your first month and your third.
Smashing everything. A big flat smash that does not finish the point hands the net straight back. Most overheads should be bandejas.
Volleying the serve. You cannot — the serve has to bounce. Tennis players do this for about three weeks.
Saying nothing. Call for the ball. "Mine" and "yours" prevent the two commonest ways a point ends badly: both of you swinging, and neither of you moving.

Your first hour, roughly

Minutes 0–10. Hit. Find out how the ball comes off the glass. Deliberately let a few go past you and play them off the back wall before you try it under pressure.
Minutes 10–20. Practise the serve until it goes in every time. It is the one shot you control completely.
Minutes 20–60. Play. You will have real rallies, which is the point. Think about one thing only: am I level with my partner?

Do not try to learn the bandeja on day one. Nearly everyone does, and it is why their first session is more frustrating than it needs to be.

Getting better after that

Three things, in order of how much they return:

Play with people slightly better than you. Padel punishes bad positioning rather than bad technique, and you learn positioning by being on the wrong end of it.
Take two or three coached sessions once you have played a few times. Not before — the lesson lands much harder when you have already felt the problem it fixes.
Watch a professional match with the sound on. Thirty minutes of watching where the players stand teaches more about padel than an hour of watching the ball.

Common questions

Where should you stand in padel?

With your partner, in a line, both at the back or both at the net — never one up and one back. The pair at the net wins most points, so the whole game is about getting there together and staying there. Moving up as a pair and retreating as a pair is the single habit that improves a beginner's results fastest.

What is the most important shot in padel?

The lob. It is not a defensive last resort as it is in tennis — it is the main attacking tool. A good lob pushes the opposing pair off the net and back towards their own glass, which lets you and your partner take the net instead. Beginners who learn to lob early start winning points they have no business winning.

How do you play a ball off the back wall in padel?

Let it go past you, turn side-on, move back with it, and wait. The commonest mistake is rushing — the ball comes off the glass slower and further than beginners expect, so they swing early and jam themselves. Give it room, let it drop, and lift it. On a deep ball that is usually a lob rather than an attempt at a winner.

What is a bandeja in padel?

A controlled, sliced overhead played from around head height when the opponents have lobbed you. It is not a smash. Its job is to put the ball deep, keep it low after the bounce, and buy you enough time to stay at the net rather than to win the point outright. Learning it is the moment most players stop being beginners.

How long does it take to learn padel?

You will rally in your first session and play a real match in your second or third. Getting genuinely good takes as long as anything else. The difference from tennis is that the enjoyable part arrives on day one instead of month six.

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