How to play padel: a complete beginner's walkthrough

To play padel, book a court for four, rent a racket, and learn five shots: the serve, the return, the volley, the lob, and the wall exit. Serve underarm, score like tennis, and use the glass — the walls are in play. Here's how I walk a brand-new player through a first session.

Book a court before you buy anything

You can't play padel against a garage door — you need a court, and courts are booked by the slot, usually 60 or 90 minutes through the club's website or booking app. Take 90 if it's offered; the first half hour disappears while you get used to the glass.

Padel is built for four players, so bring three friends or join the club's open-match list and let them fill the court for you. Most clubs also run intro clinics — one hour with a coach fixes more than a month of guessing. If you're still deciding whether the sport is for you at all, the intro guide to what padel is is a five-minute read.

What to bring and what to rent

Rent the racket. Nearly every club keeps loaners at the desk, and no beginner can outplay a rental in the first month. Padel rackets are solid perforated faces with no strings, and every one has a wrist cord — wear it, because the rules require it and because a sweaty grip turns a racket into a projectile.

Shoes matter more than the racket. Wear tennis or court shoes with real lateral support; running shoes are built for straight lines, and padel is anything but. Regular gym clothes are fine. Balls look like tennis balls but hold slightly less pressure — the club will provide or sell them.

Grip and ready position

Hold the racket with a continental grip: shake hands with the handle, or grab it like a hammer. You'll hit volleys, lobs, and balls off the glass with no time to change grips, so learn the one grip that plays them all.

Ready position: racket up at chest height and in front of you, knees flexed, weight on the balls of your feet. Between every shot, come back to it. When you do swing, turn sideways-on — the classic beginner error is facing the net and arming the ball with a stiff wrist. Short swings, always; the court is 10 meters wide and the glass punishes big backswings.

How to play padel: the five shots you need first

Guides on how to play padel for beginners love to list a dozen strokes. You need five.

1. The serve

The serve is underarm and the rules are precise: bounce the ball behind the service line, hit it at or below waist height, and keep both feet behind the line until contact, at least one on the ground. The ball travels diagonally and must land in the opposite service box. After bouncing there it may hit the glass — still good — but if it hits the wire mesh, it's a fault. You get two attempts, like tennis. The full rules reference covers the edge cases; for your first matches, serve at medium pace toward the middle of the box and follow it to the net.

2. The return

You must let the serve bounce before you hit it. Because the serving pair follows the serve forward, your return's job is to buy time, not win the point. The highest-percentage return is a deep lob — it pushes both opponents off the net and gives your pair time to take it.

3. The volley

Most padel points are won at the net, so volley like you're blocking, not swinging: compact punch, firm wrist, contact out in front. Aim at your opponents' feet or through the middle gap between them. If the ball comes at your chest, take it in the air rather than backing up.

4. The lob

The lob is the most important tactical shot in the sport. When the other pair owns the net, a high, deep lob forces them back and hands you their position. Depth beats deception: a lob that lands near the back glass resets the rally, and a lob that lands short is an invitation to be smashed. In your first sessions, when in doubt, lob.

5. The wall exit

This is the shot that makes padel padel. When a ball beats you, don't panic-swing at it — let it go past, turn, and play it after it rebounds off the back glass. The ball stays live until its second bounce on the floor; rebounds off glass don't count. Tennis players struggle here the most, because everything they've trained says take the ball early. Trust the glass. You can even play a desperate ball into your own back glass and over the net — legal, as long as it's the glass and not the fence, and unreasonably satisfying when it works.

Where to stand in doubles

There are only two places to be on a padel court: both at the net, two to three meters from it, or both at the back, a step in front of the glass. Never one up and one back — every ball finds the diagonal gap between a split pair.

When your side serves, the server follows the ball in and joins their partner at the net. When you return, you start back, and the lob is your ticket forward. Move as a unit: slide side to side together, retreat together when a lob clears you, advance together behind a good one of your own.

Games run 15, 30, 40 like tennis; at 40-40, some clubs play traditional advantage while others — including the pro tours — play a single deciding golden point, so agree before you start. The scoring deep-dive covers deuce variants, tiebreaks, and set formats.

Common first-timer mistakes

Swinging like it's tennis. Big backswings clip glass, rush your timing, and spray balls into the fence. Half the swing, twice the control.

Living in no-man's land. The middle of the court is where balls bounce at your feet. Pick net or back glass, and get there.

Smashing everything. The back glass returns most beginner smashes to your opponents, sometimes with interest. Until you've learned a controlled overhead like the bandeja, smash only balls you could catch with your hand.

Retreating from the glass. Beginners flinch away from rebounds and take balls awkwardly early. Practice dropping balls into the glass and playing them out.

Losing the score. After one scrappy deuce game, nobody remembers if it's 30-all. Call the score out loud before every serve — it's the server's job. And if your group argues like mine does, Padel Scoreboard, a padel scoreboard app for iPhone and Apple Watch that tracks match scores, keeps your first matches honest.

FAQ

Is padel the same as padel tennis?

Yes. "Padel tennis" is another name for the same sport, so if you searched for how to play padel tennis, everything above applies. The extra word mostly separates it from paddle tennis and platform tennis, which are different sports on different courts.

Do I need lessons before my first padel session?

No. The underarm serve and the enclosed court make padel for beginners far more forgiving than tennis — most people are rallying within their first hour. One intro clinic early on will still spare you months of self-taught habits, especially around the glass.

What should I wear to play padel for the first time?

Normal athletic clothes and tennis or court shoes with lateral grip. Skip running shoes; the constant side-to-side movement rolls ankles. Rent the racket from the club until you know you're hooked.

How long does it take to learn padel?

You'll rally on day one and play a real match in your first session. Comfortable wall exits and doubles positioning take a handful of sessions. If you've ever watched tennis, you already know the scoring.

Is padel easier than tennis for beginners?

Easier to start, yes. The court is smaller, the serve is underarm, and the walls give you a second chance at balls that would be gone in tennis. Getting good is another story — the glass adds a layer of geometry tennis never asks of you.