The serve is where every padel point begins, and it works differently from tennis: it’s underarm, struck after a bounce, and hit below waist height. This guide covers how to serve, what counts as a fault, how second serves and lets work, and how serving rotates between you, your partner and the other team. It’s built on standard FIP doubles rules — the baseline most clubs follow. (If you’d rather just play, Pala keeps score and tracks the serve for you on Apple Watch and iPhone.)
How to serve in padel
The padel serve is always underarm. Before you hit it, you bounce the ball once on the floor behind the service line, then strike it at or below waist height. Official FIP (International Padel Federation) rules define waist height as a maximum of 1.06 m from the ground — in practice, “below the waist” is the cue you’ll use, since few amateurs actually measure it. Overarm or above-waist serves are not allowed.
Where you stand matters too. The four steps of a legal serve are:
- Position — stand behind the service line, between the centre service line and the side wall, with at least one foot in contact with the ground at the moment you strike the ball.
- The bounce — bounce the ball once on the floor behind the line, then hit it underarm at or below waist height.
- Direction — hit the serve diagonally cross-court, over the net, into the service box that sits diagonally opposite you.
- The bounce in the box — the ball must bounce inside that correct service box first. After it bounces, it may touch the glass side or back wall and stay in play, but if it touches the metal mesh/fence (the wire wall) before your opponent plays it, the serve is a fault.
That last point is the one beginners most often get wrong. The glass walls are fair game after the bounce; the wire fence is not. So a serve that bounces in the box and rebounds off the glass is valid and in play, while a serve that bounces in the box and then catches the fence is a fault.
Heads up: these are the official FIP rules. Casual and club games are often more relaxed — some venues are lenient on exact height or foot position — so don’t assume every court enforces the 1.06 m line strictly. When in doubt, agree the standard with your group before you start.
Faults and second serves
Just like tennis, you get two serve attempts on every point. If your first serve is a fault, you take a second serve. If you fault on both, that’s a double fault and the receiving team wins the point.
A serve is a fault when it breaks any serve rule. The common ones are:
- The ball misses the correct service box (lands out, in the wrong box, or in the net).
- You hit the ball overarm or above waist height.
- A foot fault — stepping on or over the service line, or touching the imaginary centre line, before you’ve struck the ball.
- After bouncing in the box, the ball touches the wire mesh/fence before the opponent plays it.
A let is different from a fault. If your serve clips the top of the net (the net cord) and still drops into the correct service box — without then hitting the fence — it’s a let. The serve is simply replayed, with no penalty, and you keep whichever attempt you were on: a let on your first serve replays the first serve, and a let on your second serve replays the second. But if the ball touches the net and misses the box, that’s an ordinary fault, not a let.
Who serves and rotation
Serving alternates between the two teams every game. One player serves an entire game; for the next game the serve passes to the opposing team, then back again, and so on through the set.
Within your own team, you and your partner take turns serving in alternate service games. The order you choose at the start of the set is then fixed for that set — so if you serve the first of your team’s games, your partner serves the next one, and you swap back after that.
Inside a single game, the server changes side after every point. The first point is served from the right (deuce) side, the next from the left (advantage, or “ad”) side, then right again, and so on. Wherever you stand, you always serve diagonally: from the right side the ball goes into the opponents’ right box, and from the left side it goes into their left box. If you’ve played tennis this side-switching pattern will feel familiar, so it’s worth keeping light — the deuce/right and ad/left framing is the same idea.
Keeping track of the serve
On paper the rotation is simple, but in a fast game it’s genuinely easy to lose track of who is serving and which side they’re serving from — especially across long games with lots of side switches, or when partners alternate games. Disagreements about “whose serve is it?” are common in social padel.
That’s the kind of thing Pala quietly handles. As you tap to score, it tracks who’s serving and from which side, so you can settle the question with a glance instead of a debate — and just get on with the next point.
Don’t want to remember whose serve it is? Pala keeps the score, tracks the server and the side, and applies the rules automatically — you tap to score and just play. It works on iPhone, and you can score from your wrist on Apple Watch.
Frequently asked questions
Is the serve in padel underarm?
Yes. The padel serve must always be hit underarm. You bounce the ball once on the floor behind the service line and strike it at or below waist height — official FIP rules set this at a maximum of 1.06 m from the ground. Overarm or above-waist serves are not allowed.
How many serve attempts do you get in padel?
Two, exactly like tennis. If your first serve is a fault, you get a second attempt. If you fault on both, it is a double fault and the receiving team wins the point.
Where do you serve in padel?
You stand behind the service line, between the centre line and the side wall, with at least one foot on the ground. You hit the serve diagonally cross-court into the service box that sits diagonally opposite you. The first point of each game is served from the right (deuce) side, and you switch sides after every point.
What is a fault on the serve in padel?
A fault is any serve that breaks the rules: missing the correct service box, hitting the ball above waist height or overarm, a foot fault (stepping on or over the line before contact), or — after the ball bounces in the box — touching the wire mesh/fence. Touching the glass wall after the bounce is fine; touching the fence is not. If the ball clips the net and still lands in the correct box it is a let, not a fault, and is replayed.
How does serving rotate in padel doubles?
Serving alternates between the two teams each game: one player serves a whole game, then the serve passes to the opposing team for the next game. Within your team, you and your partner take turns serving in alternate games, and that order stays fixed for the set. During a game, the server switches sides (right/deuce, then left/ad) after every point, always serving diagonally.
Related guides
Want the bigger picture? These guides cover the rest of the basics, so the serve fits into the whole game:
- Padel rules for beginners — the full starting point for the rules of padel.
- How padel scoring works — points, games, sets, tie-breaks and the golden point.
- Padel vs tennis — how the two sports differ, including the serve.