Most arguments about the serve in padel come down to the same handful of rules: the waist height call, what happens when the ball hits the glass or cage after landing, and whether a let on second serve gives you one attempt or two. This guide covers all of it – the basic requirements first, then the specific situations that cause disputes.
Here is the quick-reference checklist:
| Requirement | Rule |
|---|---|
| Ball must bounce | Drop ball, let it bounce once, then strike |
| Strike height | At or below waist height (navel level) at moment of contact |
| Swing direction | Underarm (the LTA’s plain-English wording of the waist-height rule) |
| Service box | Diagonal – cross-court into the opposite box |
| Two attempts | One fault allowed; second fault loses the point |
| Foot position | Start behind the service line without touching it; at least one foot grounded at contact |
Read on for everything that sits behind this checklist – including the rules most club players argue about.
The basic requirements
A padel serve looks simple: drop the ball, let it bounce, hit it underarm into the diagonal service box. The full list of requirements is a little longer.
The server stands in the area behind the service line, between the centre line and the side wall. You must serve cross-court – from the right-hand box into the box diagonally opposite, and vice versa. The first point of each game is served from the right.
The ball must bounce on the ground before you hit it. You cannot toss it and hit it in the air like a tennis serve. Once it bounces, you must strike it – you cannot let it bounce a second time. If you miss your attempt to strike it, that is a fault.
The LTA describes the serve as underarm. The FIP rule itself is that you strike the ball at or below waist height, with at least one foot on the ground; there is no formal “must swing upward” rule.
You get two attempts. Fault on both and the point goes to your opponents.
Foot position and foot faults
You start behind the service line and must stay in your serving area until the ball is served. You must not touch the service line with your feet, and you must not touch or cross the imaginary extension of the centre line to stand on the wrong side. At the moment of contact, at least one foot must remain on the ground.
That last point is the one players miss. You can lift one foot during the serve – a small hop or weight transfer as you swing is fine. What you cannot do is have both feet off the ground at the moment racket meets ball, or drag either foot forward across the service line.
In practice at club level, foot faults are rarely called unless they are obvious. But if you are being called for a foot fault, check: are you drifting forward and touching the line? Or crossing the centre line to serve from the wrong side? Both are common.
After the serve is struck, you can move freely anywhere on your side of the court.
Faults and lets – what each means
A fault is a serve that does not count, costs you one of your two attempts, and – on the second fault – loses the point.
A let is a serve that is replayed. It does not count as a fault.
| Situation | Result |
|---|---|
| Ball misses service box (lands long, wide, or in the net) | Fault |
| Ball struck above waist height | Fault |
| Server steps on or over service line | Fault |
| Server crosses centre line extension | Fault |
| Both feet off the ground at contact | Fault |
| Ball not bounced before striking | Fault |
| Ball struck twice | Fault |
| Ball clips the net cord and lands in the correct service box | Let – replay |
| Net cord but ball lands outside the box or in the net | Fault |
| Serve struck before the receiver is ready | Let – replay |
The net cord let is worth knowing precisely. The ball must clear the net, clip the cord or top tape, and land in the correct diagonal service box. If it hits the net and falls back onto the server’s side, that is a fault. If it clips the net and lands in the box but then touches the cage or side fence before its second bounce, that is a fault, not a let – the same as any serve that bounces and then hits the mesh.
After the serve: glass and cage rules
This is the rule that gets argued about most at club level, and several popular guides explain it incorrectly.
Once the ball has bounced inside the correct service box, what happens next depends on which surface it contacts.
- Ball bounces in box, then hits the back or side glass: Ball is in play. The point continues. The receiver must play it.
- Ball bounces in box, then hits the wire fence or cage: Fault. The receiver does not have to play it.
- Ball hits a wall or the mesh on the server’s own side before landing in the box: Fault.
The glass and the cage are treated differently on the serve. The back glass wall is a playing surface – a serve that lands correctly and then comes off the glass must be returned. The wire cage is not – contact with the cage after landing is still a fault.
This surprises many players who assume the cage works the same as the glass after the bounce. It does not. If you are playing without a referee and there is a dispute about whether the ball grazed the cage or just fell near it, offer a let.
Second-serve rules and the let-on-second-serve question
You get two serves. Fault on the first means you take a second. Fault on both means the point goes to your opponents.
The question that causes arguments: if you get a let on your second serve, do you get a full two serves again, or just one more attempt?
The answer: one more attempt. A let resets that particular serve attempt. It does not restore your first serve. So if your first serve is a fault and your second serve is a let, you have one final attempt. If that attempt is a fault, the point is lost.
This is different from what many players assume, because in tennis, a let on the second serve also gives you just one more – but the rule is applied inconsistently at club level and people carry assumptions across from different sports. In padel, the rule is the same: let resets the current attempt, not the whole sequence.
A fault followed by a let followed by a fault = point lost. Two faults, regardless of intervening lets, still leaves you with no serves remaining.
The receiving team’s positioning rules
The receiver must let the ball bounce before returning it. Beyond that, the receiver can stand wherever they like on their half of the court. There is no requirement to stand inside the service box.
The receiver’s partner – the other member of the receiving pair – can stand anywhere in the court on their side. In practice, they usually position near the service line on the non-receiving side.
The server must not serve until the receiver is ready. A serve struck before the receiver is ready is replayed as a let – but a receiver who attempts to return the serve cannot then claim they were not ready.
One practical point for UK club play: there is no rule requiring the receiver to stand in a specific spot, but social conventions vary by venue. Some organisers at Americano sessions ask receivers to stand in the box to keep the game moving. That is a house rule, not the official regulation.
Quick-reference: most argued-about serve rules
What counts as “waist height” exactly?
The ball must be struck at or below waist height at the moment of contact – not at the start of your swing, not at the top of the bounce. At the moment racket meets ball. The reference point is roughly the navel, not the hip bones. The hip bones sit lower and would make the rule more restrictive than intended – the navel is the anatomical landmark that most closely matches the “waist” described in the rules.
In practice: if you are bending your knees slightly and striking the ball at a point level with your belt buckle or lower, you are fine. If your arm is coming through at stomach or chest height, you are likely hitting high. No measuring instruments are involved – at club level, it is a judgment call by the opposing pair.
Can a cage hit ever be a let?
No. If the ball clips the net cord, lands in the service box, and then touches the cage before its second bounce, it is a fault, not a let. A net cord serve is only replayed if it lands in the correct box and stays off the mesh.
If the serve lands in the box cleanly (no net cord) and then hits the cage, that is a fault. The glass and cage are treated differently on the serve: glass after a correct landing is in play, cage after a correct landing is a fault.
Can the server’s partner stand anywhere?
The server’s partner must stand inside the court on their side of the net during the serve – they cannot stand outside the court or beyond the back wall. In practice, the server’s partner usually stands near the net or the service line. There is no rule specifying exactly where, but they must be in the court.
What if the server hits the net post?
On the serve, the posts are treated like the net. A serve that touches a net post and then lands in the correct service box is replayed, just like a net cord – unless it then touches the mesh before its second bounce, which is a fault.
For the full rules on how points, games and sets work in padel, see How padel scoring works. For all the in-play rules once the point has started, see The rules of padel: a complete guide. If you are getting started, Your first month of padel has practical advice for navigating club play.