Regras do padel: O serviço

The serve

Stand behind the service line, bounce the ball once behind it, hit it at or below your waist with a foot on the ground, and send it diagonally into the receiver's box. The lines count as in.

Serve faults and foot faults

A serve is a fault if it lands outside the box, is hit above the waist, is missed, hits your partner or breaks a foot rule. Two faults in a row lose the point.

The serve and the mesh

After a good bounce in the box a serve may hit the glass, but if it touches the side mesh before bouncing again, it is a fault. On a court with no outside play, a serve that flies out through a door is a fault too.

Lets on the serve

A serve that clips the net or a post and lands in the box is replayed, as long as it does not then touch the mesh. A serve is also replayed if the receiver was not ready and did not try to play it.

Serving out of turn or from the wrong side

If the wrong player serves, or a serve comes from the wrong side, put it right as soon as someone notices. Points already played stand.

Receiving the serve

The receiver must let the serve bounce in the box before playing it, and may play it off the glass. Volleying the serve, or being hit by it before it bounces, gives the point to the server.

The serve hits the receiver or their partner

If the serve hits either receiving player, or their rackets, before it bounces, the server wins the point. If it clipped the net on the way, the serve is taken again instead.

Your serve hits your own partner

A serve that hits the server, the server's partner, or anything either of them wears or carries is a fault. On a first serve you still have your second.

Bouncing, catching and missing on the serve

Nothing counts as a serve until you hit the ball or deliberately swing at it. Swing and miss and it is a fault; bounce the ball and catch it without swinging, and nothing has happened yet.

A serve into the wrong box

The serve must cross the net diagonally and bounce in the receiver's box. A serve into the box straight ahead is a fault, even if the receiver plays it back.

The receiver was not ready

The server must wait for the receiver, and the receiver must keep to the server's reasonable pace. A receiver who did not try to return the serve can claim they were not ready, and the serve is taken again.

Serving the golden point or star point

On a deciding point the receiving pair choose which side receives, and the server serves diagonally to that player. In a mixed match the receiver must be the same sex as the server, so the choice is in effect made for them.