Padel vs tennis: how much of the scoring is the same?

The point ladder is the same object in both sports. The first point is 15, the second 30, the third 40, and the fourth wins the game. Zero is love, and the server's score is called first.

Sets go to six games with a two-game margin. At 6–6 both sports play a tiebreak to seven points, win by two, with the serve changing after the first point and then every two.

A padel match is best of three sets. So is almost all tennis outside the men's Grand Slam draw. If you can keep score at a tennis club, you can keep score at a padel club without learning anything new.

In tennis, 40–40 is deuce and a player must win two points in a row.

In padel, most competition now stops at one. The golden point is a single deciding point at 40–40, and the receiving pair chooses which side takes it. It is the FIP and Premier Padel standard, and club tournaments copy it because it caps the length of a game.

Tennis has moved in the same direction without going as far: no-ad scoring exists in college and doubles formats, and the deciding-set tiebreak to 10 was standardised across the Grand Slams in 2022.

For an organizer the effect is straightforward. Golden point turns an unbounded game into a bounded one, which is the difference between a draw that finishes on time and one that does not.

A tennis serve is the biggest weapon in the sport. A padel serve is a way of starting the rally.

The padel server bounces the ball behind the service line and strikes it at or below waist height into the diagonal box. There is no ace to be had, and the serving pair holds no automatic advantage — in padel the receiving pair frequently takes the net first, which is the reverse of tennis instinct.

That single rule is why padel rallies are longer and why placement beats power. It is also why a strong tennis player does not automatically dominate a padel court: the shot that carried their tennis game is the one that matters least here.

In tennis, a ball past you is gone. In padel it comes back.

Once the ball has bounced on the floor, the glass and the mesh are in play. A ball that lands deep, hits the back wall and rebounds is returned with a bajada — a shot with no tennis equivalent. Where the fencing allows, a player can even go out through the door and play a ball back from outside the court.

For a tennis player this is the hardest adjustment, and it is not technical. It is a habit: in tennis you chase the ball, in padel you wait for it to come back to you.

A padel court is 20 by 10 metres and enclosed. A tennis court is longer, wider for doubles, and open. Padel is played as doubles almost without exception, so a padel event is always a doubles event.

That has a practical consequence for organizers: 16 people fill four padel courts, where the same 16 would need eight tennis courts for singles. Padel packs more players into fewer resources, which is exactly why club evenings work.

It also opens formats tennis rarely uses. Because everyone is in a pair anyway, rotating-partner formats like americano fit naturally, and they are what most padel clubs run on a weekday evening.

Keep the scoring, the tiebreak, the footwork and the volley.

Unlearn three things. The overhead you rely on is usually the wrong shot: a bandeja keeps you at the net where a flat smash gives the point back. Power into the back glass returns to your opponent with interest, so the drop and the lob matter more than the drive. And the serve is not an opening advantage — expect the receiving pair to attack it.

Learn the lob. In padel the globo is the most-played tactical shot at every level, and the fastest route from club beginner to competitive club player runs through it, not through hitting harder.