The court
- The glass
- The glass walls at each end and along the sides. Once the ball has bounced on your side, you can play it off the glass.
- The fence
- The metal mesh along the sides (la malla). Also playable after a bounce, but the bounce off it is less predictable.
- Service box
- The area between the net and the service line on each side, split down the middle. Serves go diagonally into the box opposite.
- Service line
- The line near the back glass. You serve from behind it and usually start behind it to receive.
The shots
- Drive and revés
- Forehand and backhand.
- Volley
- Hitting the ball before it bounces, usually at the net.
- Globo
- A lob, sent high over the pair at the net to push them back.
- Bandeja
- A controlled, sliced overhead that keeps you at the net. The name means “tray”, after the flat swing.
- Víbora
- “Viper”: a more attacking overhead than the bandeja, hit with plenty of side spin so it skids low off the side glass.
- Remate
- A smash: the big overhead that goes for the winner.
- Por tres
- A smash, usually from close to the net, that bounces so high it leaves the court over the side wall, which is three metres high. Spectacular, and usually unreturnable.
- Bajada
- An attacking shot from above head height, played after a lob has come high off your back glass.
- Chiquita
- A soft, low shot from the back of the court, aimed at the feet of the pair at the net.
- Contra pared
- Hitting into your own back glass so the ball rebounds over the net. A rescue shot, and legal.
Scoring and formats
- Love
- Zero. Every game starts at love-all, which is our favourite way to start anything.
- Golden point
- At 40-40, instead of playing on to advantage, one deciding point wins the game. The receiving pair chooses who receives it.
- Let
- A serve that clips the net and lands in the right box. It doesn’t count, so serve again.
- Americano
- A social format where you rotate partners every match. Read what an Americano is.
- Mexicano
- Like an Americano, but each round pairs players by how they’re doing so far.
- Match Play
- Our format: six games of mixed doubles with a new partner every game, a host on every court, and no scoring at all.
Want the rules too? Read padel rules in 60 seconds.
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