Padel vs Tennis: Key Differences Explained

How padel differs from tennis: court size, walls, rackets, the underhand serve, scoring and why padel is easier for beginners.

Padel uses tennis scoring and looks a bit like tennis on a small court, but anyone who plays both will tell you they feel very different. Here's what changes when you move from a tennis court to a padel court.

If you're a tennis player trying padel for the first time, this is your cheat sheet.

Court and walls

A padel court is 20 × 10 metres, about a third of the area of a tennis court with its surroundings. It's enclosed by glass and mesh. The ball can be played after it bounces and rebounds off the walls, so rallies keep going where a tennis point would be over.

Rackets and balls

• Padel rackets are short, solid and stringless, with holes in the face. There's no string bed, so you get less power and more control.
• Padel balls look like tennis balls but have slightly lower pressure, so they bounce a little less.

The serve

In tennis, the serve is often the most powerful shot in the game. In padel, it's underhand, hit after a bounce at waist height or below. It starts the point rather than winning it, which levels the game between big and small players.

Scoring

Scoring is the same: 15, 30, 40, game, six games to a set and a tiebreak at 6-6. The main difference is the golden point, widely used in padel: at 40-40 one point decides the game, with the receiving pair choosing who receives.

Doubles first

Tennis is played singles and doubles. Padel is almost always doubles, which makes it more social and more tactical: you win by moving with your partner, controlling the net and using lobs.

Which is easier?

Padel is easier to start. The court is small, the serve is simple and the walls keep the ball in play, so beginners have fun rallies in their first hour. Tennis takes longer to learn, but its skills transfer well to padel.

Tips for tennis players trying padel

• Shorten your swing. Big tennis groundstrokes send the ball into the back fence.
• Let the ball come off the back glass instead of rushing it.
• Lob more than you think. It's an attacking shot in padel.
• Use the continental grip for almost everything.

Padel Scoreboard: Score Keeper uses the scoring you already know from tennis, with padel's golden point built in.