Padel scoring rules explained
Padel scoring trips up new players and turns social games into debates. Here is how it actually works, and why a live scoreboard settles it for good.
Points: 15, 30, 40, game
Padel scores like tennis. The first point is 15, then 30, then 40, then the game. Score starts at love (zero). When both teams reach 40 it is 40-40, called deuce, and how you settle deuce is the one thing padel does differently from club to club.
Deuce: advantage, golden point, or one long one short
The official FIP rule is advantage: from 40-40 you win a point to go to advantage, and if you win the next point you take the game. Lose it and the score goes back to deuce, so you have to win two points in a row. This is the traditional way, the same as tennis.
The pro tour and FIP official competitions use golden point: at 40-40 a single sudden-death point decides the game, and the receiving team chooses which side receives it. It keeps matches to time, which is why you see it on Premier Padel, but it is a variant, not the default rule.
Most normal players use a middle option, one long, one short. You play the first deuce long, as advantage: win two points in a row and the game is yours. If the score comes back to 40-40, you play it short, as a single golden point that decides the game. It gives you a real deuce without letting a game drag on forever, which is why it is the common club default. Infinity Padel supports all three so the board matches whatever your club plays.
Games and sets
Win six games, by a margin of two, to take a set. A match is usually best of three sets. If games reach 6-6, a tie-break decides the set.
Tie-breaks and super tie-break
A standard tie-break is first to 7 points, win by two, with players changing ends every six points. Many formats replace a full deciding third set with a super tie-break to 10 points to keep matches to time.
Serving
Serve underhand and diagonally, bouncing the ball once before hitting it below waist height. The serving team is marked on the Infinity Padel scoreboard every point, so nobody argues about whose serve it is.
Never lose the score again
Infinity Padel handles all of this automatically on a big screen, so the board is always right. See the padel scoreboard software or how to set one up.
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