Padder tennis, known formally as padel tennis, is a game often used at schools or other recreational and youth-oriented settings. However, there are adult competitive leagues throughout the world. It's very much like tennis, but is played in an area that is smaller than a traditional tennis court. Padder tennis can be played in singles or doubles formats and is particularly popular in places such as New Zealand, Australia, England and Ireland, as well as many Latin American countries.
Getting Started
The basic equipment in padder tennis includes a padder bat, tennis balls, a net and a court on which to play. Padder bats look like small tennis rackets but with a solid face like a paddle, rather than strings. They are often plastic.
To decide who serves first and from which side, have the teams or individual players hit the ball back and forth over the net. After five shots, each side can try to win the right to decide whether they will serve or receive first. The other team or player then chooses which side of the net to play from first.
Scoring
Scoring in padder tennis is the same as in standard tennis, with the points being counted as 15, 30, 40, game. Deuce is played if the score reaches 40-40 and a player or team must win by two points to win the game. A player who wins six games wins a set, though he must win by two games. A match is usually the best two out of three sets.
Serving
All serves must be underhanded because of the small size of the court. The first serve is done from the server's right side of the court and then serves alternate from the right or left.
Unlike in tennis, where serves are done from the baseline, padder tennis serves are done from the boxes closest to the net. The server bounces the ball and must hit it at waist height or below into the opponent's opposite service box, according to the UK Padel Federation. After that, the entire court may be used to play out the point.
Play
Once the ball is in play, players must return the ball over the net before it hits the ground twice on their side. If the ball bounces twice on your side or you hit it into the net or out of bounds, your opponent gets the point.
Many padder tennis courts have fences or walls around them and if that is the case, players may hit the ball off the wall or fence as long as it lands in bounds when it finally hits the ground.
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