Padel Etiquette: What to Know Before Your First Game

Before You Get on Court

Arrive on time

Courts are booked in hourly slots. If you're late, you're eating into the shared session. Your lateness costs everyone else playing time. Aim to arrive 5–10 minutes early so you're warmed up and ready when the clock starts.

Bring your own water

Clubs provide courts, not hydration. Bring a water bottle. On a hot outdoor court, you'll go through more than you think in 60 minutes.

Wear the right shoes

Running shoes on artificial turf are a liability, for you (ankle rolls on lateral cuts) and for the surface (wrong outsoles damage turf fibers). Padel shoes, tennis shoes, or multi-court shoes are all fine. Flat-soled shoes, basketball shoes, and football boots are not.

On Court

Introduce yourself

If you're playing with people you don't know, open play, a mixer, a round robin, introduce yourself before the warm-up. Padel is a social sport. The whole point is that you meet people. Start it right.

Warm up together

The first few minutes before a match should be a cooperative warm-up: easy forehands, backhands, volleys, lobs. Don't try to hit winners during the warm-up. Don't practice your serve aggressively while your opponents are still getting loose. Warm-up is for everyone.

Call the score

In recreational play there's no umpire. The server's team calls the score before each point. Clearly, so all four players know where things stand. If there's a dispute about the score, go back to the last agreed point. Don't argue. It's not worth it.

Call your own faults honestly

If your serve clips the net post and goes in, call it out. If your ball lands out and your opponent didn't see it, call it out. The culture of padel is built on mutual honesty. The sport is too fast for line judges at recreational level, so self-officiation is the norm.

Don't coach during the match

If you're playing with a beginner, save the technical advice for after the point, or after the set, or ideally for after the match. Coaching someone mid-rally breaks their concentration and can feel condescending. If they ask for tips, give them. Otherwise, let them play their game.

Control your emotions

Missing a shot is fine. Slamming your racket into the glass wall, swearing loudly, or throwing the ball in frustration is not. You're playing a social sport in a shared space. Other people are watching, and sometimes they're beginners on their first session. Keep it together.

Rotate correctly in open play

In club open play sessions where players rotate on and off, follow the club's rotation system. Typically the winning pair stays on and the losing pair comes off, rotating with the next waiting pair. Don't skip the queue or hold the court.

After the Match

Shake hands (or tap rackets)

Every padel match ends with a handshake or racket tap at the net. All four players. It takes five seconds and it matters. It's how the social culture of the sport stays healthy.

Don't leave balls on the court

Return any stray balls to the ball container or to the next group before you leave the court. Leaving balls rolling around is a hazard for the next players.

Don't rush off

The best part of padel often happens in the 15 minutes after the match - talking about the game, planning a rematch, getting a drink at the club bar. Padel is a sport that rewards lingering. Stay a little.

One More Thing

Padel attracts people who are already into sports and active social lives. The etiquette isn't complicated. It's just the behavior you'd expect from someone who's genuinely enjoying the game and wants everyone else to as well. Turn up on time, be honest about the score, be patient with beginners, and don't take a recreational sports match more seriously than the people around you want to.

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