Padel is doubles tennis in a glass box. The court is about a third of the size of a tennis court, the racket has no strings, the serve is underarm, and the ball stays in play after it hits the walls. That last rule is the whole game.
How a point works
One player serves underarm, diagonally into the opposite service box. The receiver has to let the serve bounce. After that the ball may bounce once on your side before you hit it back, or you can volley it before it bounces. If it bounces and then hits the back or side glass, it is still in play and you can wait for it to come off the wall. You can even hit it against your own glass to get it back over the net.
You lose the point when the ball bounces twice on your side, or when your shot hits the opponents' glass or fence before it bounces on their floor. Everything else is detail, and the rules page covers it.
The court
An official court is 20 m long and 10 m wide. Glass walls close off both ends and part of the sides; metal mesh fills the rest. The net is 88 cm high in the middle and the service lines sit 6.95 m from it. Most courts in India are artificial grass with a layer of sand, which is why ordinary running shoes slip and padel shoes have a herringbone sole.
Why people get hooked
Rallies start in your first hour. The underarm serve means nobody spends the session chasing aces, and the glass gives you a second chance on balls that would be lost in tennis. Because it is almost always doubles, four people of different levels can still have a good game. The flip side: the first session is confusing, because your instinct says a ball heading for the back wall is gone. It isn't. Learning to wait for it is the first real skill.
What you need to start
- Racket
- Rent one at the club for your first few sessions. When you buy, start with a round or teardrop racket with a soft core. Proper adult rackets start around ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 at Decathlon; a good first racket from a padel brand costs ₹8,000 to ₹13,000.
- Shoes
- The one thing worth buying early. Running shoes slide on the sand and give little support for sideways steps. Budget padel shoes start around ₹4,000.
- Balls
- Padel balls, not tennis balls. Most clubs provide them. If you buy your own, a can of three costs about ₹500 to ₹700.
- Clothes
- Anything you would wear for tennis or the gym. For outdoor courts in summer, a cap and a spare shirt.
Where padel comes from
Enrique Corcuera built the first court at his home in Acapulco, Mexico, in 1969. The game travelled to Spain and Argentina in the 1970s, and Spain is still its biggest market by far. India's first court opened in Bengaluru in 2017. Since 2023 the number of courts has at least tripled, mostly in Mumbai, Delhi NCR and Bengaluru, followed by Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad.