Four points take a game, with a two-point lead required.
Last reviewed: September 2026
How padel scoring works
Padel inherits its scoring from tennis: points build into games, games into sets, and a match is decided over best of three sets. Here is how every layer works, from 15-30-40 to the golden point and the tiebreak.
At 40-40: advantage play or a single golden point, depending on the format.
Six games with a two-game lead; at 6-6, a seven-point tiebreak.
Below the waist, after one bounce, into the diagonal box — two attempts.
1. Points and games
Padel is played in pairs on a court enclosed by glass and mesh walls, and the scoring inside a game is the classic tennis ladder: the first point won is worth 15, the second 30, the third 40, and the fourth point wins the game — as long as the leading pair is two points clear.
The score is called from the perspective of the serving pair: 30-15 means the serving pair has won two points and the receiving pair one. Because a two-point lead is required, 40-40 is deuce, and the game continues until one pair is two points ahead.
Games are the building blocks of sets: the winner of each game adds it to their set score, the serve passes to the other pair, and partners take turns serving on their own pair’s service games.
2. Deuce, advantage and the golden point
When both pairs reach 40 — 40-40, called deuce — the game is not yet decided. How it is resolved depends on the format of the match.
Under the traditional advantage system, the pair that wins the next point moves to advantage. If they also win the following point, they take the game; if they lose it, the score returns to deuce until one pair holds a two-point lead. Long deuce battles are part of padel exactly as they are part of tennis.
Most modern competitions instead use the golden point, in Spanish punto de oro. At 40-40 a single deciding point is played: the pair that wins it takes the game outright. The receiving pair chooses which side of their court the serve goes to. The golden point is the format used by the major professional padel tours, adopted to keep matches moving; in club play both formats exist, so it is worth agreeing before the match which one applies.
3. Sets and tiebreaks
A set is won by the first pair to reach six games with a lead of at least two games — common closing scores are 6-4, 6-3 or 6-2, and 7-5 is also valid because it keeps the two-game margin.
If the games reach 6-6, a tiebreak decides the set. It is scored in single points — one, two, three — and won by the first pair to reach seven points with a two-point margin: 7-5 in tiebreak points closes the set at 7-6, while 6-6 inside the tiebreak continues until one pair is two points clear. The serve passes between the players in a fixed rotation, and the pairs change ends every six points.
A padel match is best of three sets: the first pair to win two sets wins the match, so scorelines like 6-4 6-3 or 4-6 6-3 7-6 are both complete matches. In much club play the deciding set is replaced by a super tiebreak played to ten points, which shortens the evening for everyone booking the court after you.
4. Serving in padel
The serve is the most distinctive stroke in padel, because it is played underarm. The server drops the ball, lets it bounce once behind the service line, and strikes it below waist height in an upward swing. An overhead serve, or contact above the waist, is a fault.
Just as in tennis, the serve is played diagonally, from the right side into the receiver's diagonal service box. The ball must land inside that box; the server has a second attempt if the first serve is a fault, and a double fault loses the point.
Serving order follows a fixed pattern for the whole match. Each player serves for one full game at a time, the serve changes pairs every game, and partners take turns serving on their own pair’s service games, so each player serves every fourth game. Within a game the server alternates the serving side — right court, then left court — as the points go by. After a tiebreak, the pair who did not serve first in it starts the serve in the following set, keeping the rotation intact.
5. Keeping score on your wrist
Remembering the ladder, the golden point, the serve rotation and the tiebreak is exactly the mental overhead you do not want mid-match. That is why we built PadelV, a standalone padel scoreboard app for Apple Watch.
PadelV follows the familiar point progression — 15, 30, 40, game, with deuce and advantage — tracks games and sets, and switches to tiebreak mode automatically at six games all. The serve rotation is kept for you: the serving team and the exact player who is up next, readable mid-rally. A swipe from left to right undoes a wrong tap, and the Digital Crown adjusts screen brightness for night courts and noon sun. It is completely free, with no subscription or in-app purchases, on the App Store.
Quick answers
Is padel scoring the same as tennis?
Almost. Padel uses the same tennis ladder of 15, 30, 40 and game, the same six-game sets with a two-game lead, and a seven-point tiebreak at 6-6. The differences are in the details: padel is always played in pairs, the serve is underarm, and many padel competitions decide deuce with a golden point instead of advantage.
What is the golden point in padel?
The golden point, also called punto de oro, is a single deciding point played at 40-40 instead of playing out advantage. The pair that wins that point wins the game outright. It is the format used by the major professional padel tours and by many competitions, because it keeps games short; the receiving pair chooses which side the serve goes to.
How long is a padel match?
There is no clock in padel: a match ends when one pair wins two of the three sets. Because of that, length varies with how close the match is — a straight-sets match is usually finished in about an hour, while a tight match that goes to a third set and tiebreaks can run ninety minutes or more.
Who serves first in a padel match?
Who serves first is decided by a draw at the start of the match, similar to a coin toss in tennis. The pair that wins the draw chooses whether to serve or receive, and each player on a pair serves for a full game in turn, with the serving side alternating every point between the right and left court.