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Your shot hits their fence before it bounces. What is the call?
The ball must land in their court before it touches anything. Wall first means the point is theirs.
Your ball crosses the net and hits their back fence on the full, before bouncing on their court. What happens?
The ball must land in their court before it touches anything. Wall first means the point is theirs.
Why
This is the rule that keeps padel a racket sport rather than a squash variant. Your shot has to bounce on the floor inside their court before it may touch their glass, their mesh or any fitting. Once it has bounced, everything is fair. It can hit the back wall, the side wall, both, and stay in play. The same logic applies at your own end: after the ball has bounced on your side you may use your walls freely, but your shot may not touch them on the way out.
What this means at your level
Beginner
It is one sentence: bounce first, then walls. That covers almost every wall question you will have in your first year.
Intermediate
It is why depth without height is dangerous. A flat hard ball that clears the net by a lot often reaches the fence before it lands.
Advanced
It also defines the smash target. Aiming so the ball bounces first and then exits through the opening is a winner; aiming directly at the glass or fence is simply out.
Common questions
Your ball crosses the net and hits their back fence on the full, before bouncing on their court. What happens?
Their point: the ball must bounce in court first. The ball must land in their court before it touches anything. Wall first means the point is theirs. This is the rule that keeps padel a racket sport rather than a squash variant. Your shot has to bounce on the floor inside their court before it may touch their glass, their mesh or any fitting. Once it has bounced, everything is fair. It can hit the back wall, the side wall, both, and stay in play. The same logic applies at your own end: after the ball has bounced on your side you may use your walls freely, but your shot may not touch them on the way out.
Why not play on. The walls are part of the court?
The walls are in play only after the bounce. Before it, they are the boundary.
What should a beginner do here?
It is one sentence: bounce first, then walls. That covers almost every wall question you will have in your first year.
How does this change for an advanced player?
It also defines the smash target. Aiming so the ball bounces first and then exits through the opening is a winner; aiming directly at the glass or fence is simply out.
What do the rules say?
A ball that touches a wall, the mesh or any fixture on the opponents’ side before bouncing on their floor is out. After the bounce, every wall is in play.
Puzzles like this one
Can you volley the return of serve?
The return of serve must bounce. It is the one ball in padel you are not allowed to volley.
beginnerThe ball bounced then hit your own back glass. Still in play?
One bounce on the floor, then any number of walls. Only a second floor bounce ends the point.
advancedThe smash sent the ball out through the side opening. Chase it?
If the court has an opening, you may leave through it and play the ball back, before it bounces a second time.