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Can you serve without bouncing the ball first?
Bounce, then hit. A padel serve struck before the ball has touched the floor is a fault.
A friend serves by dropping the ball and hitting it before it touches the floor, like a soft tennis serve. Is that a legal padel serve?
Bounce, then hit. A padel serve struck before the ball has touched the floor is a fault.
Why
The padel serve starts with the ball being dropped and bouncing once on the floor behind the service line; only then is it struck, underarm, at or below waist height. Hitting it out of the air is a fault however slow and friendly it looks. The rule is what keeps the serve a way of starting the point rather than a weapon, and it is why the serving pair's real advantage is the walk to the net, not the serve itself.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Drop the ball from waist height rather than throwing it down. A calm bounce gives you a calm swing.
Intermediate
Bounce the ball slightly in front of your front foot so you meet it moving forward, which is where your first step to the net comes from.
Advanced
Vary where you bounce it: a bounce further from the body lets you slice across the ball harder for the wide serve into the glass.
Common questions
A friend serves by dropping the ball and hitting it before it touches the floor, like a soft tennis serve. Is that a legal padel serve?
No: the ball must bounce on the floor before you strike it. Bounce, then hit. A padel serve struck before the ball has touched the floor is a fault. The padel serve starts with the ball being dropped and bouncing once on the floor behind the service line; only then is it struck, underarm, at or below waist height. Hitting it out of the air is a fault however slow and friendly it looks. The rule is what keeps the serve a way of starting the point rather than a weapon, and it is why the serving pair's real advantage is the walk to the net, not the serve itself.
Why not yes, but only on the second serve?
There is no relaxed version of the serve. Both serves follow the same rules.
What should a beginner do here?
Drop the ball from waist height rather than throwing it down. A calm bounce gives you a calm swing.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Vary where you bounce it: a bounce further from the body lets you slice across the ball harder for the wide serve into the glass.
What do the rules say?
The server must bounce the ball on the floor behind the service line and strike it at or below waist level, underarm, with at least one foot on the ground.
Puzzles like this one
You have served. Where do you go?
In padel you serve in order to get to the net. Serve, then go.
intermediateThey cannot play the side glass. Where do you serve?
Serve at the weakness you have found, not at the space you can see.
beginnerCan 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.