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Your serve lands in the box straight ahead, not the diagonal one. Good?
The serve goes diagonally. The box straight ahead is a fault, however well you hit it.
You serve and the ball lands in the service box directly in front of you rather than the one diagonally opposite. What is the call?
The serve goes diagonally. The box straight ahead is a fault, however well you hit it.
Why
Like tennis, the padel serve is hit from behind the service line on one side into the service box diagonally opposite. From the right side you serve to their right-side box as you look at it, the deuce box, and from the left to the other. Serving into the box straight ahead is a fault. It sounds impossible to get wrong until a scrambled second serve slides straight, or a beginner switches sides mid-game and forgets which diagonal they are on.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Before each serve, look at the box you are aiming at. It is the far one, across the court, every time.
Intermediate
From the right side the natural sliced serve runs away from a right-handed returner into the glass; from the left it runs into their body. Same serve, two different problems for them.
Advanced
The diagonal is long, so there is more depth available than most servers use. Serve to the back third of the box and the return comes from further back.
Common questions
You serve and the ball lands in the service box directly in front of you rather than the one diagonally opposite. What is the call?
Fault. It must land in the diagonal box. The serve goes diagonally. The box straight ahead is a fault, however well you hit it. Like tennis, the padel serve is hit from behind the service line on one side into the service box diagonally opposite. From the right side you serve to their right-side box as you look at it, the deuce box, and from the left to the other. Serving into the box straight ahead is a fault. It sounds impossible to get wrong until a scrambled second serve slides straight, or a beginner switches sides mid-game and forgets which diagonal they are on.
Why not let: replay it?
Nothing was interrupted. A serve into the wrong box is simply a fault.
What should a beginner do here?
Before each serve, look at the box you are aiming at. It is the far one, across the court, every time.
How does this change for an advanced player?
The diagonal is long, so there is more depth available than most servers use. Serve to the back third of the box and the return comes from further back.
What do the rules say?
The serve must be hit into the service box diagonally opposite the server. A serve landing in any other area is a fault.
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.