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You serve before the receiver is ready and they miss it. Whose point?
Serve before the receiver is ready and they leave it: replay the serve. If they swing at it, they were ready.
You bounce the ball and serve while the returner is still walking to position. The serve lands in and they do not play it. What is the ruling?
Serve before the receiver is ready and they leave it: replay the serve. If they swing at it, they were ready.
Why
The server must wait until the receiver is ready, and the receiver has to be ready within a reasonable time. If a serve is struck before the receiver is set and they make no attempt to return it, the serve is replayed, not a fault, not a point. The moment the receiver attempts a return, though, they are deemed to have been ready, and whatever happens next counts. The etiquette is to look at the receiver before you bounce the ball; the tactic of rushing a returner wins nothing and starts an argument.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Look at the returner before you serve. If they are looking at you with the racket up, go. If not, wait.
Intermediate
As a returner, do not swing at a serve you were not ready for. Put a hand up, say "not ready", and let it go.
Advanced
A server who quick-serves you repeatedly is trying to hurry your routine. Take your full routine anyway; the rules are on your side.
Common questions
You bounce the ball and serve while the returner is still walking to position. The serve lands in and they do not play it. What is the ruling?
Replay it. The receiver was not ready and did not attempt a return. Serve before the receiver is ready and they leave it: replay the serve. If they swing at it, they were ready. The server must wait until the receiver is ready, and the receiver has to be ready within a reasonable time. If a serve is struck before the receiver is set and they make no attempt to return it, the serve is replayed, not a fault, not a point. The moment the receiver attempts a return, though, they are deemed to have been ready, and whatever happens next counts. The etiquette is to look at the receiver before you bounce the ball; the tactic of rushing a returner wins nothing and starts an argument.
Why not fault. You must wait, so the serve is a fault?
It is not a fault either. The serve simply did not happen; you serve again, first serve if it was your first.
What should a beginner do here?
Look at the returner before you serve. If they are looking at you with the racket up, go. If not, wait.
How does this change for an advanced player?
A server who quick-serves you repeatedly is trying to hurry your routine. Take your full routine anyway; the rules are on your side.
What do the rules say?
The server must not serve until the receiver is ready. If the receiver is not ready and makes no attempt to return the serve, the serve is replayed.
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.