The club has posted an Americano. What is it, and how do you win one?

Rotating partners, short matches to a points total. Americano: rotating partners, short matches to a fixed points total, individual score. Every point counts, so never lose one cheaply. The Americano is the most popular social format in padel. Players are drawn into pairs that change every round; each match is short and played to a fixed number of points rather than in games and sets, 16, 24 and 32 are common, with players serving four points at a time in rotation; and each player's score is the total of points won across all their matches. Because every point counts equally and partners change, the format rewards players who lose the fewest points cheaply: deep lobs, few unforced errors, and the ability to slot into a new pair's roles in the first two points. The Mexicano variant re-draws the pairs each round by current ranking.

That is a standard tournament. The Americano rotates partners and counts points, not sets.

In an Americano, do not try to win points; try not to lose them. Lob deep, keep the ball in, and let the others make the errors.

Points are worth the same in every match, so do not ease off against weaker groups: those are the matches where the winner of the Americano banks the biggest margins.