Padel scoring rules: how to keep score

How do points work in a padel game?

Each rally wins one point for the pair that wins it. The first point a pair wins is called 15, the second 30, the third 40, and the fourth wins the game. No points is called zero, or love. A pair on 40 against the other pair's 30 needs one more rally.

The server's score is called first, so if your pair is serving and the game stands at 30-40, you are the pair on 30. The FIP rule text works the same way. It is a small convention, and it removes most of the confusion in social matches because everybody knows which number belongs to whom.

What happens at 40-40 (deuce)?

This is where padel scoring splits. When both pairs have three points the score is deuce, and the FIP Rules of Padel offer three methods from there: advantage (Option 1), the Star Point (Option 2) and the golden point (Option 3). The Star Point was approved by the FIP General Assembly on 28 November 2025, announced on 18 December 2025 and applies from 1 January 2026.

Advantage is the traditional method. After deuce the next point gives advantage, and the pair holding it needs the following point too. If it loses that point the score goes back to deuce, and this can repeat without limit. The golden point plays one deciding rally at deuce. The Star Point plays up to two advantage cycles, then one deciding rally at the third deuce.

None of the three is the only official one. The FIP circuits use the Star Point in 2026, the golden point stays in the rulebook as an option, and clubs and leagues set their own scoring. Ask before the match, because finding out at 40-40 in the third set is the argument you want to avoid.

How many games make a set?

A set goes to the first pair that wins six games with a lead of two. 6-4 and 6-1 are finished sets. 6-5 is not, so you play on: 7-5 finishes the set, and 6-6 sends it to a tiebreak.

Service alternates game by game between the pairs, and inside a pair one player serves the whole game. Players change ends after the first game and after every odd game from there: the third, the fifth and so on. Nobody in a social match tracks this perfectly, which is one more reason to write the games down or let something else count them.

How does the tiebreak at 6-6 work?

At 6-6 the set is decided by a tiebreak. Points are called zero, 1, 2, 3, not 15, 30, 40. The first pair to seven points wins it, but only with a two point margin, so a tiebreak can run to 8-6, 9-7 or further. The winner takes the game and the set, and the set is recorded as 7-6.

The player whose turn it is to serve takes the first point alone. After that each server serves two points in a row, and players change ends every six points. The point by point rotation is in the tiebreak rules guide, and the serve order guide explains who serves the set that follows.

How many sets are in a padel match?

Padel is normally played as best of three sets, so the first pair to win two sets wins the match. The FIP Rules of Padel also describe other ways to finish a match. Which one applies is set by the club, league or tournament, not by the scoring itself.

The 10 point version is commonly called the super tiebreak. Premier Padel and the CUPRA FIP Tour play best of three full sets with no super tiebreak, while FIP Promises plays two sets and then a match tie-break to 10, and FIP Beyond does the same in some draw sizes.

Who serves and who receives?

Before the match a coin flip decides who chooses first. The winner can pick to serve or receive, pick a side, or hand the choice to the opponents. From then on the pairs alternate service games, one player of the serving pair serves the whole game, and the order stays fixed until the next set. Each player therefore serves every fourth game.

The receiving pair has an order too. The receivers decide who takes the first serve of the first game of each set, and that player takes the first serve of every game until the set ends. The full rotation is in the serve order guide, and the mechanics of the serve itself are in the padel serve rules.

How does padel scoring work for beginners? A worked game

The quickest way to learn it is to follow one game. Pair A serves, so its score is called first. The table shows a game that reaches deuce and is decided by advantage.

Played with the golden point, rally 7 would decide the game. Played with the Star Point, rallies 8 to 10 would be called deuce 2, advantage 2 and game, and only a third deuce would need a deciding rally. Once the game is won, the games are counted and the other pair serves the next one.

How do you call the score out loud?

Call the score before every serve, server's points first and the receivers' second, so “15-30” means the serving pair has one point and the receivers two. At 40-40 say “deuce”, and after the next point say “advantage” with the name of the pair that holds it. Under the Star Point the calls carry a number: “deuce 1”, “advantage 1”, “deuce 2”, “advantage 2”, “deuce 3” and then “Star Point”. Inside a tiebreak the points are plain numbers: zero, 1, 2, 3.

Write a match down as the games of each set in order, for example 6-4, 3-6, 7-6. A set decided by a tiebreak is always written 7-6. Calling the games as well when a set is close (“five games to four”) costs a second and stops the score drifting.

Does scoring change in doubles or mixed padel?

Padel is played in pairs, so there is one kind of scoring to learn. A point belongs to the pair, and the score is called for the pair, never for a single player. What moves between the two partners is the order of serving and receiving.

Mixed matches add one rule. On the deciding point of the golden point or the Star Point, the player who receives is the one of the same sex as the server, and the receivers still cannot swap positions to do it. The FIP rulebook is written for pairs and does not describe singles. Padel Score Tracker scores any two sides, so a singles match works in the app.

Which scoring mistakes start most arguments?

Three things go wrong in practice. Somebody forgets whether it is 30-40 or 40-30. Somebody serves out of turn after a tiebreak. And the games score drifts by one because a game was played twice in memory.

The fix that costs nothing is to call the score before every serve, loudly, server first. The next best fix is a scoreboard: the club board, the free web scoreboard on a phone at the bench, or the Apple Watch on your wrist.

If you would rather not carry a phone at all, keeping score without your phone takes one tap per rally, and the match stats are saved when the last point is played.