What is the golden point in padel?

How is the golden point played?

The score reaches 40-40, which the rulebook calls deuce. There is no advantage and no second chance. One more rally is played, and the pair that wins it wins the game.

The receiving pair chooses whether to receive the serve on the right or the left side of the court, and the two receivers cannot swap positions to do it. Because they cannot swap, the choice decides which of them returns the point. In mixed matches the receiver is the player of the same sex as the server. The rulebook makes no exception for the deciding point, so the usual serve rules apply.

Golden point, advantage or Star Point: which do you play?

All three are in the FIP Rules of Padel and none is compulsory for a club match. Since 1 January 2026 the FIP circuits (Premier Padel, the CUPRA FIP Tour, FIP Promises and FIP Beyond) use the Star Point. Leagues and clubs set their own scoring, and plenty of social groups still play advantage.

Since every option is legitimate, the choice belongs at the start of the match. Agreeing it takes five seconds. Discovering the disagreement at 40-40 in the third set does not. The padel scoring rules guide shows all three side by side in a worked game.

Where did the golden point come from?

World Padel Tour, the private professional circuit that ran from 2013 to 2023, made the golden point mandatory in all its matches from the first tournament of its 2020 season, the Marbella Master. Spanish padel press reported the decision in January 2020, and the first official match with it was played on 29 February 2020 in the pre-qualifying rounds.

It was not new to the FIP. The golden point was already in the FIP regulations as an alternative scoring method when World Padel Tour adopted it, and the 28 May 2021 edition of the rulebook prints it as Option 2. The FIP Tour required it: its 2022 technical rules say all tournaments are played with the golden point. Premier Padel, which launched in 2022, went the other way and used advantage through 2025, until the Star Point arrived.

World Padel Tour's stated aim was a livelier game that suits fans and television. Press reports at the time set average match lengths of 1 h 44 to 2 h 04 against a television preference of about 1.5 hours.

Why do clubs and tournaments use it?

Advantage games can run for a long time, and a match with several of them is hard to schedule. The golden point puts a ceiling on a game: it lasts seven points at most, six to reach 3-3 and one more to decide. That makes match lengths easier to predict, which is the argument World Padel Tour made.

Tennis has the same idea under the name no-ad, and the mechanics match. The receiver chooses which half of the court to receive in, the receivers in doubles cannot change positions, and in mixed doubles the receiver is the player of the same gender as the server (ITF Rules of Tennis, Appendix VI).

How is the golden point called and recorded?

The score is called 40-40 or deuce, server first, and then the deciding point is played. Some players say golden point or deciding point to make it clear which rule is in force. Nothing after the rally needs a call except the game.

If you keep score on paper, the golden point is invisible in the record. The game just goes to one pair. That is useful to know when you look back at a match sheet and wonder why a long game left no trace. The free web scoreboard plays both advantage and golden point if you want to try the difference.