How padel scoring works

By Ruzgar Yesil. Updated 19 September 2026.

Padel uses tennis scoring without changing a thing: 15, 30, 40, game. Six games win a set, two sets win a match. The only part that is genuinely different is how a game at 40-40 is settled, because padel has two accepted answers and your club has picked one of them. This page covers both, with a worked example of a complete game.

The four point names

Inside a game, each pair needs four points to win, and those four points have names rather than numbers.

The numbers are inherited from tennis and they are not a sequence anyone has to justify. Learn them as four labels and stop thinking about the arithmetic.

When both pairs have the same score, you call it as "all": 15-all, 30-all. The one exception is 40-40, which has its own name.

Deuce and advantage

At 40-40 the score is called deuce. From there a pair cannot win the game with one point. They must win two in a row.

• Win the point from deuce and you have the advantage. The score is called advantage, followed by which pair holds it.
• Win the next point too and you take the game.
• Lose the next point and the score returns to deuce.

This can run for a long time. A game can pass through deuce six or seven times, and in a club match that is fine. In a league with a court booked for 90 minutes it is a problem, which is exactly why the golden point exists.

When the serving pair holds the advantage, many players call it "advantage in". When the receiving pair holds it, "advantage out". Both are informal. Naming the pair is clearer.

The golden point

The golden point, or punto de oro, replaces deuce and advantage with a single deciding point. At 40-40 the next point wins the game. There is no advantage and there is no second chance.

One extra rule comes with it: the receiving pair chooses which of the two receives the golden point. They can put their stronger returner on the ball, or attack whichever side the server is weakest against. The serving pair has no say and serves to whichever box the receivers pick.

Where the golden point is used

• All professional padel, including the Premier Padel tour and FIP events.
• Most national federation leagues.
• The large majority of club leagues and amateur tournaments.
• Almost every social match, because it keeps games short.

Deuce and advantage still appear in some traditional club play and in a few domestic competitions. Ask before the first serve which one you are playing. The two formats produce very different matches: with a golden point, a single lapse at 40-40 loses the game, and service breaks become far more common.

There is more detail, including how the golden point interacts with a tie-break, on padel tie-break and golden point.

A worked example of a full game

Ana and Bruno are serving against Carla and Diego. Ana serves the whole game. She starts on the right of the court and alternates sides after every point.

The score is called from the server's point of view, so 15-30 means the serving pair has 15 and the receiving pair has 30.

If the group plays the golden point

The game is now one point long. Carla and Diego decide who receives. Diego takes it on the left, Ana serves to that box, and whoever wins the rally wins the game. The game is over after seven points.

If the group plays deuce and advantage

The game continues.

Twelve points instead of seven, for one game. Over a full set that difference decides whether a match fits inside its court booking.

Games and who serves

One pair serves for a whole game. At the end of the game the serve passes to the other pair, and it passes to a different player each time.

Each pair decides who serves first, and the order then holds for the entire set: pair A player one, pair B player one, pair A player two, pair B player two, and round again. You may change the order at the start of a new set, but not in the middle of one.

The same fixed rule applies to receiving. Each receiver picks the right or left side and stays there for the whole set. The one exception is the golden point, where the receiving pair chooses which of them takes that single point.

Pairs change ends after the first game of a set and then after every second game, so after games 1, 3, 5, 7 and so on.

Sets

A set goes to the first pair to win six games with a lead of at least two.

• 6-0, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4 all end the set.
• At 5-5 the set continues. A pair must reach 7-5.
• At 6-6 the set is decided by a tie-break.

A set won in a tie-break is written 7-6, with the tie-break score in brackets after it, for example 7-6(4). A completed match is written as a list of set scores from the winning pair's point of view, so 6-4 3-6 7-5 means the winners took the first and third sets.

There is no limit on how long a set can run, because the tie-break at 6-6 caps it. A set cannot go past 7-6.

The tie-break

A tie-break is played to 7 points with a margin of two, so 7-5 wins it and 6-6 continues until one pair is two clear. Points are counted as plain numbers here, not 15 and 30.

The serving sequence is the part people get wrong:

1. The player whose turn it is to serve serves point 1, from the right court.
2. The next server in the rotation serves points 2 and 3, starting from the left court.
3. After that every server takes two points, always starting from the left and then the right.
4. Pairs change ends after every 6 points.

The order of service and the receiving sides carry on exactly as they were through the set. The pair that serves the first point of the tie-break receives the first game of the next set.

A tie-break is not affected by the golden point. Even in a golden point match, a tie-break needs a two-point margin.

Match formats

The standard match is the best of three sets. Beyond that, formats vary by competition, and the differences are worth knowing before you enter one.

A match tie-break to 10 also needs a two-point margin, and ends change after every 6 points as usual.

The last row is a different animal. Social formats like the Americano drop games and sets entirely and count raw points instead, so the night produces an individual ranking rather than a winning pair. The rules for that are on the padel Americano format page.

How to call the score out loud

The server calls the score before every point, loudly enough for the other pair to hear. There is no umpire in club padel, so the call is the record.

• The server's score comes first, always. "30-15" from the serving side means they lead. The same point called by the receivers would be "15-30", which is why only the server calls it.
• Equal scores use "all". 15-all, 30-all. Not 15-15.
• Zero is love. "40-love", not "40-nil".
• 40-40 is deuce, in both formats. In a golden point match many players say "golden point" instead, which is clearer for everyone.
• Call the games score at the start of each new game. "Three-two" again means the serving pair first.
• In a tie-break, call the number. "Four-three", server first, no 15 or 30.

If the two pairs disagree about the score and neither can prove it, the convention is to replay from the last score both sides agree on. Do not replay the whole game.

The rest of the rules, including the serve, the walls and the faults, are on the padel rules page.