Padel Basics
How to Keep Score in Padel
Padel borrows most of its scoring from tennis — with one very useful twist that trips up a lot of new players.
Points within a game
Padel is always played in pairs (2 vs 2), and points count exactly like tennis:
- Love → 15 → 30 → 40 → Game
Win four points before the other team, and you win the game — unless you both reach 40.
The golden point — padel’s big difference
In traditional tennis-style scoring, reaching 40-40 means deuce, and a team needs to win two points in a row to close out the game. Padel — especially at club and amateur level — very often plays a golden point instead: at deuce, the next point simply wins the game outright. No advantage, no back-and-forth.
There’s one extra rule that catches people out: on the golden point, the receiving team chooses which side (forehand or backhand) they want the serve directed to. Small detail, but it matters tactically.
Games, sets and winning a match
A set is won by the first pair to reach 6 games with at least a 2-game lead. Most matches are best of 3 sets. If a set reaches 6 games all, a tiebreak is played to decide it — first to 7 points, win by 2.
How padel scoring differs from tennis
- Always doubles — there’s no padel singles format in competition.
- The golden point is far more common in padel than in tennis, where traditional deuce/advantage is still the norm at most levels.
- Serves are underarm and must bounce once before the serve is struck — a detail that doesn’t affect scoring, but trips up a lot of players new to the sport.
The part nobody tells you
Golden point, side switches, who's serving — it adds up fast.
Between rallies, side changes, and the pace padel is played at, keeping the score straight in your head is harder than it should be. That’s exactly why AceBand has two physical buttons on the front — update the score mid-point without reaching for a phone or breaking focus.
AceBand is currently in beta — built specifically for racket sports, tested on real courts, and heading toward a crowdfunding launch. Our full build story, including the padel-specific design decisions, is on the Journey page.
Want to see how AceBand tracks a padel score without a phone? Learn more about the AceBand padel score watch.