Padel vs Tennis: Key Differences You Need to Know

Padel has exploded in popularity across the UK over the past five years, and most people come to it with a tennis background — or at least a passing familiarity with tennis. The two sports share a lot of visual similarities, but anyone who's played both knows they feel completely different.

Here's a full breakdown of the key differences between padel and tennis.

The Court

• Padel court: 20m × 10m, always played as doubles. Enclosed by glass walls and metal mesh on all sides.
• Tennis court: 23.77m × 8.23m (singles) or 10.97m wide (doubles). Open — no walls.
• The padel court is about a third of the size of a tennis doubles court. This smaller space is what makes padel inherently social — you're always close to your partner and opponents.

The Walls

This is the biggest gameplay difference. In padel, the walls are in play. After the ball bounces on the floor, it can hit any wall and remain playable. This creates a completely different tactical dimension — players use the back wall and side walls to extend rallies, set up shots, and execute lob plays that come back off the rear glass.

Learning to use and read the walls is the skill that takes most tennis converts the longest to develop. But it's also what makes padel so fun — long rallies are the norm, not the exception.

The Racket

• Padel racket: Solid, no strings. A perforated carbon fibre or fibreglass face with a foam core. Maximum dimensions 45.5cm × 26cm.
• Tennis racket: Strung with a woven string bed. Much larger, longer (up to 73.7cm), and with a different sweet spot dynamic.
• Padel rackets have no strings — the solid face produces a different type of ball contact that rewards compact, wrist-controlled strokes rather than the full swing mechanics of tennis.

The Ball

Padel balls look almost identical to tennis balls but have lower internal pressure (typically 4–4.6 psi vs 12–14 psi in tennis). This makes them slightly slower and gives them a more predictable bounce — important for the wall-play elements of the game.

Serving

• Padel: Underarm serve only. The ball must be dropped and struck below waist height. Must land in the diagonal service box, and the ball is allowed to hit the back wall after bouncing.
• Tennis: Overhead serve from a standing position. No restrictions on serve height (apart from feet and racket). One of the most powerful shots in the game.
• The padel serve is deliberately less dominant than in tennis. It starts the point neutrally, which leads to longer, more tactical rallies.

Scoring

Padel uses the same scoring system as tennis: 15, 30, 40, game. Sets are won at 6 games, with a tiebreak at 6-6. Matches are typically best of three sets.

The only notable difference is that padel uses the golden point at deuce in professional play (one point decides the game, alternating between the receiving team choosing which side the serve comes from). This is increasingly common in amateur play too.

Difficulty and Learning Curve

Padel is widely regarded as the easier sport to pick up. The smaller court reduces the physical demands, the underarm serve removes one of tennis's most technically challenging shots, and the walls help keep balls in play — meaning beginners can have competitive rallies from their first session.

Tennis players typically adapt quickly to padel. The grip, footwork principles, and tactical thinking transfer well. The main adjustment is learning compact strokes (you can't take full tennis swings in a padel court) and learning to read and use the walls.

Which Should You Try?

If you've never played either, padel is the easier sport to start enjoying quickly. If you already play tennis, padel makes an excellent complement — same fitness demands, different tactics, and a much more social format since it's always doubles.

The growth of padel in the UK means courts are now available in most cities. If you haven't tried it yet, it's worth booking a session.