📜 Rules 📜

Padel legal serve drop height?

I was playing an Americano and after a number of winning points, the opposing player started calling me out on my serve drop being “over my waist”, but I constantly have been seeing videos of people dropping it from above their waistline. What’s the actual rule here when it comes to drop serve height?

View on Reddit

Comments (14)

u/RandomFrog3w ago

There is none. You can drop from shoulder height if you want.

u/Sharp-Egg-1184OP3w ago

So it’s just the point of impact where it has to be waist down, correct?

u/shablagoo143w ago

Yes

u/Aquarius19753w ago

Gotta love it when people call out other players on completely made-up "rules". You can throw the ball up in the air and let it bounce as long as you don't impact the ball over waist height.

u/spikefly3w ago

Doesn’t matter where you drop it from…only where you hit it from. Is that what they/you meant?

u/AutoModerator3w ago

Hi there, We've noticed you have submitted a post regarding padel rules. Our main resources for padel rules can be found here on our Wiki Page about [Padel Rules with simplified Rules - quick start - commentated](https://www.reddit.com/r/padel/wiki/padel-rules) [Official FIP Padel Rules (English, from the FIP website)](https://www.padelfip.com/documents/) [Direct link to the rules](https://www.padelfip.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FIP_Rules-of-Padel-1.pdf) [Official FIP Padel Rules (Spanish, from the FIP website)](https://www.padelfip.com/es/documents/) [Direct link to the rules](https://www.padelfip.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/FIP_Reglas-del-Padel-1.pdf) Please check those to see if your question is answered. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/padel) if you have any questions or concerns.*

u/mind12p3w ago

OP's question was easy but here is a tougher one. Is it legal to use your own glass to serve? Just checked the fip rules but there is no explicit mention that it's not allowed. The serve still fulfills the rule that the ball goes tomthe opposite side over the net after the bounce and hit. I think it's not but in our last game someone did it and called it correct.

u/mike_geogebra3w ago

No, there's an example in the Spanish rules which is omitted in the English translation

u/mind12p3w ago

Could you share it? I would like to send a proof to my friend who has insisted it was correct.

u/Super_Jello13793w ago

Not an expert, but was curious and (according to the English version) there no *general* rule allowing you to play the glass wall on your own side of the court as such. Only in **Rule 14 Correct Return, Point 1.b** it is stated: >The ball after being hit bounces directly into the opposing court or hits the wall in the players own court first and it then bounces into the opponent’s court. ➡️ *My interpretation is that only when playing a return, it is allowed to use the glass walls on your own side.* ➡️ *And a return refers to any subsequent stroke/hit after having the ball put in play with a valid serve, but not the serve itself.* So, bottomline it’s not about “explicitly forbidden”, but rather “not explicitly allowed” during the serve.

u/mike_geogebra3w ago

From FIP rules 2026 (edit: 2021) "CASE 1 I hit the ball, and before it bounces for the first time on the ground, it has touched one of the walls of my court or the metal mesh or a light, but it goes over the net and bounces in the receiving box of the opponent's serve. Is the serve good? Decision: NO, it's a fault."

u/mind12p3w ago

Makes senses, good points. Ty