A padel court has walls, so your shots can be played off them – like in squash – to find wicked angles and creative shots to beat your opponents. As a bonus, you can even bounce the ball off a wall on your own side of the court – if you can get it to land on the other side of the court!
Also, unlike tennis, when a ball is served it must bounce once on the floor then hit underarm. But don’t worry, you still have a first and a second serve.
You can also volley the ball during a rally, however, the ball is determined as “out” if it hits a wall before touching the ground. In padel, a smash or overhead if struck well can result in the ball rebounding out-of-play – but beware that your opponents can run out of the side gates to return the ball! This is allowed on certain courts that have enough out-of-bounds space and is common at the professional level.
