Four Padel Serving Drills for Legal Contact, Placement and Net Play

Practise the padel serve in this order: legal contact, reliable placement, movement forward, then the first volley. For players coming from tennis, the change is not just an underarm action: stop judging the serve only by whether it wins outright. The LTA’s serving guidance prioritises placement and using the serve to help you reach the net.

This session uses two players, a few padel balls and four timed drills. Each timer covers both players’ turns; set up before starting. The checkpoints below are practice goals, not standards you must pass in one session.

Set up a legal serve first

Use this routine throughout the drills:

• Start behind the service line, on the correct side of the imaginary extension of the centre service line. Stay in that serving area until contact, keeping your feet off both lines.
• Bounce the ball in that same serving area. Do not let it cross the service line or the imaginary centre-line extension before contact.
• Strike the ball at or below waist height, with at least one foot touching the ground.
• Send it diagonally into the receiver’s service box. A ball landing on a service-box line is in.

The ball must land in the receiving box before touching the glass. A serve that lands correctly and then hits glass can remain live; one that touches the metallic fence before its second floor bounce is a fault. These requirements come from Rules 6–8 of the FIP rules effective 1 January 2026.

Keep spare balls out of the playing area. Use existing court lines and imagined target zones rather than loose objects where someone will run.

1. Repeat the bounce and contact — 4 minutes

Setup: One player serves while the other watches from a safe position and collects balls between batches. Start on the right-hand serving side.

Action: Hit five gentle serves, then swap roles. Repeat from the left-hand side. Use a short, comfortable swing and aim broadly inside the diagonal box rather than close to a line.

Make the bounce repeatable: release the ball near the same spot each time, let it rise, and contact it at a comfortable height below your waist. If the bounce drifts away, reset instead of reaching after it.

The observer checks the bounce stays in the serving area until contact, contact is low enough, and the feet stay clear of the lines with at least one grounded.

Checkpoint: Aim for four legal serves out of five from each side. If you miss, identify whether the problem was the bounce, contact, foot position or direction before changing your swing.

Tennis habit to change: There is no overhead toss or jumping service action here. Build a repeatable bounce-and-hit routine first.

2. Choose a landing zone — 5 minutes

Setup: Imagine two generous targets in the deeper half of the receiving box: one nearer the centre service line and one nearer the side glass. Leave a comfortable margin from the lines.

Action: Call “centre” or “glass” before serving. Hit five serves, swap roles, then repeat from the other serving side. Alternate targets within each batch.

For the glass target, judge the floor bounce first. You are aiming into the service box, not directly at the wall. Watch what happens afterwards: glass contact is different from fence contact.

Use a pace you can control. Do not add slice yet if doing so makes contact or direction unreliable.

Checkpoint: Record two separate results: how many serves were legal, and how many landed in the called zone. A legal serve that misses your target is a placement miss, not a service fault.

If the outer target repeatedly produces fence faults, move the target inward. The LTA recommends deep placement and varying direction and speed, rather than relying on power alone.

3. Serve, move and settle — 5 minutes

Setup: One player serves; the receiver plays a controlled, low return. Choose an imagined stopping area a few metres back from the net, within the server’s half and away from the side fence.

Action: Serve, move forward immediately, then settle into a balanced ready position as the receiver prepares to strike. Stop the repetition after the return. Take five turns each, changing serving side between turns.

Your cue is “hit, move, settle”, not “hit, watch, sprint”. If the receiver contacts while you are still advancing, shorten your steps and balance where you are. Do not race to a fixed spot regardless of the return.

Checkpoint: Can you face the receiver with your racket ready when they make contact? If not, test a slightly slower serve and compare how much preparation time you have.

This adapts the LTA’s serve-and-advance drill. In doubles, your destination also depends on your partner’s position; see where to stand and move together.

4. Add the first volley — 6 minutes

Setup: Keep the same roles. The receiver now returns towards the advancing server at a manageable height and pace.

Action: Play a three-shot sequence:

1. Serve legally into the diagonal box.
2. Return after the required bounce.
3. Play a controlled first volley into open court, then stop.

Take five serving turns each and repeat while time remains. Give the server a practice point only when the serve is legal, they are balanced for the return, and the volley lands in court.

Replay service lets rather than treating them as faults. For example, a serve that touches the net, lands in the correct box and does not touch the fence before its second bounce is replayed; net contact does not rescue an otherwise faulty serve. See Rule 9 of the FIP rules.

If the return is too low or passes you before you can volley, do not force the shot just to complete the drill. Reset and make the next return easier. This is a cooperative sequence, not a test of whether you can volley every return.

Checkpoint: Finish balanced after the volley, rather than lunging for a winner. With four players, progress to live points with the serving partner already forward, and keep the same three checks: legal serve, balanced arrival and controlled first shot.

For the receiver’s next progression, pair this session with the beginner serve-receive drills.