Compete in Ireland

The International Padel Federation (FIP) is the world governing body of padel. It writes the rules, publishes the official rankings, and governs the sport through affiliated national federations.

Premier Padel is the leading official professional tour. FIP says it was founded by Qatar Sports Investments together with FIP and the Professional Padel Association, and that the leading women joined through the International Padel Players Association.

FIP's history dates the World Padel Tour to 2013–2023. FIP also records that in 2023 it was announced Qatar Sports Investments would acquire that tour so Premier Padel, governed by FIP, would be the single global professional tour.

A1 Padel is a different professional circuit, with its own site, ranking and streaming. FIP's own account of the competitions it governs does not include A1.

FIP member: Padel Federation of Ireland. FIP's Great Britain member is a different body, LTA Padel.

Premier Padel has a men's rulebook and a women's rulebook, with the same categories. Men's and women's draws can share the same tournament week.

FIP organises world and continental championships for teams and for pairs, in men's and women's, at professional, senior and junior level. Its own page says these are held every two years.

The junior route is FIP Promises, FIP's youth circuit, plus the junior world championships. To play Premier Padel, a player needs a licence from the national federation of their passport country.

Premier Padel tournaments are divided into Majors, P1s and P2s, plus a separate season-ending Finals. The same categories are in the women's rulebook.

On the published points tables, a Major awards more points than a P1, and a P1 awards more than a P2, for the same round. Entry is by ranking, so the higher category is where the higher-ranked pairs get in. The Finals are a closed end-of-season event for the players who lead that season's race, with their own line on the points table, below a Major and above a P1 for the title.

Under that same FIP structure, the CUPRA FIP Tour is the international circuit below Premier Padel, and the Hexagon World Series is a separate FIP-governed team circuit.

The CUPRA FIP Tour has four grades: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze. A higher grade awards more ranking points and has to meet a higher organisational standard. On the same points table, a Platinum title is worth less than a Premier Padel P2 title.

A CUPRA FIP Tour tournament is a men's event, a women's event, or a single-gender event, as FIP approves.

The FIP ranking is a weekly list of individual players. Points from a tournament count for a rolling window, and a player's ranking is the total of their best results in that window, including zeros where the rulebook requires them.

There is a second list, the race: that season's best results on Premier Padel and the CUPRA FIP Tour. The Finals places are taken from the race after the last week of the Premier calendar.

Pairs do not have a ranking of their own. A pair's place on the entry list is the two players' ranking scores added together. If two pairs have the same combined score, the pair that includes the higher-ranked player is placed first.

Seeding is that combined order used to place pairs in the draw. Seeded pairs are given preferred positions so the strongest pairs are kept apart at the start. Wild cards can be seeded. Qualifiers cannot.

A match is two pairs, one on each side of the net. Either partner may stand anywhere on their own half. Before each set the pair chooses which partner serves first and which partner receives first, and that order stays until the next set.

Change sides means changing ends of the court, after the first, third and every later odd game, and after every six points in a tie-break. It does not mean the two partners swap the left and right of their own half.

Coaching, not in the rulebook. Drive and revés are the usual names for the two jobs inside a pair. With two right-handers, the player on the left (revés) has their forehand in the middle and takes most of the overheads there. The player on the right (drive) has their forehand toward the side wall. Pros stay on one side because the shots and the partnership are built around that split. The rules allow a pair to choose who stands where. They do not require anyone to specialise.

On Premier Padel, men's and women's, and on the CUPRA FIP Tour, matches are the best of three sets, and a set that reaches 6–6 is decided by a tie-break. The tie-break is first to 7, by 2, counting 0, 1, 2, 3.

These tours use the Star Point at deuce. The pair that wins the first point after deuce has advantage. If they win the next, they win the game. If they lose it, the score goes back to deuce, and the same thing can happen once more. The third time the game returns to deuce, one point decides the game. The receiving pair chooses the left or right side for that point, and the two receivers cannot swap places.

The Premier Finals are best of three sets with a tie-break and the Star Point. A 10-point super tie-break appears there only as the third set of a specified exhibition if a pair has been replaced. FIP can authorise a different scoreboard for a given tournament. The rules also allow an agreed super tie-break, first to 10 by 2, in place of a final set. The normal tour match is three sets. The rulebooks are on the FIP documents (opens in a new tab) page.