Padel, explained

The shots, the rules and the words you will hear on the channel.

The shots

Bandeja: A sliced overhead taken at shoulder height after a lob. It is not hit to win the point but to keep the net: the ball stays low off the glass and the opponents stay back.
Víbora: The bandeja's aggressive cousin: faster, with sidespin, usually aimed at the join between side glass and back glass so the rebound is unreadable.
Smash (remate): The flat or topspin overhead hit to finish the point — ideally so the ball bounces and leaves the court over the back glass ('por 3') or the side fence ('por 4').
Globo (lob): The high ball over the net players' heads that sends them back to the glass. Padel is decided at the net, so the lob is the shot that wins it back.
Chiquita: A soft, low ball dropped at the feet of the net players, played from the back to force a difficult low volley and earn the way forward.
Salida de pared (off the glass): Letting the ball rebound off the back glass and playing it on the way out — the shot that makes padel a different sport from tennis.
Contrapared: Hitting the ball into your own back glass so it flies back over the net — a last resort that sometimes turns into a winner.
Bajada de pared: An attacking ball played after the opponents' lob comes off your back glass: instead of defending, you take it on the way down and hit through.
Volley (volea): The ball taken before it bounces. Net play is built on it: firm, short, placed low to the glass or at the opponents' feet.
Rulo: A topspin overhead that dips after the bounce and climbs the back glass, pushing the opponents back without giving them a fast ball to counter.

The rules in brief

The court: 20 metres by 10, enclosed by glass and mesh. The walls are part of the game: a ball may be played off the glass or the fence on your own side after it has bounced.
The serve: Underarm, after one bounce, struck below waist height, diagonally into the opposite box. Two serves, as in tennis.
Scoring: 15, 30, 40, game; six games a set with a tie-break at 6–6; best of three sets. At deuce the professional tour plays a golden point: one point decides the game.
In or out: A ball that bounces on the ground and then hits the glass or fence is still in play. A ball that hits a wall before it touches the ground is out.
Out through the door: If a smash leaves the court, a player may run out through the opening and return it — the ball is still live until it bounces twice.
Doubles only: Padel is played two against two. The pair is the unit: rankings, titles and the partnership itself are shared.

Words you will hear

Drive side / revés side: The right and left halves of the court. The right-side (drive) player usually builds the point; the left-side (revés) player usually finishes it with the overheads.
Golden point: At 40–40 one point decides the game. The receiving pair choose which of them takes the serve.
Premier Padel: The official professional tour under the International Padel Federation. Its season runs from February to the Finals in December.
Major, P1, P2: The tiers of the tour. The four Majors pay 2,000 ranking points to the champions, a P1 1,000 and a P2 500.
FIP: The Federación Internacional de Pádel, the sport's governing body. It publishes the world ranking every week.
Ranking points: Each player's total over the rolling season. A pair's seeding is the sum of both players' points, which is why partners so often sit level in the list.
Por 3, por 4: A smash that leaves the court over the back glass (three metres high) or the side fence (four). The crowd's favourite way to end a point.