Padel is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. It’s already huge in certain countries like Spain, Argentina and Mexico, but it’s recently started to make huge gains in popularity in other countries like the USA and the UK – introducing a fresh new audience to the game for the first time! Sports that are growing in this way and trying to draw in more viewers are always looking for ways to innovate and make themselves more exciting to watch – and there are various ways they can go about this! Formula 1 recently introduced the ‘sprint race’ to add something different to their race calendar, and sports like cricket have invented completely new formats of the game such as T20 cricket to bring in younger crowds.
One of innovative things that the sport of padel has introduced recently is the ‘golden point’. A lot of people watching the sport for the first time may be wondering what this is and what part it actually plays in a game – so that’s what I’ll be explaining to you in this post! I’ll explain what the golden point is and give you some examples of when it is played, and I’ll also tell you why and when it was introduced into the sport! If that sounds like information you’re interested in reading then make sure you stick around!
So, what is a golden point in padel?
A golden point in padel occurs during a game when the score is 40-40 (also known as deuce). When a golden point is declared, the team that wins it will automatically win that game. This rule eliminates the need to score two points in a row to win the game, as is usually the case when the score is 40-40.
Before the golden point was introduced, if the score in a game between team A and team B was 40-40 (deuce), one team would need to win at least two points in order to win the game. For example, let’s say team A won the first point. The umpire would then declare the score to be ‘advantage: team A’. Then, if team A won the next point too, they would win the game. If team A won the first point and the umpire declared the score to be ‘advantage: team A’, and then team B won the next point, the score would reset to 40-40, meaning that both teams would once again need to win two points in a row to win the game. The golden point removes the score of ‘advantage’ entirely, meaning that whoever wins the next point when the score is 40-40 wins the game.
It’s also worth remembering that not every padel match will feature the golden point rule. Some matches will stick with the old rules as I’ve just described, and some will feature golden points. It is totally dependent on the type of competition you’re playing in! If you’re unsure of whether a match is using the golden point rule, either ask the umpire, the event organiser or one of the other players you’re competing with/against – you should get the answer you’re after from one of those people!
What Are The Other Rules Regarding Golden Points?
Something else that I should probably mention with regards to the golden point is that the pair of players who are receiving the serve can choose whether to receive the serve on the right or the left side of the court. So, if you’re receiving the serve on a golden point and you feel that receiving it on one particular side of the court may give you an advantage, you are free to select that side to receive the ball.
In ‘mixed’ matches (matches that feature both men and women), the player receiving the serve on a golden point must be the same sex as the player who is serving.
Why Was The Golden Point Introduced To Padel?
As I’ve kind of already mentioned, the golden point was introduced into padel in order to spice up the sport a little bit and provide spectators with something they hadn’t seen before. It was felt that its inclusion would lead to more entertaining matches and would give lesser players more of a chance to break the serve of their opponents.
In padel, whoever is serving usually has a slight advantage because it allows them to control the point from the outset and get in better positions to attack. That’s why it’s so hard to break your opponent’s serve! So, if you manage to get the score to 40-40 when your opponent is serving, this is a decent achievement! When playing under conventional padel rules, you would still need to win two points in a row from this position to break their serve, which is a tough task. The golden point makes it much easier to break their serve at 40-40 because you only need to win one point! This is why the golden point leads to more breaks of serve and makes padel matches a little more unpredictable.
When Was The Golden Point Introduced To Padel?
The golden point was introduced into the main padel tournaments during the 2020 season and is used in matches between both males and females.
Conclusion
I hope this post has been a good source of info on the golden point and how it works! I’ve spoken to many padel fans in the last couple of years and opinions on the golden point really do seem to be split. Some fans like it and would like to see it continue to feature in the sport, and others think it’s an unnecessary gimmick, with the traditional tennis-like rules being much better for building tension. Based on that, I guess it remains to be seen whether the golden point will continue to feature in padel tournaments in future – especially as the sport continues to grow and expand into new audiences!