A let in padel means a serve or point is replayed without awarding the point. A net-touching serve and an interruption during a rally are different situations, so first identify what has happened.
What if the serve touches the net?
The LTA’s service-let explanation covers the common case: a net touch followed by a bounce in the correct box, without fence contact before the second bounce, is replayed. Net contact alone is not enough.
| What follows? | Decision |
|---|---|
| Correct box; no fence before bounce two | Replay the serve. |
| First bounce outside the correct box | Fault. |
| Correct box, then fence before bounce two | Fault. |
On a second-service let, repeat only the second serve. A rally let instead replays the point. FIP Rules 9 and 10 govern these situations.
When something interrupts the rally
If you believe a let has arisen, notify the umpire immediately; continuing play loses that claim. The umpire decides. These are the Rule 10 procedures, not a right to request a replay after seeing the result.
A spare ball rolling in is the situation in the story below. Clear the obstruction before resuming. In an unofficiated club game, agree how to stop unsafe play and resolve the interruption; do not turn a dangerous moment into a test of who was about to win.
The point she had almost won
A spare ball rolls onto the court during a rally. In this imagined officiated match, the interruption is called immediately and the umpire grants a let. The point will be played again. An outside object entering the court is one situation the padel rules recognise for a let.
A player had just found the ball she wanted. She had not hit a winner. In the brief time before the call, she had nevertheless begun to feel the satisfaction of one. Now the point has been returned and the satisfaction wants compensation.
“I had that,” she says to her partner. “You had a ball to play,” he replies. Neither knows how the exchange would have ended. The interruption has removed the opportunity to find out.
The Hanged Man asks what can become visible when the expected path is suspended. Here, the player can notice how much of a result she had supplied before the point was over. Letting that account go does not require pretending the interruption pleased her.
She cannot resume from the attractive ball. She can take part in the replay. The familiar temptation is to make the next point settle a debt the score has never recorded.
Surrender has a shadow too: abandoning the exchange and calling withdrawal acceptance. The point still requires her presence.
Once the spare ball has been removed, she returns to receive. Her disappointment is still there. The next ball has yet to arrive.
For the distinction between another attempt and losing the point, read The Second Serve. A disputed line call raises a different question in The Ball on the Line.