How to tell if a padel ball is dead

The official padel ball test

The FIP uses the same drop height as tennis: 2.54 m onto a hard surface. A padel ball must bounce back between 135 and 145 cm, and weigh 56.0 to 59.4 g.

For courts at high altitude, there is a separate ball that bounces lower, 121.92 to 135 cm. The FIP's own documents give different heights for when it applies (800 m, 1,000 m and 1,219 m), so check with your federation if you play in the mountains.

Padel balls wear out faster than you think

Padel balls hit glass, walls and a sand filled turf floor, and the rallies are long. Retailers often quote 2 to 4 matches of good play, but there is no official figure, and it depends a lot on how hard and how often you play.

The FIP leaves ball changes to the organiser: after an odd number of games, or at the start of a set.

Quick checks at the court

1. Drop an old and a new ball together from the same height, on the same part of the court, away from the sand at the edges.
2. Watch the gap: a dead ball's bounce is visibly lower.
3. Listen to the bounces. A dead ball sounds flatter and the bounces come closer together.
4. Play a few balls off the back glass. A dead ball dies off the wall instead of coming back to you.

Why the floor matters

Padel courts can be cement, synthetic or artificial grass with sand. A softer, sandier floor takes more energy out of every bounce, so the same ball bounces lower there than on a hard lab plate. That is why BallCheck compares your ball with a new ball on your court type, not with the lab number alone.