New partners every round, short matches and a ranking by points at the end: the Americano is the most popular social format in padel. Here you'll learn how the rules work, how scoring works and how to set up the schedule for 8, 12 or 16 players.
The Idea: New Partners Every Round
In an Americano you don't play with fixed doubles pairs. Before each round the draw is made again: you get a new partner and new opponents – with the aim that, as far as possible, everyone plays with everyone once. Scoring isn't by team but by individual player. Every point your team wins goes into your personal tally. Whoever has collected the most points at the end wins.
That's exactly why the format suits mixed groups so well: stronger and weaker players end up on the same side, new members meet lots of people in one evening, and nobody gets knocked out.
The Rules at a Glance
- It's played as doubles, four people per court.
- Each match is played to a fixed number of points – usually 16, 24 or 32 – or for a fixed time.
- Every rally counts as one point; there's no tennis scoring with 15, 30 and 40.
- Both players on a team receive the points their team won in that match.
- After each round, partners and opponents are reshuffled.
- The ranking is the sum of all points.
Scoring: How the Points Are Counted
The heart of the Americano is its simple scoring. Instead of games and sets, you count rallies. In a match to 24 points, play stops as soon as 24 points have been played in total – for example 15–9, or even 12–12. A draw is possible and perfectly normal.
Serving follows a fixed rotation: each player serves the same number of times in turn – four times in a 16-point match, six times in a 24-point match, eight times in a 32-point match. That way nobody has an advantage.
An example: Anna and Marco beat Lea and Jan 14–10. Anna and Marco are each credited with 14 points, Lea and Jan with 10 each. So even the losing side collects points – every single rally counts until the very end.
In Club Turnier Manager you choose a fixed number of points per match and standings by points. Entering results takes just one value: with 24 points, 14 automatically becomes 14–10.
How Many Players Does an Americano Need?
Ideally, the number of players is divisible by four. Then every court is full in every round and nobody has to sit out.
| Players | Courts | Rounds for a full rotation |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 2 | 7 |
| 12 | 3 | 11 |
| 16 | 4 | 15 |
A complete rotation always takes one round fewer than there are players. With 8 players that fits nicely into an evening; with 16 players, 15 rounds is hardly realistic. It isn't necessary either: an Americano can be ended after any round, because the ranking by total points is valid at all times.
If the numbers don't work out, one to three people sit out each round. That calls for a clear rule everyone knows in advance: does sitting out earn points or not? In Club Turnier Manager you choose “bye points” or “no points” before the start. With standings by points, whoever sits out is credited with their own points average as bye points. You can read more in the article Tournament Rules Nobody Argues With: Byes, Cancellations, Ties.
How an Americano Evening Runs
- Settle the basics: how many players, how many courts, how much court time?
- Choose the format: a fixed number of points per match or timed matches.
- Draw the first round and assign the pairings to courts.
- Enter results as soon as a match is finished – the ranking updates continuously.
- Draw the next round: new partners, new opponents.
- Prize-giving after the last round, sorted by total points.
On timing: in our experience, a match to 24 points takes around 12 to 15 minutes, plus a few minutes for the changeover. Two hours of court time therefore allow roughly six rounds. If you want to be more precise, you'll find the calculation in the article How Many Rounds Fit Into 3 Hours?. If the evening needs to end on the dot, timed play are the alternative to a fixed number of points.
Americano or Mexicano?
The Mexicano is the more competitive sibling of the Americano. The first round is drawn at random; after that, the current standings decide who plays with whom. The usual rule: the top four play on court 1, with ranks 1 and 4 against ranks 2 and 3. The next four play on court 2, and so on.
The result is more balanced matches, because players of similar strength meet. In return, the group mixes less than in an Americano.
| Americano | Mexicano | |
|---|---|---|
| Draw | reshuffled every round | by standings from round 2 |
| Matches | widely mixed | balanced |
| Ideal for | new members, mixed groups | evenly matched, ambitious groups |
If you'd rather play for a title with fixed pairs, King of the Court or the Swiss system is the better choice.
Three Common Pitfalls
- Too many points per match: rounds drag on, and the courts that finish early end up waiting.
- No rule for sitting out: whoever sits out wants to know how it counts – ideally before the first round.
- Keeping the ranking on paper: with 16 players and eight rounds you'll have over a hundred entries. Calculation errors creep in quickly.
Your Next Padel Americano
Club Turnier Manager draws new partners and opponents every round, as Americano or Mexicano. With a fixed number of points per match and standings by points, it reproduces the classic Americano scoring – with timed play and a hall display for the projector if you wish. Offline in the browser, no installation – the test version is free.
Try It NowConclusion
The Americano is quick to explain, brings everyone together and stays open until the last round. With the right number of points, a clear rule for sitting out and a clean ranking, it makes for a club evening everyone gets something out of. Everything about padel tournaments at your club can be found on the padel tournament app page.