What is the difference between Americano and Mexicano?

An Americano draw is fixed in advance and results do not change it; everyone partners everyone in turn. Mexicano has no draw — the standing is recalculated after every round and the next round is built from it, so the matches even out as the evening goes on.

How many players do I need?

Four at minimum. Nobody sits out when the headcount is a multiple of four: eight players for two courts, twelve for three. If it is not, players rest in rotation and a good draw spreads those rests evenly.

How long does an Americano take?

A point takes about 32 seconds including the serve, the rally and the pause after it, and each round carries a two-minute changeover. On that basis a seven-round tournament to 24 points runs about an hour and three quarters. Adding courts does not shorten it; it puts more people on court at once.

How many points should a match be?

24 is the most common in clubs. 16 speeds the evening up but leaves no room to recover from one bad run; 32 gives a fairer result but pushes seven rounds past two hours.

What do I do with a group of very mixed levels?

Pick Mexicano, or split the group in two. Mexicano corrects itself after the first round; two separate groups remove the gap from the start. The fixture tool keeps two groups separately, so both tournaments can run at the same time.

Can we play with fixed partners?

Yes. In Team Americano and Team Mexicano the pairs stay together throughout and points go to the pair. That is the right format for groups who arrive with a partner; the individual formats work better for people who come alone.

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How Americano and Mexicano work

The rules of both formats, how they differ, and when to pick which — how many players, how many courts, how scoring works.

Updated 4 September 2026

Çimenlik bir alanda kurulu, cam duvarlı açık hava padel kortu — Photo: Ainali · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why these formats

If eight of you turn up for two courts, a knockout is a bad idea: half the group sits down after one match. Americano and Mexicano exist to solve exactly that — everyone plays throughout and the evening ends with a single ranking.

Both are individual formats: points go to you, not to a team. Because your partner keeps changing, the result measures your play rather than who you were drawn with.

Americano: everyone partners everyone

The rule is simple: across the tournament you partner as many different people as possible, and face the rest.

The draw is fixed in advance and results don't change it, which makes the evening predictable — you know how many rounds you'll play and roughly when it ends.

Each match is played to a fixed number of points, usually 24 or 32
When it ends, both players record their points and move to a new partner
The ranking is simply the total points a player has collected

Mexicano: re-paired by standing each round

Mexicano has no fixed draw. After every round the table is updated and the next round is built from it: 1st plays with 4th against 2nd and 3rd; 5th through 8th do the same on the next court.

The effect is that matches get tighter as the evening goes on, because players of similar standing end up on the same court. Unlike Americano, you can't know your next partner in advance.

The first round is drawn at random or from declared levels
The table is recalculated after every round
The closest matches usually come at the end

How the scoring works

In both formats the standing is decided by points collected, not matches won. Winning a 24-point match 24–0 is not the same as winning it 13–11: the first writes 24 into the table, the second 13. That is deliberate — the format is there to measure who played well across the evening, not who won.

The practical consequence is that the trailing side keeps playing. For the pair 20–2 down, the last points still count for exactly what they are worth in the table, so nobody checks out early.

Ties break first on the head-to-head and then on points difference. In club tournaments the most practical answer is to leave a tie alone: two players who finish level share the place.

Having one person keep score cuts the confusion. That is what the fixture tool on this site is for: it holds every round's pairing and score on one screen, works out the standing itself, and turns the result into a message you can send to WhatsApp.

Which one should you pick?

If levels are close, Americano is better: you get to play with everyone and a fixed draw is easier to organise.

If levels are spread out, Mexicano is better: the system corrects itself after the first round, so nobody spends the whole evening with players far above or below them.

If you'd rather keep fixed partners, both formats have a team variant. In Team Americano and Team Mexicano your partner stays the same throughout and points go to the pair.

How many players, how many courts, how long?

Each court holds four players, so nobody sits out when the headcount is a multiple of four. Eight people means two courts, twelve means three.

If it isn't a multiple of four, some players rest in rotation; a good draw spreads those rests evenly.

Duration is easy to estimate: a 24-point match takes 15 to 20 minutes including warm-up, so a seven-round Americano is a two-hour evening.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Americano and Mexicano?: An Americano draw is fixed in advance and results do not change it; everyone partners everyone in turn. Mexicano has no draw — the standing is recalculated after every round and the next round is built from it, so the matches even out as the evening goes on.
How many players do I need?: Four at minimum. Nobody sits out when the headcount is a multiple of four: eight players for two courts, twelve for three. If it is not, players rest in rotation and a good draw spreads those rests evenly.
How long does an Americano take?: A point takes about 32 seconds including the serve, the rally and the pause after it, and each round carries a two-minute changeover. On that basis a seven-round tournament to 24 points runs about an hour and three quarters. Adding courts does not shorten it; it puts more people on court at once.
How many points should a match be?: 24 is the most common in clubs. 16 speeds the evening up but leaves no room to recover from one bad run; 32 gives a fairer result but pushes seven rounds past two hours.
What do I do with a group of very mixed levels?: Pick Mexicano, or split the group in two. Mexicano corrects itself after the first round; two separate groups remove the gap from the start. The fixture tool keeps two groups separately, so both tournaments can run at the same time.
Can we play with fixed partners?: Yes. In Team Americano and Team Mexicano the pairs stay together throughout and points go to the pair. That is the right format for groups who arrive with a partner; the individual formats work better for people who come alone.

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