Here's a fact that makes every "I love padel" t-shirt a little bit funny. On a padel court, love means zero. Nothing. Not a single point.
So when I put a heart and the word padel on a tee, the word was always going to do two jobs. This page is the story of the Love tee, what's printed on it, and the odd, unsettled history of why the sport's softest word stands for an empty scoreboard.
What's on the Love tee
The Love tee is a heavyweight cotton t-shirt with the main graphic on the back. It reads LOCALLY PLAYED at the top and GLOBALLY LOVED underneath. In the middle sits a big heart with PADEL lettered inside it and a smaller heart cut out below. A border of tiny hearts frames the lot, and the Padelism wordmark sits at the bottom. On the front there's a small heart on the chest, so it looks clean from the front and says everything from behind.
On the white tee the print is a deep green. It also comes in Oat Gray, Sand, Black and Navy.
It went live on 10 September 2025, and it's built like every tee in the range: 100% cotton, 305 g/m2, a tee that hangs well and holds its shape. If you want the case for heavy cotton over thin gym tops, I wrote that up in heavyweight vs lightweight padel t-shirts.
"Locally played, globally loved" is also just true of my own padel. I've played in the Algarve, Malaga and Madrid, and at clubs around London, Essex and Manchester. Same court, same walls, same arguments about the score.
Love really is zero in padel
This isn't a tennis thing that padel borrowed loosely. It's written into the padel rulebook.
The International Padel Federation (FIP) rules that apply from 1 January 2026 list three ways to score a game. In the golden point option, the rules spell out the call for each score. No point is "Love". Then "15", "30", "40" and "Game". So 40-love means one pair has three points and the other has none. Love-15 means the server hasn't won a point yet and the receivers have one.
There's a small twist I like. In a tie-break, the same rulebook says the points are called "zero", "1", "2", "3" and so on. Love only lives inside a normal game. Once a set goes to a tie-break at 6-6, it's plain numbers.
If you want every scoring rule on one page, my padel rules sheet has the lot, including the newer Star Point option.
Where "love" came from: three theories
Nobody knows for certain why zero became love. Dictionaries and historians still argue about it. These are the three explanations you'll hear most, with how well each one holds up.
Theory 1: playing "for love", meaning for nothing
To play "for love" used to mean to play for no stakes. No money on it, just the game. The Online Etymology Dictionary dates that phrase to the 1670s, and dates love meaning "no score" to at least 1742. The idea is simple. If you have nothing, you're playing for love.
Lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower, speaking to NPR in June 2026, called this the most plausible explanation, because English speakers were already using the idiom before tennis took off. He also said love showed up earlier in card games such as whist, and that before it caught on, players said "nothing" or "nil".
This is the theory with the most written evidence behind it.
Theory 2: l'oeuf, the French for egg
This is the one people tell at the bar. A zero looks like an egg. The French for "the egg" is l'oeuf. Say it with an English accent and you get something close to love. English has the same joke elsewhere, with zero called a "goose egg" or a "duck's egg".
It's a good story. The trouble is the evidence. Sheidlower points out that it's really a French version of an English expression, and French never used that expression for zero. So there's nothing for English players to have misheard. Treat this one as a theory with a weak link.
Theory 3: the Dutch word lof
The third idea points to Dutch. Lof means praise or honour, and there's an old Dutch phrase about doing something for praise rather than money. Tennis journalist Steve Flink mentioned lof to NPR as a variation on the "for love of the game" idea. The Online Etymology Dictionary lists Dutch lof as a cousin of the English word, which at least makes the link possible.
It's really a branch of theory one. You play for honour, not for cash, so you start on nothing.
So which is it?
The honest answer is that nobody knows. "For love", meaning for nothing, has the dates and the most support from people who study words. The egg is the best story. Lof is a plausible cousin. Any page that tells you one of them is definitely right is guessing.
And while we're here: 15, 30, 40
Padel took its scoring from tennis, so it inherited this puzzle too. Why do points go 15, 30, 40 and not 1, 2, 3?
Again, nobody is sure. The earliest written trace is often given as a 1435 ballad by the French poet Charles d'Orleans that mentions "quarante cinq", forty-five, which later shrank to 40. A popular theory says scores followed the quarters of a clock face. The problem is that clocks with minute hands only became common around 1690, long after the scores were in use. So that one is a theory too. If you like this sort of thing, my history of padel picks up the story from the first court in 1969.
Why the word works on a padel tee
Put the two meanings side by side and you get most social padel. Very few of us are playing for money. We play for the love of it, then argue about the score over a drink. Love as zero and love as "I'd play every day if I could" sit happily on the same shirt.
That's also why the tee works off court. It isn't a performance top. It's what you wear to the club, out for food after, and to the office the next morning, with the back print doing the talking.
Getting one
The tees are cut oversized and unisex. Take your usual size for the roomy look, or go one down for a regular fit. The size guide has the measurements for each size.
The Love tee is £48, and it's in the 2 for £90 deal. Pick any two £48 heavyweight tees, mix the designs and sizes, and the price drops at checkout. Two tees come to £90, which also clears free UK delivery at £75. Every tee is made to order, so allow 7 to 10 working days in the UK. Buying for Christmas? The last UK order date is 10 December 2026.
If you're coming from tennis and the scoring is the only thing that feels familiar, my padel vs tennis guide covers everything else that changes.
FAQ
Why is zero called love in padel? Padel uses tennis scoring, and love has meant "no score" since at least the 1740s, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. The most supported explanation is the old phrase "playing for love", meaning playing for nothing. The French "l'oeuf" (egg) theory is popular but has little evidence behind it.
Do you say love in a padel tie-break? No. The 2026 FIP rules say tie-break points are called "zero", "1", "2", "3" and so on. Love is only used inside a normal game, as in 15-love or 40-love.
What does the back of the Love tee say? LOCALLY PLAYED at the top and GLOBALLY LOVED at the bottom, around a heart with PADEL inside it, framed by small hearts and finished with the Padelism wordmark. The front has a small heart on the chest.
Which colours does the Love tee come in? White (with a deep green print), Oat Gray, Sand, Black and Navy, in sizes XS to XXL. It counts towards 2 for £90 with any other £48 heavyweight tee.
