Do Not Set Your Partner Up to Lose the Point in Padel

In padel your shot does not only affect you. When your partner is at the net, the ball you send over decides what comes back at them, and they have almost no time to deal with it.

Most players never think about this. They play whatever feels comfortable from the back and then wonder why their partner keeps getting beaten at the net.

A soft ball becomes an attack on your partner

Play something slow and floating while your partner is up there, and you have handed your opponents a comfortable, controlled shot.

The first thing they will do with it is play at your partner's feet. From the net, at close range, that is close to unplayable.

Play fast at the body instead

Hit it quick and aim at the body of the opponent playing it. Speed removes their time and the body removes their swing.

You are not trying to hit a winner from the back. You are trying to make sure the ball that reaches your partner is a bad one.

The block comes back weak

Jammed like that, the best they can usually manage is a soft block. It floats, it sits up, and it lands somewhere in the middle.

That is the ball your partner has been waiting for, and it exists because of the shot you chose from the back.

And the pair gets the net

Your partner puts the weak ball away or forces another one, and you follow them forward. The pair ends up attacking together.

Before you hit from the back, ask one question: what does this give the person standing in front of me? That is the whole discipline.