What to Play After a Good Volley in Padel
You played the volley you wanted: deep, sliced, staying low near their glass. They are stretched and the reply is going to be weak.
This is the moment most points get thrown away. Not because the volley was bad, but because nobody decided in advance what to do with the weak ball it produced.
First, step forward
A good deep volley buys you court. Take it. Move a step closer to the net while their reply is still travelling.
The weak ball that is coming will be low. Meeting it a metre further forward is the difference between scooping it up and tapping it away.
Low to your backhand: crosscourt to the fence
When the weak reply comes low to your backhand side, do not try to generate power from an awkward height. Redirect it instead.
Play it crosscourt towards the fence. It travels away from both of them, and from a low contact it is the shot with the most margin.
Low to your forehand: drop it short
Low on the forehand side you have more control, and they are still recovering from the back of the court.
Kill it short. A drop shot dying close to the net is unreachable for a pair who are deep, and it needs no power at all.
Decide before the reply arrives
Both answers are low-risk. Neither needs power. The only thing that decides between them is which side the weak ball comes back to.
Play the good volley, step in, and know in advance that backhand means crosscourt and forehand means drop. Then the finish is just execution.
