💡 Tactics and Technique 💡
Playing off corner and double glass
I am after some help and thanks in advance.
Been playing Padel since January and I have improved a lot in last 6 weeks, I can hold good rallies, my smashes are more controlled and success % has gone up a lot, my serves are good too.
I have a major problem when returning close to glass and corner spinny serves, particularly the ones which end up bouncing off side wall to back wall. I have tried lunging forward, staying back, watched a lot of YouTube and still genuinely struggling. I am trying to stay low and I have noticed while I stay low, my racket is still horizontal and not pointing down.
Any tips and drills will be massively useful.
Comments (5)
u/quasibrasileiro3d ago
If it’s a slower serve I prefer to cut it off before it hits the glass to eliminate the possibility of a weird, spinny bounce. If it’s a faster serve that’s harder to do. In these cases, the mistake I made early on (and see other newbies making) was positioning my body too close to the glass and then kind of getting stuck in the corner with no room for a proper swing. Make sure to stand a few feet back from both the side and back glass, with your body facing the side glass, and just keep your eye on the ball knowing it’s going to ricochet back up to you…at which point you play your backhand or forehand shot. If it barely pops up off the back glass, leaving you little opportunity for a clean direct shot, then you can play it back off the side glass. Harder to do as you have to get the angle just right, but when you get it down it can be a great way to return as it really throws people off.
4
u/Stup2plending2d ago
there's more or less only 2 strategies. Step forward and try to cut it off earlier or step back and to the side to give the ball space to move off the side glass.
Which you decide depends on a few factors including the speed of the serve, how tight into the corner of the serving box it is, and where you want to target your return.
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u/Idkwhattoenterhere3d ago
A video of your returns would be very usefull, also return from the right or left side or both?
1
Both really.
Backhand returns from left are a bit easier for some reason but anything that stays low after hitting the glass, I am toast.
Will try and get some video
1
u/Top_Paint74422d ago
my rule(i;m on the left side). When the ball is going to touch the 2nd glass(taken from the fence), I take it before the glass. If the ball touches the first glass, I let it touch the glass, move to the right to give myself time and space (and maybe back a little and also get low!) and hit it.
Few things I try to do:
\- return is more pushing the ball rather than hitting it. no wrist movement.
\- when ball touches the glass, hit it a little more, because the ball will drop a bit.
\- when ball is slow, lob through the middle.
\- when serve is fast, hit it straight to the body/backhand of the netplayer.
1