Right-side player struggling with consistency & mental game – any good tactics/books? (2.0 Playtomic)

Consistancy is not that hard actually. If you can hit 1 decent shot, you can hit 2. If you can hit 2, you can hit 3. So if you can hit 1 you could hit 10. The problem normally arises the player takes too much risk. So always go for the high percentage option. Padel is actually a great game if you have mediocre shots and are consistent with them! Only do shots you can do 10 times in a row without fault (so don't try to kick the ball of hit bajada in a match if you can't do this 10 times in a row in training.) Don't try to pass, just feed the ball Keep margin with normal shots, aim for the service line. Lobs down the middle, bounces at the service line. Have parts of the training be like a match: no mistakes. 20 overheads, all must go in. Make that a challenge.

I recommend the book The Inner Game of Tennis. It’s a fantastic book not specific to Padel but about how to have a good inner dialog with yourself about your game.

1. it is already good that you're noticing your internal voice. if you want to go beyond that, do not judge yourself while you are playing. only observe and try to feel the ball more. Or, in other words, obsessively observe the ball till the last moment possible before the racket touches the ball. focus more on positioning yourself correctly to the ball and feel the impact point. i would start here. if you focus more on the external things like the ball or observe how your opponents behave, you will shift your focus. the voice inside your head is not really relevant. if you ever experienced being in the flow state, you will notice your head is basically empty. you can also start to read The Inner Game of Tennis. I'd be happy to hear from your experience after you implement this

If you are a right-side player, you just have to focus on being calm and bringing the ball back. It’s very hard to be aggressive because your body is always rotated away from the playing field when doing overheads. This means you just have to bring the ball back consistently. Also don’t try to focus on technique too much. If you watch the pros, you’ll see that a lot of their shots are “ugly” shots too. As long as you keep the ball in play, you have succeeded. What helps me to stay consistent is said in an other comment too: just focus on the ball until the last moment possible when hitting. You’ll feel that you’re more in control that way. I have played on the right side for 2.5 years because I was always rushing points on the left. On the right, I learned to play calmly and consistently. Now I mostly play on the left again. I am far from the biggest smasher, but I am very good at keeping the ball alive with my viborras and bandejas and bringing it back one time more than the opponent. I believe that playing on the right taught me that just bringing the ball back is enough. Not every point has to be a winner, and at amateur level more points are won by mistakes of your opponent than winners of yourself. As for routines to stay calm and supportive. Just remember that you’re all humans on the court, and nobody makes a mistake on purpose. When your partner does the right choice of shot but performs it poorly, just tell them that their choice of shot was right. And most importantly, just enjoy playing! I used to have a big mental block, but once my mindset changed from “I have to win” to “I just want to have fun”, the tension in my body dropped and I started playing way better and even winning tournaments!

I play predominantly on the right and I think the biggest challenge is you will end up playing 80 per cent of your volleys backhanded (if you're right handed). That's a huge point of focus I think. Being able to hit backhands off your toes and in the air and everywhere in between, while keeping the ball as low as possible (given the shot in question).I don't have the full range of shots but I think an easy tactical option is if you get a soft low return down the middle, put it into the left cage. Mentally I'm just going for consistency primarily. It doesn't bother me if I miss a shot it would only bother me if I kept trying to do the same shot and kept missing it but that would be on me

I've collected some graphics about playing consistent padel, check it out here: [https://www.padelchess.me/courses/be-consistent](https://www.padelchess.me/courses/be-consistent) It involves playing crosscourt more, playing with bigger margins, being patient with difficult balls etc and it also explains why exactly it matters. Most of the examples are displayed for left side player though, but you can easily mirror and apply the same principles at your game.