Why do some padel players improve insanely fast while others stay stuck for years?

It’s just an ad

Errr...talent? Not everyone has the same hand-eye coordination.

One element for sure is how much racket sport experience do you have prior to padel. If you already know how to read and hit a ball, working out how to play it off the wall in padel rather than tennis isn’t that hard. If you need to work out how to read a ball from scratch, you’re gonna have a harder time

Often those "beginners" progress rapidly because they keep training with a coach, sometimes 1-2x weekly. Or they have a solid background in other racket sport. Some I've seen go to Spain 1-4 times per year just to train and play padel. Meanwhile others play 1x week with the same 3-4 guys and do no coaching, no YouTube learning, nothing, so obviously they'll stay stuck. Playing 1-2 years is nothing much. Some people just have a better skillset to get gud and progress faster (mental and body coordination, physical capabilities, etc). Even something as "tiny" as someone who smokes weed VS not, or drinks alcohol often VS not, can contribute to how you develop on something.

That app is a total scam.

Talent, age, smarter at practicing mental strength... The list goes on. Millions of people practice as much as Messi but no one reached his level..

You have a person that played tennis for 20 years. You have a recreational footballer. You have someone who never played a sport in their life. Which of the three beginner padel players will grow the slower you think? 

This was a very nice question until you mentioned the app and even called it "very famous".

A big thing people seem to be missing is some people want to get better, others want to just turn up and play a game of padel. You can turn up with the same 3 mates twice a week and llay the same game on loop, and sure you'll make improvements over time, but it wont be fast and it you'll hit a ceiling probably quite quick. Or you can turn up and play, go home and learn about tactics and actual "padel shots", go and get coaching and learn how to actually do these things youve been reading about, and you will progress a lot faster. I know people who have been playing almost a year now who have no idea what a vibora even is, and definitely have never tried to hit one. Ive been playing a similar time; im still not great and struggle with these shots, but you can guarantee once I start hitting them consistently those other guys will be wondering how I got better faster than they did.

Its all about playing with people that are at your level and improving or playing with people that are better than you. I try to always play with people better than me to advance my game. Playing with people worse than you is still fun cause this is such an awesome sport but you need to be careful about developing poor habits. The bad habits you pick up in less competitive matches can cost you when you play those tough matches.

Humans are different from each other…

This is true in basically any skill. Have you not had coworkers that are better at their jobs than others? People from school that naturally got better grades? Some kids being better at soccer than others? Some people have higher IQ, some people have lower IQ. It’s not like someone with low IQ will get as smart as someone with high IQ just because they spend the same amount of time reading a book. Sure, working hard helps. But talent always win if equal work is done.

They can play and don’t analyze, improve tactics or have coaching/watch videos on technical aspects. I have a friend who plays 2 years already and he still thinks he’s playing tennis. I played against him early and it was even games and now I would beat him 10/10 times

I‘d say, it’s a mix of everything. But of course, based on the skill-level you are mentioning. You can come to a certain level rather quickly and can - at least at lower levels - hide one of the following ingredients you have with the others. In my opinion, the mix to Level quickly is: - Athleticism - positioning - technique - anticipation (what will the next player do right after you play this shot) - mind-game (when something don’t go your way) If you can check almost everything and also being able to improve on each point, you will get better faster than others. If you lack multiple „requirements“ you will have a hard time improving, and will probably continue to have issues to get over a certain level.

Personally I tried padel before precovid but never really got engaged into it. Till September 2025 when I got invited by a friend to play a match and found a group of friends that also really enjoyed it. Since then I’ve been playing nonstop. Sometimes I would even play more than 3/4 times per week even though I was ass. But I had a background from table tennis so I was better off than others newbies. Whenever I finished office work at 18/19 u prob would see me more at the padel club than at home.🤣 I got really addicted into padel that I started following Premier Padel(Chingalan🔥) and also look at videos from time to time. Positioning, technique, highlights, etc. Tho things really changed when I started taking lessons every Fridays since January. Having someone that can correct ur mistakes and help u doing repetitions really does make a difference. Also took private lessons from time to time. Might be a freak but I also really enjoy playing against much better players, even tho u lose most of the times. Imo the speed u improve is much faster. At the end personally, I feel like what differentiates between players having different growths is mentality and dedication. If u just play or have a class once a week then ur not gonna improve much.

1. Other sport experience when they were younger (preferably racket sports) 2. Young age 3. Male Those three things are the most important things, in that order.