Padel for tennis players: what carries over and what you have to unlearn

Tennis players pick up padel faster than anyone and then get stuck at the same place, usually about six months in. The swing that got you here is the thing in the way.

What you already have

Hand-eye, footwork, a volley, a reading of the ball's flight and an understanding of scoring. You will beat beginners from your first session and you will feel like a natural. Enjoy that, because it is also the trap.

The swing

A tennis groundstroke is a long swing that generates pace. In padel the court is small, the ball is softer and the walls send pace back to you. A full swing from the back of the court hits the glass at head height and comes back over your head as a lob you did not mean to give. Shorten everything. The padel forehand is a compact stroke with the racket finishing in front of you, and the volley is a punch, not a swing. If it feels like you are not hitting the ball properly, you are probably doing it right.

The baseline does not exist

You will want to stay back and rally. Padel is won at the net, and a pair that camps on the baseline loses to a pair that lobs and comes in. When you hit a lob, follow it. When you serve, go forward. When you are at the net, stay there unless a lob forces you back, and then get back as a pair. Your tennis instinct to hold the baseline and wait for a short ball is the single biggest thing between you and the next level.

The serve

Underarm, after the bounce, at or below the waist. There is no ace in padel. The serve exists to get you to the net, and a slow deep one that hits the side glass is far better than anything with pace. This is the easiest adjustment on the list and most tennis players still fight it for a month.

The glass

Here is where tennis instinct is not just unhelpful but wrong. Your reflex is to take the ball before it reaches the wall, because in tennis a ball behind you is gone. In padel the ball behind you is coming back. Let it go past, watch it hit the glass, and hit it as it comes out in front of you, usually with more time than you expected. Practise this alone with a bucket of balls before you try it in a match, because the first fifty attempts will be ugly.

The overhead

You have a smash. Good. Put it away for a month and learn the bandeja, the sliced overhead that lands deep and lets you keep the net. Tennis players smash every lob, from everywhere, and lose the net every time the ball comes back off the glass. The smash returns once you can tell a lob you can finish from one you cannot, and the bandeja is how you learn the difference.

Six months in

The plateau comes when your tennis has run out and your padel has not started. You are winning points on athleticism and losing them on decisions: too much pace, too much smash, too much baseline. Get lessons then, not at the start, because at the start you do not yet know what to ask. And play with padel players who are better than you rather than tennis friends who are also converting; you will pick up the patience from watching it beat you.