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You hit a deep lob over the net player. What do you do next?
A good lob wins the net. Follow it in, together, every time.
From the back, you hit a good deep lob that sends the net player scrambling back. What should you and your partner do?
A good lob wins the net. Follow it in, together, every time.
Why
The lob is padel's main way of turning defence into attack. When your lob goes over the net players and forces them back to the glass, the net is free, and the pair that takes it wins most of the points that follow. Both of you move forward as the lob is in the air, arriving around the service line as they hit, then closing to the net position once you see the ball coming back is not a lob itself. Stay back and you have given them the net back for free.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Lob, then walk forward with your partner. Stop when they hit; keep going if their shot is weak.
Intermediate
Stop and split-step at the service line as they hit. If the ball is a lob back, you are in the right place to bandeja it; if it is a drive, you are ready to volley.
Advanced
Not every lob deserves following. If it is short and they are setting up a smash, hold the back and defend. Only follow the lobs that genuinely push them off the net.
Common questions
From the back, you hit a good deep lob that sends the net player scrambling back. What should you and your partner do?
Both move forward to take the net. A good lob wins the net. Follow it in, together, every time. The lob is padel's main way of turning defence into attack. When your lob goes over the net players and forces them back to the glass, the net is free, and the pair that takes it wins most of the points that follow. Both of you move forward as the lob is in the air, arriving around the service line as they hit, then closing to the net position once you see the ball coming back is not a lob itself. Stay back and you have given them the net back for free.
Why not one goes forward, one stays back?
The split shape again. Both forward, or you have wasted the lob.
What should a beginner do here?
Lob, then walk forward with your partner. Stop when they hit; keep going if their shot is weak.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Not every lob deserves following. If it is short and they are setting up a smash, hold the back and defend. Only follow the lobs that genuinely push them off the net.
Puzzles like this one
Both of them are at the net. What is the highest-percentage ball?
Only the lob moves a net pair backwards. Everything else invites them forward.
intermediateYour partner got pulled wide. Where do you stand?
The pair moves like one body. When your partner is pulled wide, you take the middle.
beginnerYou have served. Where do you go?
In padel you serve in order to get to the net. Serve, then go.