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Left-handed returner on the deuce side. Where does your serve go?
Lefty returner on the deuce side: wide into the glass is their backhand. Serve there.
You are serving from the right to the deuce box and the returner is left-handed. Where is the best serve?
Lefty returner on the deuce side: wide into the glass is their backhand. Serve there.
Why
Serving to a left-hander requires mirroring your thinking. On the deuce side, the wide serve into the glass, which for a right-hander is a forehand off the wall, is a left-hander's backhand, with the wall involved. That makes the deuce-side wide serve as productive against a lefty as the advantage-side wide serve is against a righty. Down the middle, the ball reaches the lefty's forehand, their best return. The body serve remains the change-up on either side. Most servers work this out by the third game; the ones who work it out in the warm-up win the first.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Look at which hand the returner holds the racket in. If it is the left, serve wide on the right side and toward the middle on the left side.
Intermediate
The same slice that curves into the glass against a righty's forehand now curves into a lefty's backhand. Nothing changes about the serve itself.
Advanced
Against a lefty on the advantage side, the wide serve is their forehand, so the body serve becomes the default there and the wide one the surprise. Two returners, two plans.
Common questions
You are serving from the right to the deuce box and the returner is left-handed. Where is the best serve?
Wide into the glass: the lefty's backhand. Lefty returner on the deuce side: wide into the glass is their backhand. Serve there. Serving to a left-hander requires mirroring your thinking. On the deuce side, the wide serve into the glass, which for a right-hander is a forehand off the wall, is a left-hander's backhand, with the wall involved. That makes the deuce-side wide serve as productive against a lefty as the advantage-side wide serve is against a righty. Down the middle, the ball reaches the lefty's forehand, their best return. The body serve remains the change-up on either side. Most servers work this out by the third game; the ones who work it out in the warm-up win the first.
Why not down the middle, that is the backhand for a lefty?
The middle is the left-hander's forehand on the deuce side. That is their best return.
What should a beginner do here?
Look at which hand the returner holds the racket in. If it is the left, serve wide on the right side and toward the middle on the left side.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Against a lefty on the advantage side, the wide serve is their forehand, so the body serve becomes the default there and the wide one the surprise. Two returners, two plans.
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.
beginnerYou have served. Where do you go?
In padel you serve in order to get to the net. Serve, then go.
intermediateWhat do you do with the return of serve?
The return lob is how the receiving pair steals the net. Aim over the player who is still moving.