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Flat serve or sliced serve?
Slice the serve. The low skidding bounce and the curve into the glass are what make a padel serve difficult.
You can hit the serve flat and firm or with slice. Which is better and why?
Slice the serve. The low skidding bounce and the curve into the glass are what make a padel serve difficult.
Why
A padel serve cannot be fast, so what makes it difficult is the bounce. Slice, cutting under and across the ball with an open face, keeps the ball low after the bounce, makes it skid rather than sit up, and curves it toward the side glass so the returner has to deal with the wall. A flat serve at the same speed bounces up into the returner's comfortable hitting zone and is easy to lob or drive. Nearly every good server in padel slices nearly every serve; the flat one is a rare change of pace.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Hit the serve with the racket face open, brushing under the ball. It will skid and stay low.
Intermediate
From the right side, slice sends the ball curving toward the side glass. From the left, the same slice curves into the returner's body. Same swing, two uses.
Advanced
Vary the amount of slice, not the swing. Heavy slice for the wide serve into the glass; lighter, flatter slice for the body serve so it arrives quicker.
Common questions
You can hit the serve flat and firm or with slice. Which is better and why?
Sliced. It stays low and skids. Slice the serve. The low skidding bounce and the curve into the glass are what make a padel serve difficult. A padel serve cannot be fast, so what makes it difficult is the bounce. Slice, cutting under and across the ball with an open face, keeps the ball low after the bounce, makes it skid rather than sit up, and curves it toward the side glass so the returner has to deal with the wall. A flat serve at the same speed bounces up into the returner's comfortable hitting zone and is easy to lob or drive. Nearly every good server in padel slices nearly every serve; the flat one is a rare change of pace.
Why not flat: more pace gives them less time?
The serve is underarm at waist height; there is no real pace available. Flat serves bounce to a nice height for the returner.
What should a beginner do here?
Hit the serve with the racket face open, brushing under the ball. It will skid and stay low.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Vary the amount of slice, not the swing. Heavy slice for the wide serve into the glass; lighter, flatter slice for the body serve so it arrives quicker.
Puzzles like this one
The ball is coming off the back glass. When do you hit it?
Move back with the ball, let it pass you, hit it in front of your body.
beginnerYou have served. Where do you go?
In padel you serve in order to get to the net. Serve, then go.
intermediateThey cannot play the side glass. Where do you serve?
Serve at the weakness you have found, not at the space you can see.