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Your volleys are firm but they keep coming back. What is missing?
Deep and firm feeds the glass. Slower and lower, bouncing before the wall, is the volley they cannot attack.
Your volleys are technically fine and land deep, but the opponents keep returning them comfortably off the glass. What is the adjustment?
Deep and firm feeds the glass. Slower and lower, bouncing before the wall, is the volley they cannot attack.
Why
A firm, deep volley in padel often does the opponent a favour: it reaches the glass with pace and comes back to them at a comfortable height. The volley that hurts is the one that bounces two or three metres in front of the glass and dies: slow enough not to reach the wall, low enough not to be hit down. It asks the opponent to move forward and lift a ball from below the net, which is the worst shot in the game. Good net players play with pace off, not on; the firm volley is for the put-away above the net, and everything else is placed to die.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Try volleying a little softer, so the ball lands well before the back glass. Watch how much harder that is for them.
Intermediate
Soft hands: relax the grip at contact so the ball leaves the strings slowly. The racket face does the work, not the arm.
Advanced
The dying volley to the feet of the deeper opponent, followed by the step in, is the pattern that wins most points at a high level. Pace is what you add to the ball they lift.
Common questions
Your volleys are technically fine and land deep, but the opponents keep returning them comfortably off the glass. What is the adjustment?
Take pace off; land it before the glass. Deep and firm feeds the glass. Slower and lower, bouncing before the wall, is the volley they cannot attack. A firm, deep volley in padel often does the opponent a favour: it reaches the glass with pace and comes back to them at a comfortable height. The volley that hurts is the one that bounces two or three metres in front of the glass and dies: slow enough not to reach the wall, low enough not to be hit down. It asks the opponent to move forward and lift a ball from below the net, which is the worst shot in the game. Good net players play with pace off, not on; the firm volley is for the put-away above the net, and everything else is placed to die.
Why not hit harder, so the rebound is faster?
Faster rebound means the ball comes out further to a player who is waiting for it. Pace is helping them.
What should a beginner do here?
Try volleying a little softer, so the ball lands well before the back glass. Watch how much harder that is for them.
How does this change for an advanced player?
The dying volley to the feet of the deeper opponent, followed by the step in, is the pattern that wins most points at a high level. Pace is what you add to the ball they lift.
Puzzles like this one
They lobbed you deep. Smash it or play the bandeja?
Deep ball, high hands: bandeja. The shot exists to keep you at the net, not to win the point.
beginnerThe ball is at your feet at the net. What now?
A ball below the net cannot be attacked. Block it deep and wait for one above the tape.
beginnerThe 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.