As a recreational level padel player, I have really struggled with returning the ball that comes off both the back and side glass. So with the help of some more experienced players, I started learning what makes these shots difficult and how to deal with them.
How to return the double glass shot in Padel? If the ball hits the side glass first it will come out of the corner moving cross-court and if it hits the backglass first, it will come out of the corner forward. Move out of the corner to cover the area of the court where you can wait for the ball can come to you and play your shot.
This article will deal with the technical challenges of defending the double glass in padel. We’ll be looking more closely at when you should maintain your open forward-facing stance, waiting for the ball, and when you turn to follow the ball around.
In this post, I’ll be giving you the single most useful tip that I know to decide how you should move when the ball goes into the corner of the court.
Simplifying The Huge Variation Of Options
There is a huge variation to playing this double glass shot at the top level. It seems as if every coach and player has a different way to play the shot. For instance, you can turn to follow the ball in either direction or you can play off a single glass before it hits the second glass or you move away from the corner. There’s easily enough information for a whole book about it.
However, if you’re relatively new to padel you ideally need to practice just getting used to how the ball will come off the glass. I know that it is a lot easier to try to block the ball back before the corner rather than try to figure out the bounces and rebounds.
The trouble is that you will never learn to play this tricky shot by avoiding it. I am still at that stage of knowing that I can increase my chances of winning a point by avoiding this shot but I will never improve as a padel player until I start playing it.
Anticipating Where The Ball Will Go
One of the biggest problems, especially for novice players is anticipating where the ball will finish after coming off the second glass of the corner. What often ends up happening is as new players we don’t move or end up following the ball into the corner.
What ends up happening to us is trying to scoop the ball up off our chest because the ball ended up bouncing in towards us.
Where Will The Ball Hit First
What we should really be trying to work out is whether the ball will hit the side glass first or is it going to hit the backglass first.
This is something that even relatively new players can work out quite easily based on the trajectory of the ball.
The general rule of thumb is that if it hits the side glass first, then the ball will travel cross-court more than come back forward. Conversely, if the ball hits the backglass first then it will be coming back much more up the court with much more minimal cross-court movement.
When we are relatively new to padel it is easier to play a ball that is coming to us than to try and time the perfect shot on a ball moving away from us.
That is why, if the ball hits the side glass first, step away from the side glass, thereby giving yourself space and allowing that ball to come off the two glasses.
If you can see that the ball is going to hit the backglass first be prepared to step forward as that ball is likely to come off the side glass moving forward. If you haven’t moved forward to anticipate the ball you may find yourself flinging a racket at a ball that is flying away from you. I have done this many times.
Remember that the distance that you need to move up the court will be dependent on how hard the ball hit the backglass.
This is part that different padel coaches will teach in different ways. However, for me, the most important thing I needed to learn early on was anticipating where the ball was going to land and therefore where it was going to finish.
Learn To Anticipate The Ball
So, if you can see that the ball is going to hit the side glass first, be ready to step away towards the center of the court and allow the ball to come out to you.
Conversely, if you know it’s going to hit the backglass first, be prepared to step forward.
Hopefully, this will help you defend the corner of the padel court and you’ll get better at playing off the double glass.
Once you have got the hang of these basics you can start to try turns and use the momentum of the turn to generate more pace for the shot.