Knowing when the ball is in or out when playing padel can be confusing to new players and can sometimes lead to on-court arguments.
If the padel ball rebounds from the wall at the same angle or higher and with backspin then the ball would have hit the ground before the wall and is in. Conversely, if the ball rebounds lower and with topspin then it hit the wall first and is classified as out.
Let’s take a closer look at how the ball responds when in or out on both the back wall and sidewalls of the court as well as the side fences.
What High And Low Rebounds Tell You
When I talk about high and low rebounds, what I mean is relative to the angle that the ball comes into the wall at or approach angle.
In essence, when the ball rebounds at or higher than the approach angle you can be assured that the ball was in. And, conversely, when the ball rebounds lower than the approach angle it generally means that the ball is out.
When the ball is in, in other words, it bounces on the court before hitting the wall, the primary direction of the bounce is up. Then once the ball has bounced, when it connects the wall the ball will continue the upward momentum.
Conversely, when the ball hits the wall first the momentum is mainly away from the wall. After bouncing the momentum of the ball will keep it at the lower trajectory away from the wall.
What Backspin Rebounds Off The Wall Tell You
Whenever a padel ball bounces on the court while moving forward or laterally, that bounce will put spin onto the ball.
This is caused by friction between the astroturf surface and the furriness of the ball. Therefore, if a shot has been played flat (as most of us newer players do) then the spin will cause the ball to kick-on towards the wall. After connecting the wall the ball will tend to pop into the air with backspin.
So when you see the ball pop into the air with backspin you know that the ball was in.
What Topspin Rebounds Off The Wall Tell You
When the ball rebounds from the wall before bouncing the spin imparted to the ball when it bounces will be topspin which will keep the ball low and fast.
What Is The Egg In Padel
There is a padel term in Spanish which means an egg when directly translated.
In padel, an egg is that rare shot where the ball lands in the exact notch between the court and the wall. When a ball is an “egg” it will show none of the rebound characteristics that you can associate with the ball being in or out.
When the ball hits the notch as a perfect egg it will tend to rebound along the approach angle with little to no noticeable spin.
This makes it near impossible to see if the ball is in or out. More often than not in the World Padel Tour these are called as a let even after a video review and the point is replayed.
How The Fence Influences Low Rebounds
Now that we have covered how the ball normally reacts when coming off the wall can indicate that the ball is either in or out, we need to talk about how the fence can change that.
As you well know, the horizontal wires of the fence can cause the ball to rebound erratically at the best of times. The ball can just as easily pop up high or rebound low just depending on what part of the fence it connects.
This makes it much more difficult to see whether a marginal ball is in or out.
What I Do On The Padel Court
As I mentioned at the start of the article, disputed line calls can often be the cause of conflict and arguments on the court.
Most of the time it is easy to see if the ball is in or out based on how the ball reacts off the wall. The exceptions to this are when it is a perfect egg or when the fence is involved.
I don’t play top-level padel tournaments where there are line judges to make these rulings.
Most of the time, in casual friendly games, players err on the side of the ball being in.
If there is a dispute on a line call I usually just replay the point. After all, at our level, it is just a game and our livelihood does not depend on a single point in a game of padel.
