If you’re able to hit quite a good service in padel, you’ll be able to dominate the point if you have a good first volley to follow up your service as you come into the net.
The goal with your first volley after your service is to get one of your opponents out of position and create the space that you can exploit on subsequent volleys. You want your opponents to be against the back glass either in the center or in the corners so use your first volley to achieve that.
Let’s take a closer look at your options so that you can best utilize that first volley as you come up to the net behind your service.
Your Two Possible Returns Of Service That Are Most Common When Move To The Net
Your opponent can I lob so that you will have to play a bandeja or even move right back to the back glass if it is a really good lob.
Alternatively, your opponent will be able to play the ball low to your feet and you will have to pay what is called a set-up volley. The better your service, the more difficult it will be for your opponents to be able to return your service with a really good lob or any lob at all for that matter.
Attacking Options For The First Volley After A Good Service
If you play a good service 90% of the returns of service will come back in the central area of the court, in other words, more than 6ft (2m) from either of the side fences.
Returns of service down the line or cross-court to the opposite fence are less likely and a lot riskier of a shot for your opponent to play as a return of service.
If you’ve played a really good service to the side glass obviously your opponent will be pulled to that glass or back corner of the court after playing the return of service.
If the ball comes up higher, you can afford to be able to play an attacking volley to the opposite corner in other words, changing the direction of play. This will force your second opponent back into the opposite corner of the court leaving the entire center area of the court open for you or your partner to utilize on subsequent shots.
Options For The First Volley From A Low Ball After A Return Of Service
When the return of service is lower you need to be more careful and use a set-up volley rather than trying to play a winner.
The first type of set-up volley that you can play is by playing a firm volley to the corner of the player that is just played their return of service to you. When you play your volley firmly into the corner, you want the ball to hit the side glass before the back glass. This will cause the ball to come across the court at the back near the back glass and force your opponent well back against the back glass.
The second option will be to play a relatively soft volley down the center of the court even though this may feel counter-productive. The reason why I am saying to use the soft volley is so that the ball would make its second bounce really close to the back glass, thereby making it a difficult shot for your opponent’s to return. The good part about playing this is that it will pull at least one of your opponents into the center of the court but still right against the back glass, opening up an entire side of the court for you to be able to utilize on subsequent volleys.
Think of these setup volleys as ways where you can push your opponents out of position either into the corners or into the middle of the court right at the backglass and leave vast chunks of open court that you’ll be able to attack in your next or subsequent volleys.
The more you push your opponents back into the corners the more difficult it will be for them to return your shot with low volleys and sooner or later a neutral or soft shot will come to you that you will be able to attack and win the point.
Common Errors That Prevent A Good First Volley In Padel
The most common error that you see players make when coming up to the net quickly is that they tend to keep their racket down at their side as they run or at the least have their racket-head hanging down.
What this does is put your racket out of position if your opponent plays a higher ball as a return of service. That split-second of getting your racket into position will be the difference between playing a strong, attacking volley and merely blocking the ball back to your opponents.
The next common error when playing the first volley after the service is that many players try to hit an aggressive volley or a winner immediately on the first ball that comes to them irrespective of how low that ball is.
If the ball is coming low to you and you need to play your shot from below net height you will need to hit the ball up to get it over the net. Hit too hard and the ball will go out – especially on a padel court which is so much smaller than a tennis court.
Shot selection is really important. Not every shot can be a winner. Sometimes you need to be patient and get your opponents out of position before playing a winner.