When watching padel tournaments such as those on the World Padel Tour, you may have noticed players using a lob that doesn’t go very high but is still very difficult to smash. That is what is known as the offensive lob.
The offensive lob in padel is a lob that is played lower and faster with a lot of slice spin. The speed of the ball does not give the net opponent time to get under the ball to play a smash and the spin makes the ball stay much lower after the bounce.
Why Is The Offensive Lob An Effective Padel Shot?
The traditional lob is a defensive padel shot that is used as a last-gasp attempt at getting yourself back into position during the extra time that the ball is in the air. It is also used to push your opponents back from the net and hopefully take up the net position yourself.
The traditional lob is often played when you are tight against the back glass with no space for your back swing.
Conversely, the offensive lob is an attacking shot. And we all know that attack is often the most effective form of defense.
Who Should Learn The Offensive Lob?
The offensive lob is a shot in padel that is suited to more advanced players. Beginner players should first become comfortable playing the standard lob and play their defensive shots from well behind the white line.
More advanced players have developed their skills of playing faster balls with slice-spin as well as the ability to play their opponent out of position.
How To Read The Padel Court To See When To Play The Offensive Lob?
The offensive lob is very effective against an opponent who has drifted too close to the net. The way you achieve this is by playing a series of shots down to the feet of your opponent. If you do this repeatedly your opponent will come forward to catch those low balls more on the volley.
This opens up the opportunity to pass your opponent with a low, fast offensive lob.
Reading Your Padel Opponent To See When To Play The Offensive Lob
Traditionally the lob is seen as an effective weapon against shorter players as a way to drive them back from the net and secure the net position for yourself. That is part of the reason why you see so many more lobs in the women’s game at the professional level on the World Padel Tour. The male professionals also tend to play power smashes and kick smashes from anywhere on the court as long as they can get under the ball.
Short players like Chingoto stay further back from the net to make it more difficult to lob him. He isn’t worried about low balls to his feet as he can get to them easily.
If you have an opponent who can play a power smash from anywhere on the court then an offensive lob can be effective as they do not have the time to get under the ball to play their smash.
How To Set Up For The Offensive Lob In Padel
In order to play the offensive lob effectively, you need to lure your opponent closer by playing the ball low to their feet. You then use their forward momentum against them by playing the offensive lob that goes over their head quickly while they are moving forward.
What Is The Difference Between The Offensive Lob And The Normal Lob In Padel?
When playing the normal lob you hold the racket with the racket face pointing at the sky. You then play through the ball in a low to high motion.
For the offensive lob, you have your racket face pointing more in the direction that you want to hit the ball and use the slice spin to generate the height you need to get the ball over your opponent’s head.
That same slice spin will cause the ball to bounce much lower when it lands.
Is It Easy To Smash Against An Offensive Lob In Padel?
When you have an opponent who smashes well and is able to kick-smash the ball out of the court from almost anywhere, what they need is time to get properly under the ball to play their power smash.
When you play the offensive lob you deny your opponent the one thing they need, and that is the time to get properly under the ball.
Can You Play The Offensive Lob Early In The Padel Point?
In order to be truly effective your opponent needs to be out of position before you can play the offensive lob.
At the start of the point, your opponents will be in their best possible positions to handle almost any ball that comes to them.
You need time to build the point and gradually force your opponents a bit out of position.
The offensive lob requires more time to build up as you want your opponent to be in a position where you can play the ball low to their feet and follow up with the offensive lob.
How To Make The Ball Stay Low After The Bounce When You Lob In Padel?
The way to make the ball stay low after the bounce from any shot is by using slice spin.
What you need to remember is that the ball will tend to carry a lot further before bouncing. This is what makes the offensive lob a tricky shot to get right.
You are playing a lob where the ball will carry further so you need to so that you can get a feel for the shot without hitting the ball long.
This is why you should first become proficient in playing with slice-spin before starting to try the offensive lob. You can then use the slice spin that you already know and incorporate that into your lob.
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