The high lob is something you can face either outside or if the ceiling is high enough on an inside court. Let’s look at what your shot options are.
The most effective shot that you can use against the high lob is a bandeja which is a slow, controlled smash unique to padel where you guide the ball into the corners or down the center so that you can return to your position at the net as quickly as possible.
Let’s take a closer look at how best to use your various options to deal with a high lob.
How Deep Is The Lob You Are Facing
If the lob is played short you have the freedom to be as aggressive as you choose with your shot.
You can either play an aggressive bandeja or an aggressive smash before or even after the ball bounces.
If the lob is deep then you need to decide whether or not you can afford to let the ball bounce because there’s a real possibility that the ball could bounce up high enough to go over the back fence and you to lose the point.
If that is the case then you will definitely need to play your return to the high lob before the ball bounces.
Where Are Your Opponents Standing On The Court
If both of your opponents are at the back of the court then you can play a normal bandeja and return to the net position straight away. However, if both of your opponents are at the net then you need to be looking at some different options.
If it is early in the match then you can angle your bandeja into the different spaces around your opponents. That can be either down the center or into the corners or down to the fence.
Use the momentum of your opponent’s rush up to the net against them by playing your bandeja carefully and softly so that the ball is going back past them while they are still moving forward.
Later in the match, if your opponents are able to block your bandeja easily then it may be time to play an aggressive shot more towards their body. However, this isn’t a very friendly thing to do if you are playing a social game. This might not be the best option to be able to keep friends after the game has finished.
However, if this is a tournament game or some other really important game then playing a shot towards your opponent’s body could really work because it won’t give them enough time to properly position themselves to be able to block the shot back if it is coming in towards their body.
Show Confidence When Returning A High Lob
If your opponents can see that you lack confidence in dealing with a high lob they will keep peppering you with high lob after high lob after high lob and the more awkward you become with your dealing with the high lob the worse it will get.
This is because as soon as you start missing some of those shots you’ll become even less confident which means that each successive high lob will become progressively worse and worse for you to handle.
At the beginning of the game hit your high lob return with as much confidence as you can. In other words, play the shot with the intensity as if you’re really going for a specific kind of shot. Even if you miss that shot you’ll be giving the impression that you can cope with dealing with a high lob and that you have very specific shots to play against a high lob.
This in and of itself will show that you are not afraid of this potentially tricky shot and that can put your opponents off from trying to play the high lob against you too often.
Have Your Racket-Head Up Early
As the high lob comes to you, use the time while getting yourself into position to have your racket ready and high early. Be ready to hit a solid bandeja with intent towards the center or the corners and reclaim your net position, which is after all the point of the bandeja.
If you want to learn more about the bandeja which is the specific shot that you need to use when dealing with high lobs then go and have a look at the article that I wrote here on the World Padel Insider on exactly how you should go about learning to play the bandeja as is a very important and unique shot to the game of padel.
