When I first started playing padel I viewed my service as an opportunity to immediately win the point. As I started playing against stronger opponents I realized that my strong service could be dealt with very easily.
The ideal angle you’re your padel service is serving from near the centreline. It not only makes serving down the center easier to do and more difficult for your opponent but also makes serving wide to the glass more effective as the ball stays near the glass after the bounce.
Let’s unpack all of the reasons why playing your padel service from nearer the centerline creates the angle that gives you better opportunities to consistently play really strong services.
Problems Created When Standing Too Wide For Your Padel Service
When you stand wide on the court, your only option is to serve wide to the glass, letting your opponent know in advance where the ball will go.
If you try serving into the center from wide will put the ball in the easiest spot for your opponent to be able to play as the ball will not be able to stay in the center after the bounce.
Serving from wide leaves the whole center of the court open for your opponent to aim their return of service at.
Serving from wide limits you in to stand in the standard formation for the service. If you had to choose to stand in the Australian formation for the service and try to serve from wide your partner will be in the way.
When you serve from wide it creates a sharp angle of contact with a side glass allowing the ball to bounce further away from the glass. This makes it a bit easier for your opponent to return.
Beginners use the wide service to be able to hit the ball harder meaning that when combined with a sharp angle the ball will bounce even further away from the side glass making the return of service even easier. They just need to have a little patience and wait for the ball to come to them.
Benefits Of Standing Near The Center Line For The Padel Service
When you stand near the centerline you have the option of serving to the side glass or down the center from exactly the same spot. This gives your opponent very little reaction time to get to the ball when you change the direction of your service.
Serving into the center from the center will put your opponent across the court leaving the corner open for an easy first volley.
When you stand in the standard position for your service and serve wide to the glass your opponent has two options. They can either play a return down the line to where your partner is standing or play a cross-court return of service. If you play your service from the center of the court you can cover the center easily as you step up to the net. This will leave your partner to cover any returns of service that go down the line.
Another advantage of serving from nearer the center of the court is that you will be able to adopt either the standard or Australian formations without needing to change your service from one formation to the other.
When serving to the side glass the nearer you stand to the center the blunter the angle becomes that the ball contacts the glass. That blunt contact angle will transfer into the ball staying nearer the side glass after making contact. This, in turn, makes the task of returning your service more difficult.
Serving from near the center forces you to serve a bit softer than you would when serving from wide. This means that you can better control where you place your service. A softer service also drops quicker after hitting the side glass.
When I refer to being near to the center, I mean no more than about two meters from the centerline. You will see players at World Padel Tour tournaments serving from just about over the centerline.
Type Of Spin That Works Best For Serving From The Center In Padel
Beginner players oven try funky side spin services to try and trick their opponents. All that these types of spin services do is increase the chances of serving a fault.
When I started playing padel I used to use topspin on my service. That only worked while my opponents were absolute beginners like I was. Once I started to play against more skilled opponents my topspin services would get punished by my opponents.
When you make the switch to playing your service from nearer the centerline begin by playing a flat service and then add some slice-spin as you gain confidence with that service.