Many times while watching professional padel players I’ve seen them play a normal-looking volley that bounces of the back wall at a very weird angle. I wanted to do that too so I set about finding out exactly how.
What is the vibora shot in padel? The vibora is a unique kind of high volley in padel that is played from the backhand court with a lot of side-slice spin to cause the ball to come off the back glass at an angle.
Let’s go through the step-by-step process that you can follow so that you can include the vibora in your repertoire.
The Vibora Has A Very Short Backswing
If you use too much backswing you will end up swinging your racket head around the ball and hitting it from the side, sending it directly out.
What you want to do is hit across the back of the ball in a chopping motion while controlling the amount of forward-motion of your racket.
Use The Back Glass As A Vibora Practice Aid
Use the back glass as a practice aid to block you from using too much backswing when you start playing the shot.
Stand side-on to the back glass near the center of the court about elbow distance from the back glass holding the racket up as if to play a high volley.
In this position, the back glass blocks your arm from taking a bigger backswing. You will notice that this is virtually the same start position as for the bandeja.
Step 1: Chop Across The Back Of The Ball
From this start position, you want to toss up a ball and chop across the back of the ball connecting it forward of eye level.
Standing at the back in the center of the court the ball should go straight to the side fence on your side of the net without bouncing if you can play the short correctly.
Playing without a backswing allows you to use more wrist action to generate the side slice. The way to know that you are getting enough side size is when the ball goes straight into the side fence. If your ball clears the net from the back wall then you need to add more side-slice.
Once you can consistently slice the ball to the side fence on your side of the net you’re ready to progress.
Step 2: Playing The Side Slice Vibora From The T Of The Court
Once you have become used to playing the vibora without the backswing you can move up to the T of the court.
Still keep your shoulders pointing straight down at the centerline of the court. Here your goal is to side slice the ball so that it clears the net and hits the side fence on the other side of the net, again without bouncing.
If the ball carries all the way to the glass then you need to add more side-slice. Remember that you’ll be playing this as a volley and a ball that carries too far will be out against the back glass.
Once you can consider this consistently put the ball into the side fence you will be ready to move across to your volley position and start practicing your vibora in the way you will use it in a game.
Step 3: Practice Your Vibora Up The Center Line
As you may have guessed, the vibora is most effective when played from the backhand court.
To practice this, take up your volley position in the backhand court. You will want to take up a stance as if you are playing a cross-court volley to the far corner. In other words, your shoulders should be angled towards the far corner. From this stance, your vibora will actually go up the center of the court if you put enough side slice on the ball.
The ball will also kick cross-court rather than rebounding straight like it would with a bandeja.
Again, the training drill for this is to hit practice balls until you can get your side slice vibora to go up the centerline of the court.
Step 4: The Sticky-Ball Cross-Court Vibora
Once you have mastered your slide slice vibora up the center of the court, you can start to practice the more advanced sticky-ball cross-court vibora.
I call this the sticky-ball vibora because when you get it right your cross-court shot will come out of the corner seeming to stick to the sidewall.
To get this version of the vibora right you use the same stance as you did for the easy vibora up the center of the court.
The difference here is that with the same arm speed you connect more behind the ball rather than to the side. It also means that you play through the ball then merely slicing past the back of the ball. This subtle change will angle the ball into the cross-court corner.
This variation would like to take many more practice shots to get right.
A great practice drill for this variation of the vibora is to place a low bench on the court between the service line and the back of the court. Aim your vibora so that the ball bounces under the bench on its way to the corner.
Step Up 5: Mixing Up Your Viboras
Once you’ve got the hang of both the soft, high spin vibora as well as too hard low spin vibora into the corner your next practice drill will be to alternate viboras between the center of the court and the corner.
This way you’ll get a better sense of the feel for each of the two versions.
When Do You Play The Vibora
The vibora is a more attacking shot than the bandeja. It also means that you will tend to play it from easier balls and weaker lobs. You will often play the bandeja in situations when you are forced back from the net, to or behind the service line.
Conversely, if you are able to step right up to the net you can play a power smash that bounces up and over the 4-meter high back wall. The vibora is the ideal high volley for the in-between situations when you still get over your shot and play aggressively.
The Vibora Is Better Than The Smash In Cold Wet Conditions
Humidity and cold make the ball heavier and less bouncy so this makes the smash much more difficult. In these conditions, using a vibora is a much better alternative to using a smash when the likelihood is great that your smash won’t be able to get out of the court properly.
So, use your time on the court during the cold and wet winter months to practice your vibora as much as possible when you know that your smash will be far less effective.
Finally, be sure to check out the article that I wrote all about playing padel in winter. You can find it by clicking here.