You've probably heard this expression totally " padelistic ”! What does she mean exactly? How to set up a good focus fridge ? How to find the parade when you suffer from a freezing?

This is what we will try to see in this new column.

What does a refrigeration (or “nevera” in Spanish) mean?

If you play with a partner who is stronger or weaker than you, the opponents are likely, in order to win more easily, to deprive one of the two players who make up your team of balls.

Imagine that you are much stronger than your partner (well done to you, already). After a few points, you realize that the only balls you have touched are when you restarted the serve, or that you yourself served!

 

You're going through being put in the fridge… and you're going to catch a cold! The match may be long and difficult for you, but also for your partner who is under all the pressure during the points.

What to do in this case ?

Several solutions exist, rest assured! Let's take the example above where you were put in the fridge. Your first role will be to support your partner morally / mentally: talk to him during the points to direct him on the placement of the opponents as soon as possible. This will reassure and help your partner choose how and where to play the balls.

Talk to him, listen to him, support him during down times such as when changing sides. Then you have to try to take more space on the ground. If you are on the right, for example, you have to come and help your partner in the middle. It's up to you to move more to get more balls even if at the start they are not necessarily for you.

This is even easier and more logical if you play on the left or if you are left-handed (and therefore play on the right).

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In addition, we must try to stay active all the time so as not to be surprised if the ball hits us. And, in this case, not wanting to be the superhero-savior and to take stock at all costs right away… hard, hard!

Another solution is to implement the same tactic on your side: that is to say to ask your partner to try to play only on one of your two opponents, to force this one, by force. , to change strategy. The most logical thing is for your partner to play in parallel. There will be more chances that the ball will come back in the diagonal, and therefore on you.

A slightly more extreme solution, will be to ask the player most in demand to go up to the net as soon as possible (and even sometimes on the return), to force the opposing team to play on the stronger player, who will have stayed behind. melts and will then rise when the point allows it.

Finally, you have the solution to exchange your diagonals as soon as possible: at the start of the next set, for returns; during the point, after a candle lob for example; when your team serves (tennis type) ...

How to put in place an effective fridge storage?

You have noticed that one of the two players opposite is significantly stronger than the other. So you decide to deprive him of bullets.

What are the options available to you to set up a good freezer? What traps should we avoid falling into?

In the first place, you must avoid that this tactic destabilizes your game or makes you "play wrong". You must therefore communicate well with your partner to clearly agree on the tactics of the following points. For example play 80% of the balls on the player on the right.

For me, it is especially important to look for the weaker player when the ball received allows us to comfortably choose the zone to play.

 

That is, not all balls can be played on a defined player. Indeed, there are times when it would be tactically wrong to play parallel or diagonally.

Be careful to spot these moments and to try, above all, to play simple and fair! This will save you a number of direct and gratuitous mistakes.

Then, you have to be careful that this tactic of putting in the fridge remains effective. By dint of hitting so many balls, your opponent can adjust and start giving you more and more problems.

 

Conversely, if the "nevera" is effective, continue! It happens that unconsciously, after winning several games or a set, we change the winning strategy ... stay clear!

Finally, do not hesitate to play the attack balls towards the strongest player. He will be all the more frustrated that the only balls that come to him are very difficult to master! He can quickly explode mentally ...

I would like to conclude this column with a little message for the attention of a number of players: it is, for me, logical and understandable to put in place a setting in the fridge when you are in competition: the goal is to win the match … But this is much less understandable during friendly games. Personally, I take advantage of each game to try to progress, to improve my game. I do not see the point of avoiding a good opponent… who will make me progress by highlighting my limits, and will force me to find new solutions!

¡Que disfruten! 

Line Meites

Line Meites is one of the best French players in padel. It's the voice of your live on Padel Magazine. But not only, she also hosts the column “Investigations of the Swiss Army Knife”. Every month, she will come back to a controversy or a theme that is close to her heart.