The question comes to us from several players who have difficulties to achieve their backhand volley. Nad position, nad taking, error when hit, and if the problem was simply the position of your pied ?

The technique at padel may not be so important when we take our first steps on the track. With time and the increase in the level of play, you gain confidence, you seek new areas, new speeds and this is how the technique appears. Achieving a good backhand volley is part of this progression.

The first problem we will have with the backhand volley will be orientation.

Imagine that we are right-handed posted on the left on the track. It must have happened to you, you want to impact the ball and you finish your gesture facing the grid on your left, your opponents being able to admire your back. On the right, the track is more open but difficult to play along the line or sometimes even towards the center. So what is the solution?

The waiting position

In order to avoid finding yourself quickly from behind, remember to always keep a waiting position, pala held with 2 hands, placed in front of you, pointing at the player who will impact. This position will allow you to follow the game and find yourself in the direction of travel.

The role of the non-dominant foot

This will be the key to success. Let's go back to the case of right-handed people. Their non-dominant foot will be the left. The ball comes towards you and you will play a backhand volley. This left foot will be placed on the ground. If you pay attention, this foot on the ground indicates a direction. By imagining that your heel is the beginning of an arrow and the point of your foot is the point, the objective will be not to cross this line of direction marked by this left foot.

So if we take the volley technique that we discussed in a previous article, there are 3 supports on the ground; before impact for control, after impact for speed and 50-50 for the perfect speed-accuracy ratio. In order to be able to work the supports, we need a base, and it will be our left foot. Left foot on the ground you will know the limit not to exceed with the second support leg.

So the questions could be multiple: in the case of a chiquita of the opponents which would go towards the left gate, will I have to cross my right leg enormously to recover this volley? Yes, but first you will have oriented the left foot in order to point the grid. So in the end, you don't cross the line formed by the non-dominant foot.

Maxi Sanchez backhand volley WPT Albacete Challenger 2022

This technique is one of many to understand the fact of not crossing your body to play the backhand volley. The idea will be to always go forward to impact your volleys. The role of the non-dominant foot is very important to go in the correct direction and especially to have a precise and controlled volley. Don't cross the line marked by the non-dominant foot and you will become a better net player. Let's go!

Julien Bondia

Julien Bondia is a teacher of padel in Tenerife (Spain). Columnist and advisor, he helps you play better through his tutorials and tactical/technical articles padel.