Le service au padel, a topic that can often be neglected in the preparation of matches and competition. Have a efficient service it's already good, but what to do after ?

Let's assume you have several types of serves that allow you to adapt to opponents, raisers, so you don't start the rally defensively. From this base, let's see what can happen next.

You've most certainly been told that after a serve you have to go to the net, haven't you? It is correct and incorrect at the same time. Correct in the sense that if you are close to the net you will take the offensive, and incorrect because if you always go up the same way, after the same service, you are likely to start the point defending.

So we'd rather say that after a serve, you need to adopt an attacking stance that will keep the opponents down the court.

First serve

It is often the fastest, the most aggressive. After this serve, the return will tend to be played from the bottom, ie you will have to volley. So the faster you are going to serve, the faster you will have to play the volley, which means that if you are the aggressive style, you will have to play this first volley close to the net and therefore move up very quickly between the serve and the volley.

But if you're not as aggressive, with a slower, safer serve, you won't need to be as fast, your goal will be to volley in your comfort zone at the net.

What we can say after a first serve is that depending on the speed of your shot, you will have to go more or less quickly to your reference position or your attack will be aborted. It is better, depending on the case, to serve less quickly to have time to reach this zone, than to serve too quickly and be too slow.

Manuela Shuck APT Sevilla MAster 2022 service

Second service

For a second ball it's different. Indeed, during a second service, the returner will try his luck more. In his mind, the return is easier to perform than during a first serve, so he can play any shot and especially a lob in more than half of the cases. So you will have to adjust your climb to the situation. 

If, as in a first serve, you come to stick the net, you risk having to make a backward stroke towards your starting point.

So the best will be to tell yourself that you will have to play at least one volley or one more shot to reach this usual area that you have at the net. You'll be calmer, your volley will be better played, more poised, and you'll reach the net, but with a few more strokes...

Know how to adapt

This is the most tactical part. Don't get into the habit of always riding the same way, unless it works every time of course. At the start of a game, your opponents may find it difficult to return your serves. But as the match goes on they will find parries that may put you in difficulty on the first end. 

So adapt, adjust your position so that it's easy for you to reach the net.

A very frequent example is the case where the server goes up and finds himself lobbed, having to go back to the bottom after each return. If he stops just in front of the line, he can play this high volley or a bandeja which will then allow him to move forward.

The serve gives you the advantage in the point because it allows you to attack right away. The downside is that even if your serve is very good, a bad position or a badly played first shot can ruin everything afterwards.

Play, watch, analyze, try. 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.

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