Ah the lob, “what a crappy shot” we hear. This blow that turns the brains of some! It seems simple to perform but it requires great finesse to be performed to perfection.

The lob against tennis players who practice padel

It is quite obvious how unfortunate tennis players tend to dislike being lobbed. Generally, A tennis player starting padel will most of the time go to the net and volley. However, as soon as he gets lobbed he will not yet have sufficient technical background to make bandejas or viboras.

Therefore, he will take the ball often as best he can either by spiking it with an imbalance or by simply hitting the ball but it will deliver most of the time. counter opportunities for the opposing team.

If the big hitters often quickly understand the smash, they still stay embarrassed when forced to let the ball pass. Lob tactics therefore often prove to be a very good solution against those tennis players who enjoy quality volley play but may be much less comfortable with changes of pace.

The lob in padel, this sensitive shot

As it was said before, the lob is a very simple blow to achieve since it is only a question of raising the ball to a certain height, easy not? When you take a closer look and become an expert at it, we quickly understand that it is much more than making a high ball.

The lob will often allow you to change the transition from defense to a potential future attack. It is therefore essential that this blow has enough depth to avoid getting attacked. If it's too short, it will be a long vibora that will put defenders in difficulty, or even a winning smash. Players will therefore have their work cut out to work on this shot with finesse.

Two parameters are to be taken into consideration:

  • the height : it is possible to perform lobs at different heights, some can be very high and awkward (the famous candle light outside when it's sunny), of course on condition that you control the trajectory well. The low but fast lob will also be very interesting, to push back opponents who stick the net
  • the depth :  The depth of a lob is very important, you must at least lob behind the service line, the closest to the back glass being ideal, to avoid smashers having easy balls to play. The higher the level in padel, the deeper the lobs are

By adjusting the height of your lob at the right time and obviously adding depth, the criteria for success are strongly met to embarrass the opposing team. Several variants of lobs exist such as crossed ones, in parallel or even in the middle. They are part of the strategy to disrupt opponents.

Like all padel shots, there are different levels of expertise and as we have seen, the lob requires a certain level of skill to achieve a quality shot. However, it remains a formidable weapon for tennis players who are new to padel, and one of the most important moves to master to level up.

Alexandre Cifuentes

Alexandre Cifuentes studies economics. He decided to intervene on the padel business and the sports market in general. He allows us to know about padel in its entirety.