In tournaments and even in friendly matches, players usually draw lots to find out who is starting to serve or returning. We will try to analyze the options available to us.

The service :

The winning team can choose to serve first. This can have many meanings: the team that serves usually takes the point and the game to his account. By having the service, the team tries to take a psychological ascendancy on the game and make sure to put the pressure on the opposing team to start the match in front of the score, but be careful it can turn against the servers and become a race to score the whole set.

The return :

The team also has the choice of choosing to return and let the opposing team serve first. This is not a sign of weakness but above all a tactic to try to win the serve directly to then race in the lead throughout the set and put pressure from the start of the match on the server.

Field :

This choice is mostly used according to the sun. The team that wins the draw can voluntarily put its priority on the choice of the side of the field and not on the service or the return to start playing a game against the sun and the two following without the sun. Once again this remains a strategy.

Let the opposing team choose:

This last choice is rarer but important psychologically. The team that wins the draw can simply let the opposing team choose what they want to do. This is not a sign of weakness, on the contrary it can be more impacting than it looks. Imagine, you lose the draw and the team in front of you lets you choose as if you won the draw with a small smile. One might think that the players are too confined, but this is not the case.

The early draw draws the game on the mental aspect. So put your "Poker Face" and win the first battle!

Max Moreau

Max Moreau is one of the best French in padel. The Sherlock of padel opens the doors to the French and professional circuit. This expert in padel will not hesitate to intervene on the tactics and the technique of our sport.

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