Tips to avoid the most common padel tactics errors
The majority of players coming to padel make these three mistakes all the time! If nobody pushes you to change these you can make the errors for years. If you do any of the three mistakes you should make it a priority to work on it for your next games! They are good things to focus on for your matches without making it too complicated.
First error
The first error is that you do not need to hit so hard. In the beginning it might help sometimes. When you play against someone that has more experience in padel, they will just allow that ball to come off the glass and play it back. You can try to change the pace by using lobs, chiquitas, controlled volleys and overheads, etc.
Second error
The second error is that most of the people are stuck in no mans land. You want to start one step behind the service line when you are at the back of the court. When you want to attack, move into the second post or one step closer to the net. All the positions on the court between these two is called no mans land.
Also keep in mind that you work as a couple. If your partner goes back, you also go back. If your partner goes to the net, you also go to the net.
Third error
The third and last error is smashing when you should not. Do not smash while you are still moving backwards. Allow a deep lob to bounce off of the backglass and then attack. You need to judge the lob quickly. Choose the right shot to stay in the point!
Implementing
If you want to put these into your game, start with one at a time. So for the first error (hitting too hard) say to yourself ‘I will win the point by playing softly, using lobs, controlled overheads, etc’. For example, for the second error you can say to yourself ‘I will reference my position at the start of the point and at the end of it’. And for the last error you can say to yourself ‘I will only smash when I know I can regain my net position’.