First volley – Padel
The first volley is one of the most important shots in the game. If you can hit a good volley after your service, you can get a big advantage in the point. We are going to talk about: what to aim for with your service, where to hit it and what you should look for after you’ve hit your serve.
What to aim for?
The importance of your first volley depends on your service. The objective of the service is to get your opponents on their backfoot or to make your opponents return a neutral ball. If you can hit a good serve, your opponent is less likely to play a lob as return. So it is important to make the best of the first volley because it is either a volley you can finish or a set-up volley you can finish in the next shots.
Where to hit?
After you have hit your service down the T or to the side glass, most of the returns will come back in the centre of the field between you and your partner. If this happens, this is a good opportunity to change directions with your volley. If the return of your opponent is a good ball low over the net, you have two options. You can either play it back into the corner where you served or you can play a volley down the middle. This will leave an open area because one of the players has to come out of their position.
If you play the volley down the middle, you should play it a bit slower so that the second bounce is near the back glass. When you play it back into the corner, you can add more speed and go for the double glass.
Common errors
A common error after the service is that people run to the net with their rackets down. When the return comes back to chest height they don’t have the time to react fast enough.
The other common error is that people are too aggressive with their first volley and try to finish the point directly.