How to hit a solid padel serve?

With the serve, the aim is to keep it as simple as possible. The biggest error people tend to make is that they over complicate the serve. For example: people are trying to hit the ball immediately after the bounce. We also see people making huge wind-ups when serving the ball, but the serve should be very simple.

You start with your arm stretched at shoulder height; this is to drop the ball on the floor. You should bring the racket up, so you can hit through the ball at waist height. Eventually, after hitting the ball, you want to have some more body momentum into the court. This is achieved easily when leaning on your back foot first, and after you hit the ball your momentum will be more forward already. This is important because you should always go to the net after your serve.

• Racket up, pointing towards the back glass – slightly up
• Drop the ball in front of you – from shoulder height
• Hit through the ball at waist height
• Bonus: put a bit of slice on the ball in order to keep the ball low

Even though it is one of the easiest things to practice, people don’t practice their serve enough. You could just get a lot of balls and improve the accuracy and consistency of your serve.

Two common errors that people usually make is that the first serve is really aggressive, and the second serve is not aggressive at all. If the second serve is not aggressive at all, the opponents are able to take the lead, you don’t want that!

Another common error is that people rush to net during their serving action. It is important that you first finish your serving move, and then you start running towards the net.