I’ve been watching and playing padel for a number of years now, and with each one that passes, I become even more shocked by how much people underestimate the importance of the serve. Because the padel serve has such a simple motion when compared to the explosive, powerful movements involved in a tennis serve, people tend to think that there isn’t much thought or skill involved. I too was guilty of this once, but there are actually so many different techniques and strategies you can use to serve in padel that are often overlooked.
Everyone usually starts off their padel career by playing the forehand serve. But after a while, many players become bored with this and start looking for ways to innovate. One of the first things these players usually wonder is whether they’re allowed to serve with their backhand. In my experience not many people know the answer to this, and they’re also not sure why a backhand serve would be beneficial! That is what I’ll be sharing with you in this post today! But first…
Can you do a backhand serve in padel?
Yes, you can use a backhand serve in padel, although it’s quite rare to see! The backhand serve can challenge the returning player in different ways due to the different angles it is hit from, the different degrees of spin on the ball, and the general lack of experience most players have facing this type of serve.
When players are introduced to the sport, the vast majority of them will begin by hitting serves with their forehand and will slowly get used to this over time. Once they have used the forehand serve for so long, it becomes ingrained as part of their serving technique and will be something that they find hard to deviate from. Learning how to hit accurate backhand serves when you’ve never really done it before takes a lot of time, and most players would simply rather stick with the style of serve they’re good at – especially when playing in competitive matches! Let’s face it, no one wants to be hitting the serve into the net over and over when trying out an untested serving method during a tense match!
In my opinion, more players should be introduced to the backhand serve early in their padel careers. This way, they’d be able to experiment with it and develop it alongside their forehand serve. Having two different types of serve at your disposal can help you to think about different ways to put returning players under pressure and can help new padel players to think about the serve as more of a tactical battle rather than a simple formality.
What Are The Advantages Of A Backhand Serve?
As I’ve already hinted, the backhand serve can potentially offer a number of advantages to the serving player. Here are a few of them:
- Some players are just more comfortable hitting backhand shots – For some padel players, the backhand feels far more natural than the forehand. Therefore, the backhand serve can definitely be seen as an advantage for these players.
- Backhand serves make it easier to slice the ball – Due to the natural positions of our arms & hands, it is much easier to play a slice (undercut the ball) with your backhand compared to your forehand. Slicing/undercutting the ball applies backspin to your shot, which can lead to the ball slowing down and bouncing lower once it hits the court. Therefore, backhand serves may slow down more and bounce lower than forehand serves, making them more of a challenge for your opponent to judge and get to.
- In some situations it can make it easier to serve into the glass – If a right handed player is serving from the left side of the court, they will make it easier for themselves to serve the ball into the glass by hitting a backhand serve. Similarly, a left handed player serving from the right side of the court will find it easier targeting the glass at the side of the court by using their backhand. This is all because of the angles that the different shots create! Hitting the glass with your serve is great because it forces the returning player to have to judge an extra bounce of the ball and can make them a little more tentative.
What Are The Disadvantages Of A Backhand Serve?
Like with most things in sports, if a certain technique or shot has advantages, it will also have disadvantages! Let’s have a quick look at a couple of them:
- Some players can struggle to hit the backhand serve with accuracy – A lot of players who I’ve spoken to find it much easier to hit a forehand serve accurately than a backhand serve. Given that accuracy is arguably the most important part of a serve, this can put a lot of players off using the backhand.
- It uses a slightly more unnatural body position than the forehand – The backhand serve requires the serving player to turn their body slightly away from the service box before they hit the ball, which can feel unnatural to some players. They will also need to look over their shoulder to keep their eyes focused on where they want to land the ball. The forehand serve allows a player to stand more comfortably, with their chest facing directly towards the service box.
- The ball bounce prior to serving can feel a bit more awkward – As most of you will know, a padel serve requires you to bounce the ball prior to hitting it. When you do this for a forehand serve, you can bounce the ball in front of you and hit it almost immediately. A backhand serve requires you to bounce the ball and then cross your racket hand over behind the arm that was used to bounce the ball. This can feel slightly more unnatural to players that have just started using this style of serve.
Can You Play A Backhand Serve With Two Hands?
Technically it is possible to play a backhand serve with both hands, as there is nothing in the padel rules that prohibits you from doing so! However, in reality, hitting a backhand serve with two hands is quite difficult to do, and there may not be much of an advantage to be gained by doing so.
As I’ve already mentioned in this post, a serve in padel requires you to bounce the ball on the ground before you strike it. This means that you’ll use one hand to bounce the ball, and then your other racket hand to hit it. It’s very difficult to bounce the ball with one hand, then quickly get this hand onto the racket in order to hit a double hand serve. This is why most players will choose to avoid this tactic!
Summary
I hope this post has answered all of your queries regarding whether it’s possible to hit backhand serves in padel! I also hope it’s given you a good idea of the advantages and disadvantages of doing so.
Backhand serves are definitely an overlooked part of the game and can take an opponent by surprised when used in the right moment and when targeting the right area of the court! I’d recommend that any up and coming padel players start to practice them as they can definitely add a bit of difference to your game!
