If you’re considering whether to start playing padel or not, or even if you’ve just become interested in watching it, it’s only natural to want to learn as much about the sport as possible. One of the things you may be interested in learning is what makes the sport difficult! Padel rackets don’t generate the same pace as tennis rackets, and in padel you will often have two players covering a larger amount of the court. Sounds simple right? Well, it’s often not as easy as it seems!
In this post I’ll be exploring what factors make padel a difficult sport to play at a high level. Of course, anyone can experiment with padel and play it for fun, and they will be able to do this quite easily. But if you want to turn yourself into a truly top-quality player, there are a number of things that make this hard to achieve!
So, why is padel difficult to play?
Padel is difficult to play because:
- Many things can happen during the flight of the ball
- It’s usually played in doubles – making teamwork vital
- It requires lots of stamina due to long rallies
- It’s hard to hit winning shots
- It requires lots of concentration and anticipation
- Fast reflexes are required at the net
- The lob is a hard shot to perfect
Now that you’re aware of what the main reasons are, I’ll expand on them and explain each one of them in more detail below. So, if you want to get a better understanding of what makes padel a tough sport to succeed in make sure you read on!
Many Things Can Happen During The Flight Of The Ball
Racket sports like tennis are hard enough to play when all you have to do is react to the pace and direction of your opponent’s shot. Padel adds a different element to this, in the form of the walls that surround the entirety of the playing surface. So, not only do padel players have to react to the direction and speed at which their opponent hits the ball, they also have to think about how these shots are going to interact with the wall and how this will impact the speed, bounce and direction of the shot. The presence of the walls is one of the things that makes padel so interesting to watch, but it’s definitely also one of the things that makes it difficult to play!
In sport, it takes time for us to react to events (also known as stimuli) that occur during a game. If we have a lower number of events to react to, and these events occur further away from us, the more time we will have to react, allowing our brains to select a more appropriate response much faster. If we have more events to react to, and those events occur as the ball is closer to us, it becomes much harder for our brain to select an appropriate response. This is because our brain has more events to analyse, and less time to analyse them.
For example, experienced tennis players can see a shot leave the racket of their opponent and immediately start tracking and moving towards the ball. The shot leaving the racket of their opponent is the only event they ever really have to react to. They can be pretty sure that the ball is not going to change direction or speed dramatically while it is in the air, so in all likelihood, their brain will judge the flight path of the ball accurately and allow them to get into a position from which they can return the ball.
Now let’s think about a padel rally. The first event that a player has to react to is the shot of their opponent. But after that, the ball could bounce off several different surfaces like the side wall and the back wall, at varying speeds and directions. Every time the ball bounces off a surface and changes direction/speed, this is another event that a player has to react to, and this can be incredibly challenging – especially for players who are less experienced in the sport! Padel players can be exposed to four/five different events every time their opponent plays a shot, and this isn’t even including the fact that we often have to read and interpret the positioning of our partner too to see if they are better placed to hit the ball than us!
When you watch elite padel players, it almost looks like they already know where the ball will end up before it has even bounced off the wall. This is because they have built up years of experience of reacting to shots that are played off the walls, and they are so used to reacting to this kind of event. Therefore, their brain is able to recognise what is about to happen much quicker than an amateur player and can select an appropriate response much faster. You can get to that level too if you spend a long time practicing and working on your game!
It’s Usually Played In Doubles – Making Teamwork Vital
Any sport where you have to rely on a partner automatically becomes a little bit more challenging due to the interaction between the two individuals. Most of us will have played sports with a partner/other team mates before, and if you have, you’ll know that it takes a while for you to become truly in sync with each other. When you first play with a new partner, that knowledge of each other’s game is not there right away. You don’t know your partner’s style, which shots they will go for and which ones they will leave, you don’t know how attacking/defensive they are. All of these aspects of their game are things you will have to learn and adjust to if you are to perform well as a duo.
Even in more experienced pairs, if you have one partner who is clearly more skilled than the other, opponents may choose to target the weaker player and make it much easier for themselves to score points. To put it simply, in padel (where the majority of games are played in pairs), you are hugely reliant on the performance of your partner. You will also need to do your best to cover for them and any mistakes that they make. Most sportspeople like to be in complete control of their side of the game, but in padel you’ll have to give up a bit of that control to succeed.
Requires Lots Of Stamina Due To Long Rallies
This one is pretty simple! Padel features many long rallies which can put players who are low on stamina under a lot of pressure. You need to be agile, able to move quickly in all directions over small distances and have the ability to do this over multiple hours if necessary.
A player who has poor stamina may really start to struggle to play at their usual level when a match moves towards the third set, or when a rally gets up past the 15 shot range and their opponents are constantly putting them under pressure. This is a position that no padel player wants to be in! Having good levels of stamina can give you a huge advantage in matches that last a long time and go into deciding sets, and it is something that all players of all levels should be aiming to achieve.
It’s Hard To Hit Winning Shots
Because of the design of the court, the rules of the game and the materials that the rackets/balls are made from, it’s incredibly difficult to hit winning shots in padel. It’s harder to hit a winner in padel than it is in a sport like tennis, and therefore padel players must participate in rallies/points for longer periods of time and execute good shots consistently in order to force their opponents into a mistake. This is a tough thing to do – especially when competing against experienced players!
The design of the padel court as well as the rules that govern the sport mean that a shot hit towards the back of the opponent’s court will always rebound off the glass and back into the opponent’s path so that they can return it. Therefore, hitting the ball forcefully past your opponent won’t necessarily gain you any advantage. In a sport like tennis, once you get the ball past your opponent, you win the point – but the existence of the walls in padel means it’s not always that simple in this sport!
Another reason it’s hard to hit winning shots in padel is that the rackets are made out of material that is not very flexible. Think about a tennis racket, and how the strings on the racket stretch and almost ‘spring’ the tennis ball off the surface of the racket. This occurs because the strings are flexible, and this allows players to get more power on their shots.
The surface of padel rackets are usually made out of fibreglass or graphite, which is nowhere near as flexible as the material used on tennis rackets. Therefore, padel players need to hit the ball a lot harder to get as much power on their shots as tennis players do. As a result, it’s harder to hit winning shots which beat your opponent for pace! Most winning shots in padel are hit when an opportunity to play a smash shot presents itself. In these moments, the player will have to hit the ball incredibly forcefully and at the correct angle in order to win the point in one shot!
So, your best bet to win points in padel is by not trying to hit a winning shot every time you get an opportunity to hit the ball. Sometimes it just isn’t possible, and your best bet is to extend the rally and try to work yourself into a better position from which you can engineer a smash shot or play a nicely disguised shot that takes advantage of your opponent’s poor court position.
It Requires Lots Of Concentration & Anticipation
I’ve already explained how padel features so many long rallies, so as a result, it’s only natural that it also requires the players to display excellent levels of concentration. The longer a rally continues, the harder it becomes to concentrate and ensure that you’re getting yourself into the best positions and playing the best shots possible. I’ve seen many players who enter into a long rally and then start to believe that every shot they play is going to be the winning one, forgetting that their opponent is just as capable of continuing the rally as they are. In padel, you need to maintain laser focus from the serve until the point is won – and this is very hard for lots of players to do.
Another thing you need to become an elite player is fantastic anticipation. Anticipation is basically a sense of what kind of shots your opponent will play, and when they will play them. A lot of this is gained through experience, but some players are just naturally better at it than others. The goal is to almost be thinking one step ahead of your opponent, like a chess grand master. You see the shot that you or your team mate have played, and you instinctively begin to think about and predict the kind of shot your opponent will play in response. If you can improve your ability to do this, you will give yourself the best chance of reacting to the ball quickly and will therefore be in a much better position to play your shot.
Most of the top professional padel players will instinctively know when their opponents are about to play a smash shot, and the second they notice this, many of them will rush towards the net in order to prepare to play a smash of their own as the ball is about to return to the opponent’s side of the court. You can see an example of this in the picture below!
Fast Reflexes Are Required At The Net
It’s common during a point to see both teams attempt to approach the net. Whoever can control points from close to the net usually has a big advantage in rallies, so it’s important that all players work on their net skills.
To play effectively at the net against good quality opponents you’re going to need very fast reflexes. When you’re stood this close to the net you may have very little time to react to the ball, especially if your opponent is hitting it towards you with good pace. You’ll need to quickly spot the path of the ball and execute your own shot in return, usually doing all of this in under a second. Many players struggle to do this! It’s much harder than you think – especially when you’re new to the sport.
To improve your skills in this area it’s vital that you try to play more points at the net and move forwards whenever you see an opportunity to do so. Additionally, if you take part in practice sessions, make sure you take up a place at the net and have a coach/partner hit some balls at you from the other side of the court to test your reflexes. In my opinion this is by far the best way to get comfortable with controlling points from that position.
The Lob Is A Hard Shot To Perfect
The lob is an incredibly important shot in padel. When you’re watching a match between professional players, you’ll usually see it being used multiple times per point. If you are someone who wants to play the sport at a very high standard then you’ll need to work on this shot a lot – but it’s definitely a tough one to perfect!
The best time to use the lob is when you see your opponents getting too close to the net. The lob is a shot that is played high up in the air over the heads of your opponents, and you should be intending to land it at the back of the court – bouncing just before it reaches the back wall.
The problem with playing the lob is that you need to play it perfectly almost every time to avoid losing a point. If you don’t hit the lob hard enough, then you’ll probably end up offering your opponent the chance at a smash shot at the net. If you hit it too hard, there’s a good chance the ball will hit the back wall first, causing you to automatically lose the point.
As I said, this is a tough shot to master, but the rewards are definitely worth it as it will help you re-establish control of a point if your opponents move up to the net.
Conclusion
Although I’ve written about the things that make padel difficult to play in this post, I can assure you that it’s a game that is accessible to everyone! If you’re looking to get started in the sport, make sure you stay tuned here at Padeld.com – I’ll have plenty of posts coming soon that are going to be a great help for beginners!