6 Padel Forehand Volley Tips To Destroy Your Opponent
The net game is CRUCIAL in padel. Your padel forehand volley has to be the consistent, solid, and tricky to return.
You want your padel forehand volley to be nightmare, something where your opponents are scared to play the ball to you when you are at the net.
So how do you achieve this?
Here are my best tips for the padel forehand volley, let’s get started.
1. Hit It Deep
How deep should the padel forehand volley be?
As deep as possible.
The deeper the volley goes, the harder it is to return, you want to force your opponents to use the walls, because a lot of people struggle with that.
As soon as your opponents have to use the walls, they are under pressure, and will struggle to return the ball.
But also mix it up
We want the perfect mix of depth, so that the opponents are not sure when to use the walls, and when to play in front.
Imagine you play a couple volleys that aren’t quite deep enough to hit the wall, and then a couple that are deep enough to let it hit and bounce off.
Your opponent will then have that doubt in their mind of when to use the wall and when not.
If it is too short, you are in trouble
Don’t suck your opponents in, keep them back!
If you play your volleys short, you are inviting your opponents towards you, and then you have a chance of losing that net position, remember 90% of points are won at the net, we need to make sure we are there.
2. Change Your Direction
I always talk about changing the pace and place of your shots, and this couldn’t be more crucial with the padel forehand volley.
You need to be constantly changing the direction as well as how hard and soft you are hitting.
The BEST places to aim the padel forehand volley
The following places are great to aim the volley:
- Middle – Guaranteed to make the opponents move, sometimes there may be confusion over who’s ball it is.
- Corner/double glass – People hate using one wall, make them use 2! The ball also has a higher chance of dying and staying low.
- At the feet – Makes them have to move out of the way to use the wall, or they block before giving you an easier attack.
3. Change the Pace
Slow and fast volleys will be really effective when breaking an opponent down, it will make them question themselves when using the wall.
The change of pace will cause some volleys to bounce off the walls faster, and some a lot slower. This will make your opponent move a lot.
Combine this tactic with the direction and depth, and you will have your opponent all over the place.
Remember, padel is all about setting up the point, so you need to be clever and move your opponent around the court, and then when the chance comes, you can be more aggressive with it.
4. Prepare The Racket High
One of the most common beginner mistakes for the padel forehand volley, is not preparing the racket high, and punching through the ball.
With the volley, you need to come from high to low in order to have an effective strike. We want the ball to travel low, rather than rise up. The ball will go down if you prepare higher and then strike from high to low.
When you come from high to low, naturally, the ball will stay very low after it hits the wall. When we come from low to high, the ball will bounce up after it hits the wall.
Don't make this preparation mistake
A lot of players do not prepare early enough, and this ruins their volley. If you prepare early, you will have a much more controlled shot.
Make sure, especially when the ball comes slower, that you prepare early, and then strike from high to low. In a controlled and compact way.
Don’t lose your balance as well, plant both feet, and then strike the ball.
5. Try To add Spin
Spin can either be really natural for a player, or it can take months of hard work to learn.
For me, I was lucky, I could naturally slice the ball from my experience in tennis and squash, so when coming to padel, it was quite easy for me to learn how to chop the ball.
However, I never learnt topspin on a smash, so I had to spend months learning this!
So, spin can be tricky for players to learn, but so effective.
People will struggle to return your volley
When you add spin to the volley, people will struggle to return it, not only that but they may give a very weak return to the ball that you can easily finish the point from.
Even if they DO return your volley, they cannot do a lot with it, and will most of the time only be able to get it back rather than play a winner or put you on the back foot.
Tips for adding spin to the volley
We want to brush down on the ball (preparing the racket high will help with this) so that the ball has backspin, this will cause it to go down after the glass.
- Prepare the racket high
- Brush down the ball to create backspin
- Have a big finish and short swing back
- Open the racket face slightly to create more natural spin
6. Footwork
Your footwork is crucial for your padel forehand volley, you need to step across depending on which hand you play with in order to get the most out of the shot.
When playing cross court especially, if you are playing with your right hand, step across with your left foot, if you are left handed, step across with your right foot.
This helps you stay in the shot completely, keep more control in the shot, and keeps the ball low.
It also helps disguise the shot, when you step across the opponents cannot see you as well, so you can disguise where you are hitting the ball.
Your whole body needs to be in use
Rotate your shoulders! This should be a big part of your swing, so less of. swing back and more in the shoulder rotation.
Bend your knees. A slight bend in your knees will allow you to get lower and still play an effective volley with a low ball.
Don’t just think it is all in your arm, your whole body has to commit to the shot.
Conclusion - Padel Forehand Volley
One of the most important shots to get right! I think ANY player with a great padel forehand volley, will win a lot of matches, and intimidate all his opponents.
With a better volley, your opponents will be scared to defend against you, afraid to use the walls, and afraid to hit to you when you are at the net position.
Keep working on all of these tips!
Hope this helped!
Padel Forehand Volley – 6 Tips To Destroy Your Opponent – Ewan Ramsden
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