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How to Vary Your Padel Tennis Serve to Confuse Your Opponents

Padel is a game of strategies and techniques. Although playing padel might seem simple, the only way to become a pro-player is by learning the different variations of serve. In this article, we have listed down the essential paddle tennis serve tips and other aspects to help you refine your game of padel. Let’s get started.

Padel Tennis Serve tips

Top 5 padel tennis serve tips you must know

Your first serve will determine the course of action for that particular set. A padel player can use various different techniques to serve a padel ball to confuse and outsmart their opponent. Of all the various approaches of serving, we have mentioned below the 5 most effective padel tennis serve tips to follow.

  • Play on your opponents weakness
  • Adopt the pace and place technique
  • Tire your opponents out
  • Pick a target player
  • Strategize with your partner

Play on your opponents weakness

Playing on your opponents weakness is relatively easy when you are familiar with them. Having said that, a pro-player is capable of analyzing the techniques and tricks of their opponents within the first couple of sets.

One of the common weaknesses among most padel players is their backhand. Some of the effective ways to play on this weakness is by serving a high ball to the backhand of your opponent. Doing so can lead to one of two outcomes:

The opponent may choose to avoid moving into a position from where they can hit a forehand shot
Or, your opponent must attempt the backhand shot, likely missing out on an effective strike

Adopt the pace and place technique

Over the course of the game, you can easily understand the positioning and pace of your opponent. It becomes easier for you as a player to know the next move of your opponent, which enables you to switch your position last minute.

  • Pace – Pace switch is an underestimated technique of confusing your opponent. A last minute change in pace can determine the style of your serve. The idea of using this strategy is to confuse your opponent player. You either reduce the speed and deliver a slow serve giving room for opponent error or deliver a smash to catch them off guard.
  • Place – Imagine serving cross court, only to change your serve last second to a down the line shot. This is what a place switch or position switching is all about. Never serve your padel ball in the same direction to the same spot. Be it a volley or smash, changing your position last second can majorly throw off the focus of your opponent.

Things to know about padel tennis serve

Tire your opponents out

Although this might go both ways, actively tiring your opponent is a great tactic to have the game on your side. Getting tired during a short period of time leads to the possibility of causing errors while playing.

You can implement this strategy with practice by carefully selecting shots that would require your opponent to move around a lot.

Pick a target player

Padel is a team sport played in duos. Therefore, each player on the court brings their own experience and technique while playing. Constantly rallying towards one player builds up pressure, and can psychologically create stress on their partner player.

The whole idea about targeting a single player on the opponent side is to play with their mindset and weaken their focus there. Targeting a particular player is a tactic that most pro-level players use during major tournaments.

Strategize with your partner

Although not a direct technique, strategizing with your partner throughout the game is important. Keeping your communication flow going through the game is essential in order to perform effectively. As a team, each player identifies a certain aspect and quickly whips up a tactic which their partner must know.

No matter what strategy you develop in your mind, unless communicated with your partner, the execution of it might not be as effective as intended. Therefore, always talk and discuss your strategies and your next move as you go on with the game.

where to stand while serving in tennis

Where to stand when serving in padel tennis?

In padel, while serving, a player must serve from behind the service line. It is essential that both their feet are behind the specified service line. More importantly they must be positioned inside the center service line and a sidewall.

What’s also worth mentioning is that a player must ensure to keep both their foot positioning within the line and not on it. If a player is found stepping over the line, the serve will not be counted.

Subsequently, when the first serve is delivered the ball must go diagonally over the net to the opponent’s court. After going over the net, the ball must bounce on the service line or within the designated area (service box) to be counted in.

General padel mistakes a player must avoid

Since we are on the topic of padel serve techniques, it’s important to touch upon some of the common mistakes that most padel players make. Following are the general padel mistakes that you must avoid.

  • Striking the ball over the waist height
  • Stepping on or over the service line
  • Smash the ball too hard
  • Bouncing a padel ball with excessive force
  • Depending on the usage of hands only and no focus on leg positioning

Paddle Tennis serve tips

Paddle tennis serve tips: Perplex your opponent

We hope the above mentioned tips and tricks regarding serving a padel ball has been helpful. Perhaps, the best way for you to identify the potential in these techniques is by implementing them.

You must know that the above points are not thumb rules to follow but are tactics that have shown positive outcomes for a majority of players. To refine your playing abilities and improve your overall game, you can always come into our padel court facility and enjoy a game of padel with us.

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