The five padel shots that actually matter

Padel rewards patience over power. The players who win at club level are not the ones who hit hardest — they are the ones who never miss the easy shot. Here are the five to learn, roughly in the order you should learn them.

1. The volley

The most important shot in padel, because the net is where points are won. Keep the racket in front of you, use a short punch rather than a swing, and aim low and deep rather than hard.

The single biggest fix for most players: stop swinging. A volley is a block. If your racket goes behind your shoulder, the ball is already gone.

2. The bandeja

The signature shot of padel, and the one that separates beginners from everyone else. It is a controlled, sliced overhead played at about head height, used to answer a lob without giving up the net.

• Turn sideways early and move under the ball.
• Contact at head height or slightly above, never fully stretched.
• Slice through the ball — the aim is depth and low bounce, not speed.
• Land moving forwards, so you keep your position at the net.

3. The lob

The most underrated shot in the game. A good lob pushes the net pair back and lets you take the net yourself. Aim for depth over height, and go up the middle when in doubt — it creates confusion between the two opponents.

4. Playing off the wall

The skill that makes padel padel. The instinct is to hit the ball before it reaches the glass. Fight it. Let the ball pass you, move with it, wait for it to come off the wall and then hit it with a simple, low swing.

Practise this alone. Stand at the back, throw the ball into the glass, and hit it back. Twenty minutes of that will do more for your game than a month of hitting harder.

5. The smash

Learn this last. It looks the best and wins the fewest points at club level. When you do use it, aim for the side glass or straight down at the opponents' feet, and only when you have time to set up properly.

The one habit worth more than any shot

Move as a pair. If your partner goes forwards, you go forwards. If they get lobbed, you drop back with them. Two players moving as one beat two better players moving independently, every single time. There is more on that in padel positioning and strategy.