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You have served. Where do you go?
In padel you serve in order to get to the net. Serve, then go.
You have just hit your serve into the box. What is the very next thing you do?
In padel you serve in order to get to the net. Serve, then go.
Why
The padel serve is underarm and slow, so it cannot hurt anybody. What it can do is start the point with you and your partner already moving forward. The serving pair are the ones who should end up at the net, and that only happens if you follow the ball in and split-step as they strike the return. Standing back after serving hands your one guaranteed advantage straight back.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Serve, then take four or five steps in and stop with your feet apart as they hit the return. Do not run right up to the tape: about two metres from the net is home.
Intermediate
Serve down the T or into the body and your closing run is short and central. Serve wide and you have more court to cover on the way in, so pick your moment for it.
Advanced
Read the return as you close. If the returner is set up under the ball with an open face, stop and split early. The lob is coming, and being caught mid-stride is what turns a good serve into a defensive point.
Common questions
You have just hit your serve into the box. What is the very next thing you do?
Move straight in to the net. In padel you serve in order to get to the net. Serve, then go. The padel serve is underarm and slow, so it cannot hurt anybody. What it can do is start the point with you and your partner already moving forward. The serving pair are the ones who should end up at the net, and that only happens if you follow the ball in and split-step as they strike the return. Standing back after serving hands your one guaranteed advantage straight back.
Why not take one step in and wait on the service line?
The service line is the worst place on court: too deep to volley, too shallow to defend the lob.
What should a beginner do here?
Serve, then take four or five steps in and stop with your feet apart as they hit the return. Do not run right up to the tape: about two metres from the net is home.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Read the return as you close. If the returner is set up under the ball with an open face, stop and split early. The lob is coming, and being caught mid-stride is what turns a good serve into a defensive point.
What do the rules say?
The serve must be hit underarm, after bouncing the ball on the floor, with contact at or below waist height, and it must land in the diagonal service box.
Puzzles like this one
Both of them are at the net. What is the highest-percentage ball?
Only the lob moves a net pair backwards. Everything else invites them forward.
intermediateYour partner got pulled wide. Where do you stand?
The pair moves like one body. When your partner is pulled wide, you take the middle.
advancedThey are camped at the net and you cannot lob. What now?
If you cannot lift it over them, make them lift it for you. The chiquita is a slow ball at their feet.