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Your racket crosses the net on the follow-through of a volley. Legal?
Hit on your side, follow through over the net: legal, as long as the racket touches nothing.
You volley a ball on your side, and the racket passes above the net into their airspace on the follow-through without touching anything. Is the point good?
Hit on your side, follow through over the net: legal, as long as the racket touches nothing.
Why
What matters is where the ball is when you strike it, not where the racket ends up. If contact is made on your side of the net, the racket may continue over into the opponents' airspace on the follow-through, provided it does not touch the net, the posts or their court. The point is lost if you strike the ball before it has crossed to your side, or if the racket touches the net at any point during the shot. Close volleys are legal far more often than nervous opponents claim.
What this means at your level
Beginner
You will not be close enough to the net for this to come up. Stay two metres back and volley forward.
Intermediate
On a ball that dies on the tape, contact just on your side is fine: do not stop short out of fear of the rule. Just do not touch the net.
Advanced
The ball that spins back over is the only case where you may strike on their side. For everything else, wait for it to cross, and let the follow-through go where it goes.
Common questions
You volley a ball on your side, and the racket passes above the net into their airspace on the follow-through without touching anything. Is the point good?
Yes, if contact was on your side and you touched nothing. Hit on your side, follow through over the net: legal, as long as the racket touches nothing. What matters is where the ball is when you strike it, not where the racket ends up. If contact is made on your side of the net, the racket may continue over into the opponents' airspace on the follow-through, provided it does not touch the net, the posts or their court. The point is lost if you strike the ball before it has crossed to your side, or if the racket touches the net at any point during the shot. Close volleys are legal far more often than nervous opponents claim.
Why not no: the racket may never cross the net?
The racket may cross on the follow-through. What it may not do is strike the ball on their side or touch the net.
What should a beginner do here?
You will not be close enough to the net for this to come up. Stay two metres back and volley forward.
How does this change for an advanced player?
The ball that spins back over is the only case where you may strike on their side. For everything else, wait for it to cross, and let the follow-through go where it goes.
What do the rules say?
The racket may pass over the net on the follow-through after the ball has been struck on the player's own side, provided the net and posts are not touched.
Puzzles like this one
They lobbed you deep. Smash it or play the bandeja?
Deep ball, high hands: bandeja. The shot exists to keep you at the net, not to win the point.
beginnerThe ball is at your feet at the net. What now?
A ball below the net cannot be attacked. Block it deep and wait for one above the tape.
beginnerCan you volley the return of serve?
The return of serve must bounce. It is the one ball in padel you are not allowed to volley.