Home › Puzzle › Serving from the left to a right-hander: which side of them?
Serving from the left to a right-hander: which side of them?
From the left, serve wide: the right-hander's backhand meets the side glass. It is the toughest return in padel.
You are serving from the left side to the advantage box. The returner is right-handed. Where does the serve go?
From the left, serve wide: the right-hander's backhand meets the side glass. It is the toughest return in padel.
Why
The advantage-side serve to a right-hander is the most productive serve on the court. Wide into the side glass, it arrives on the returner's backhand, low, and with the wall involved: the ball either has to be played before the glass with a stretched backhand or after it with the returner's back partly to the court. Most returns from there are lobs, and most of those lobs are short enough to attack. Servers who understand this serve wide from the left almost every time and use the body serve only as a change-up.
What this means at your level
Beginner
From the left, aim your serve at the far side glass, deep. The returner has to play a backhand off the wall.
Intermediate
A right-hander's slice curves toward the middle from this side, so hit this one flatter and start it wider, aimed to land deep and then reach the glass. A serve that hits the glass before it bounces is out.
Advanced
Against a left-hander on the advantage side, the geometry flips: wide is their forehand. The body serve becomes the default and the wide one the change-up.
Common questions
You are serving from the left side to the advantage box. The returner is right-handed. Where does the serve go?
Wide into the side glass, at the backhand. From the left, serve wide: the right-hander's backhand meets the side glass. It is the toughest return in padel. The advantage-side serve to a right-hander is the most productive serve on the court. Wide into the side glass, it arrives on the returner's backhand, low, and with the wall involved: the ball either has to be played before the glass with a stretched backhand or after it with the returner's back partly to the court. Most returns from there are lobs, and most of those lobs are short enough to attack. Servers who understand this serve wide from the left almost every time and use the body serve only as a change-up.
Why not down the middle: to the forehand, with pace?
The forehand return from the middle is the returner's best shot. Serve away from it.
What should a beginner do here?
From the left, aim your serve at the far side glass, deep. The returner has to play a backhand off the wall.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Against a left-hander on the advantage side, the geometry flips: wide is their forehand. The body serve becomes the default and the wide one the change-up.
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.
beginnerYou have served. Where do you go?
In padel you serve in order to get to the net. Serve, then go.
intermediateWhat do you do with the return of serve?
The return lob is how the receiving pair steals the net. Aim over the player who is still moving.