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Every return goes cross-court at you as you run in. Fix it from the serve.
Australian: partner starts on the server's half and takes the cross-court return in balance; the server crosses to cover the line.
You serve from the right and every return, lob or drive, goes cross-court, over you or at your feet while you are still moving in. Your partner never touches a ball. What formation change addresses it?
Australian: partner starts on the server's half and takes the cross-court return in balance; the server crosses to cover the line.
Why
The Australian formation puts the server's partner on the same half as the server, at the net, before the serve. The server serves and crosses to the other half. The returner's habitual cross-court return, the lob over the running server, the drive at their feet, now lands in front of a player who is already set at the net, and the returner is pushed toward the down-the-line return: a smaller target, over the higher part of the net, with the side glass in play. It costs the server a longer run and needs a serve deep enough to buy the time, so it is a tactic for a few games, not a default.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Not one for now. Learn the standard formation until the serve-and-move is automatic, then experiment.
Intermediate
Try it for two service games when a returner is beating one specific pattern. If it breaks the pattern, keep it; if it costs you serves, drop it.
Advanced
Signal it to your partner before the serve so they know which way you are crossing. The serve should be wide to give you time; a serve to the body is too fast for the crossover.
Common questions
You serve from the right and every return, lob or drive, goes cross-court, over you or at your feet while you are still moving in. Your partner never touches a ball. What formation change addresses it?
Partner on the server's side; server crosses after serving. Australian: partner starts on the server's half and takes the cross-court return in balance; the server crosses to cover the line. The Australian formation puts the server's partner on the same half as the server, at the net, before the serve. The server serves and crosses to the other half. The returner's habitual cross-court return, the lob over the running server, the drive at their feet, now lands in front of a player who is already set at the net, and the returner is pushed toward the down-the-line return: a smaller target, over the higher part of the net, with the side glass in play. It costs the server a longer run and needs a serve deep enough to buy the time, so it is a tactic for a few games, not a default.
Why not have your partner stand deeper?
A deeper partner is still on the other half of the court, and the cross-court return is still landing on yours. You need to change which player the return reaches.
What should a beginner do here?
Not one for now. Learn the standard formation until the serve-and-move is automatic, then experiment.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Signal it to your partner before the serve so they know which way you are crossing. The serve should be wide to give you time; a serve to the body is too fast for the crossover.
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.
beginnerYou have served. Where do you go?
In padel you serve in order to get to the net. Serve, then go.