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Third set, legs tired. Do you keep smashing?
Tired legs, fewer smashes. Hold the net with the bandeja and save the smash for the easy ones.
It is the deciding set and your legs are heavy. Your smash has been landing shorter and coming back more often. What is the adjustment?
Tired legs, fewer smashes. Hold the net with the bandeja and save the smash for the easy ones.
Why
The jumping smash depends on the legs: they provide the height that lets you hit down, and when they tire the contact point drops, the ball goes into the glass at a playable height and comes back. Experienced players notice this before the opponents do and change the ratio: more bandejas to hold the net, and the smash only on the short lob that does not need a jump. It is also why fitness is a padel skill rather than an accessory; the player whose legs last hits more winners in the third set simply because the smash still works.
What this means at your level
Beginner
When you are tired, hit safer overheads. A deep bandeja that keeps the point going beats a smash that comes back.
Intermediate
Notice the sign: smashes that used to go out are coming back off the glass. That is your legs telling you to bandeja.
Advanced
Manage the legs earlier: shorter points on your serve in the second set, fewer sprints for lost causes. The third-set smash is paid for in the second.
Common questions
It is the deciding set and your legs are heavy. Your smash has been landing shorter and coming back more often. What is the adjustment?
Smash less, bandeja more. Tired legs, fewer smashes. Hold the net with the bandeja and save the smash for the easy ones. The jumping smash depends on the legs: they provide the height that lets you hit down, and when they tire the contact point drops, the ball goes into the glass at a playable height and comes back. Experienced players notice this before the opponents do and change the ratio: more bandejas to hold the net, and the smash only on the short lob that does not need a jump. It is also why fitness is a padel skill rather than an accessory; the player whose legs last hits more winners in the third set simply because the smash still works.
Why not smash harder, to end the points before the legs go?
Harder with tired legs means lower contact and more errors. The problem is the legs, not the arm.
What should a beginner do here?
When you are tired, hit safer overheads. A deep bandeja that keeps the point going beats a smash that comes back.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Manage the legs earlier: shorter points on your serve in the second set, fewer sprints for lost causes. The third-set smash is paid for in the second.
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.
intermediateShort, high and yours. Bandeja or smash?
Deep ball, bandeja. Short ball with your weight going forward, smash.
intermediateYou are hitting a bandeja. Cross-court or down the line?
Bandeja cross-court and deep by default. It buys margin, and it keeps you covered while you recover.