Sandy Farquharson, a former tennis player, explains why tennis players struggle with padel: they rely on power and quick points instead of placement and control. Padel rallies swing between attack and defense, forcing constant repositioning. The hardest shift is resisting the urge to smash and learning to manage space and adrenaline instead.
Chapters
So that's at the back of the court. When players come forward, if you're from tennis, the temptation is to try and hit past your opponent. So you use power, you hit aggressive volleys and smashes, and if you've hit a smash on a padel court, it makes a really nice sound and it can feel very satisfying when you hit it. But the majority of points in padel are won through placement and control, trying to find the spaces and force your opponent into a difficult situation at the back of the court. One of the hardest things for me to change as an ex-tennis player coming to the padel court was the, the flow and the instinct within the point. In tennis, you try and set up the point from the back of the court. You hit aggressive shots, you wait for a short ball, you're aggressive, you come to net, and probably the point ends there with a volley or with a smash, or maybe a lob or passing shot. But either way, one or two shots. In padel, the points can last so much longer and you come forward to net and they maybe lob you, you go back and forward again, back, and so you have to constantly get this idea of being in attack in a point and defense and not let the adrenaline of the point and you trying to finish affect your next shots. So you've just got to get used to and be comfortable with the flow that you might attack and the next second you could be defending again.
