Sandy FarquharsonFounder at The Padel School | Elevating Padel Players' Performance

Want to finish more points? Start anticipating. 🎾

3 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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1:09

In this coaching clip, Sandy Farquharson emphasizes the importance of anticipating an opponent’s next shot by closely observing their body and racket position. He explains how cues such as the height of the ball, racket angle, and body weight distribution can indicate whether the opponent will hit a lob, a higher shot, or a low aggressive ball. Farquharson stresses that anticipation should be paired with immediate planning of where to place your own shot, especially by exploiting any space you have created on the court. Rather than waiting for the opponent to reset after a middle‑court shot, he advises players to hit straight into the newly opened corner, applying pressure and increasing the chance of finishing the point.

Chapters

Tip number 2 is anticipate what is going to come next. If you were to pause the screen and you see them in that position, could you tell by their body position and their racket position what shot they're going to hit next? And that is what we've got to start doing. We've got to start anticipating or estimating what shot is going to come next so you can already start preparing for that. If they are going below the height of the ball and they look like they're going to swing up to it, probably it's going to be a lob or a higher shot. If the racket's a bit closed, their body weight is back, and they're scrabbling for it, then maybe it's a lower ball that you might be able to come forward and be more aggressive. Part of this anticipation is also planning where you are going to hit that next ball. And if you've created space, use the space. So you've hit a lovely shot down the middle, you've created the space in the corner, now use that space that you have created. I so often see players just playing lots of balls down the middle and then waiting for their opponents to reset themselves back in the corner and then hit to the corner. Do it straight away. You've created the space and then apply pressure by hitting the ball into that space.