Groundstrokes are the most fundamental shot in most racket sports - including padel! Yet it is often overlooked and not practiced regularly to keep pace with improvements in other parts of the game. Almost all of your defending with the exception of lobs of course will be groundstrokes! Being able to defend consistently and even put a little bit of pressure from your defensive position can often be the difference between regaining the net or getting obliterated by smashes or killer volleys from your opponents.

What are groundstrokes?

The groundstrokes will be the basic shot after the ball have bounced on your side of the court. It also includes shots after the ball has hit your back glass. The return of the serve is usually a ground stroke.

As many other shots we have both forehand and backhand groundstrokes in padel. The technical preparation and execution are different but does have some similarities, like;

• Should be compact
• Early preparation is key
• Sideways body positioning if you have time
• Should mostly be hit flat but slice and topspin variations are possible

Benefits of a solid padel groundstroke

The quality of your groundstrokes makes a huge difference in your padel game. As mentioned the groundstrokes are most essential in the defending position at the back of the court. The quality the balls you return to your attacking opponents will be the difference on whether they struggle to maintain their net position and whether they can easily keep attacking you until you get crushed.

If you can consistently return balls fairly low over the net with a good pace and variations in both pace and placements, you will sooner or later make your opponents produce a bad volley which will let you easily play a good lob over them. This is however not guaranteed on the first attempts, you need to be patient about it. This is where consistency comes in. By practicing regularly you will increase your confidence in the shot which results in fewer mistakes and unforced errors. You can then comfortably play groundstrokes 4, 5, 10, 20 times in a row and be patient for that one bad volley that will give you the edge to play a lob and get the net position.

How can I practice my groundstrokes?

I would say that the first thing every new padel player should do with groundstrokes is to take a few coaching lessons! Let a good coach direct you in the correct technique in performing the shot, both backhand and forehand. This give you a much better foundation for further practicing your groundstrokes.

Once you have a decent understanding of the technique it is time to find a partner you can book a practice court with and start practicing. Something as simple as just both players standing in the back of the court and playing groundstrokes to each other for 5-20 minutes can be great in improving your confidence in the shot and reduce your unforced groundstroke errors during a game.

You can also mix it up and start the session by hitting softly, aiming at the ball bouncing before the service line on the other side of the court. Do this for 5-10 minutes then switch to hit a bit harder and now make it bounce behind the service line (closer to the glass on the other side). This second approach with the longer shots will also improve your groundstrokes after the glass, since it makes sense to let the ball come off the glass when it is that deep.

Repetition is key here - if you have hit thousands of groundstrokes in practice with good technique there is a good chance that you will make less unforced errors during games as well. And as we all know, the opponents missing an easy shot is just as much a won point as hitting an amazing smash. Being consistently good at getting the ball in from your defensive position will win you many points over time.

What about spin? Slice? Topspin?

A lot of players coming from tennis absolutely love putting power and topspin into their padel groundstrokes, but this is a mistake once you get past very beginner level. The main reason is that hard topspin shots will bounce high of the back glass and are usually very easy to deal with, even giving your opponents a chance at moving towards the net position of the court.

In general, the most important to learn for a beginner in groundstrokes are hitting flat with good technique. From there you have some options available.

Topspin groundstrokes

Groundstrokes with topspin are actually more useful in softer shots rather than harder shots in padel. The reason for this is that the topspin will make the ball "dip down" in trajectory. You can utilize this to make it harder for your opponents at the net because they will have to perform their volleys from a lower position height wise. As many are aware, the higher a ball comes over the net the easier it is for the attacking net players to attack that ball, with a smash, changletazo or a hard power volley. The lower you can make them perform their volley, optimally even below net height, the harder for them it is to give you a troublesome ball back.

Slice groundstrokes

Slice groundstrokes also has its benefits, primarily being that it will bounce low after the glass on the opponent side after the bounce. So if you are able to pass them with your slicey groundstroke you reduce the chance of them being able to return the ball after their back glass because it will bounce down instead of up.

One of the main rules many coaches like to give is that you should only hit a slice groundstroke if you can hit the ball from up to down and still get it over the net. This means that you should only use slice if you receive a high ball, for example after a high bounce on your side, or a high bounce after the back glass.