Padel can get expensive. Here's a cheap way to practice.

Playing padel can (often)  get expensive, especially if you're playing more than twice a week. Those court bookings don't come cheap. While a tennis court isn’t a perfect substitute for a padel court, visiting the local tennis club down the road could be a great way to improve your padel while not burning through your cash.

1. Practice your donkey-drop

Use the service box on the tennis court to practice your serve. The height of a tennis net is only slightly higher than a padel net, but if you're reading this then it probably won't make such a difference.

Pro tip: Place targets or markers on the other side of the net when practicing serves to help with accuracy. The length of the service box in padel is 6.95m long on either side of the net.

2. Groundstrokes & Volleys

Use the baseline to practice forehand and backhand groundstrokes. Ideally, teaming up and practicing with a buddy is a great idea to test your volleys and reaction time near the net.

3. Lob Shots

Having a quality lob shot in your arsenal is often underrated. In high pressure games, it gives you and your partner the opportunity to hit the 'reset' button with your court positioning when playing against tough opponents. The length of a padel court is 20m long (10m on either side), so measuring this out with a cone / target is important to ensure that you're emulating a padel court.

4. Smashes & Overheads

Whether you're using padel or tennis balls to practice your smashes, you'll notice the difference it makes to your game. To emulate game scenarios, get your friend to throw some balls up and aim them at targets.

Summary

I overheard a coach mention to one of his students that practicing your smashes & volleys with one large bucket of balls for 1 hour is the equivalent of playing 7 games of padel. Do I believe it? Not sure, but there is definitely some truth in it, and it makes for a good story.

Cheers,

🎾 The No Strings Team