The Padel Shots Every Player Should Know (and What Each One Is For)
Padel is famously easy to start. You can walk onto a court having never held a racket, rally within minutes and finish your first hour genuinely wanting a second. That gentle learning curve is a big reason it has become the world's fastest growing sport. But the moment the ball starts coming off the glass and your opponents settle at the net, you realise the game has a language of its own, and that language is made of shots.
The good news is that you do not need dozens of them. A small handful of padel shots, understood properly, will carry you from your first social game to a confident intermediate level. Here is what each one is and when to use it.
The groundstrokes: your bread and butter
Every point starts with the basics. The forehand and backhand drive are the shots you will play most often, usually after the ball has bounced once and, very often in padel, after it has come off the back glass. The key difference from tennis is patience. In padel you rarely need to hit hard from the back of the court. A controlled, waist-height drive that lands deep and keeps your opponents pinned is worth far more than a flashy winner that sails long. Learning to let the ball drop, take it off the wall and reset the rally is one of the first real skills a newcomer picks up.
The volley: why the net is where padel is won
If there is one thing tennis players have to unlearn, it is the instinct to stay back. In padel the net is the winning position, and the volley is how you hold it. A good volley is more of a firm block than a swing: short backswing, punch through the ball, and place it into a gap or at your opponents' feet. You are not trying to end the point outright so much as keep the pressure on and force a weak reply you can put away. Master the volley and you master the half of the court where most points are decided.
The lob: the most important shot in padel
Ask any coach for the single most underrated shot and most will say the lob, or globo. When your opponents are settled at the net, a well-judged lob sends them scrambling backwards, buys you time and, crucially, lets you and your partner move forward to take the net yourselves. A great lob is not a panic shot. It is a deliberate, high, deep ball aimed over the outstretched racket and into the back corner, ideally on the backhand side. Get it right and you flip the whole point in your favour without hitting anything hard at all.
What is a bandeja in padel?
The bandeja, Spanish for "tray", is the shot that separates people who have watched a bit of padel from people who have played a lot of it. It is an overhead played when your opponents lob you, but instead of smashing, you slice through the ball at around head height and send it deep with a flatter, controlled trajectory. The swing really does look like you are carrying a tray. The point of the bandeja is not to win the rally outright but to keep your team at the net while giving your opponents an awkward, low-bouncing ball to deal with. It is a control shot at heart, which is why many players who love the net game gravitate towards a control-shaped racket that rewards touch over raw power. If you are still weighing up shapes and balances, our racket buying guide is a useful place to start.
The vibora: the bandeja's aggressive cousin
Once the bandeja feels comfortable, the vibora is the natural next step. Named after the viper for the hissing sound the spin creates, it sits somewhere between a bandeja and a full smash. You brush across the ball with more of a whipping action, adding side spin and pace so it kicks nastily off the ground or the side wall. The vibora is harder to control and takes real practice, but it turns a defensive overhead into an attacking weapon that keeps opponents on the back foot. Think of it as the bandeja with intent.
The smash and playing off the back glass
The smash is the crowd pleaser, and against a short lob it is the right choice. In padel it comes with a twist the rest of racket sport does not have: the back wall. A powerful flat smash can bounce and fly out over the glass for the point, while a spinning smash can be angled to bounce your opponent's return back off their own glass in ways that are almost impossible to retrieve. Learning to read the ball off the back wall, both when attacking and when defending your own corner, is one of the biggest jumps a beginner can make. The wall is not an obstacle in padel. It is part of the court, and treating it as an ally changes everything.
The chiquita: the clever low ball
Not every shot is about power. The chiquita is a soft, low ball played from the back of the court down towards the feet of opponents who are at the net. Faced with a ball dipping at their shoelaces, they have to volley upwards, which hands you an easier ball to attack next. It is the quiet, patient answer to a team that has taken the net, and it is a favourite of thoughtful players who would rather build a point than blast it.
How to get better at these shots
The temptation for most newcomers is to chase the smash and the vibora first, because they look the most fun. In truth, the players who improve fastest are the ones who get the boring shots right. A reliable lob, a steady volley and the discipline to reset off the glass will win far more matches than one big overhead. A few simple habits help:
- Prioritise position over power. Getting to the net and staying there wins more points than any single shot.
- Use the lob early and often while you are learning. It is low risk and it teaches you to control depth.
- Practise letting the ball come off the back wall rather than rushing it. Time bought is a shot improved.
- Add the bandeja before the vibora, and the vibora before you worry about a full attacking smash.
None of this requires expensive kit or hours of drilling. It simply asks you to think of padel as chess played at pace, where the right shot at the right moment beats the hardest shot every time. Learn the names, understand the jobs they do, and the next time you step onto the glass you will not just be hitting the ball back. You will be building points, and that is where the sport gets its hooks into you.
