The coach looks at the defensive smash in padel tennis. When using a defensive smash, the player can strike the ball at a higher or deeper lob and from a distance to guide it into corners with a sliced or flat shot. If a player has to reach back to make contact because the ball went over their head, there are two major issues.
As their body weight initially moves away from the neck posture, recovery becomes more challenging. Secondly, adding a slice or a flat ball is difficult when touching from behind. This may result in a topspin shot that gives the opposition a chance to attack the ball since it may bounce up for them before they hit the glass or strike the glass and come up.
The instructor instructs the players to assess their ability to hit a smash and recover net position prior to finishing one. If that isn’t the case, it’s advisable to let the ball bounce off the glass, then use lob shots from behind to attack it before moving up the court again.
