Guides
Guides for every shot
How to hit every shot in tennis, padel and pickleball, the mistakes that stop it working, and the drills that fix them, on court and at home.
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New to the sport
Tennis
Tennis rules for beginners: scoring, serving and the court
Tennis has simple rules and one strange scoring system.
Padel
How to play padel: rules, scoring and the court
Padel is doubles tennis in a glass box, with the walls in play and an underhand serve.
Pickleball
How to play pickleball: rules, scoring and the court
Pickleball takes about ten minutes to learn, and most of that is three things: the kitchen, the two-bounce rule and the score call.
Practice without a court
Padel
Padel training at home: drills without a court
Shadow swings for every stroke, wall volleys, hallway footwork, reaction work and a 20-minute plan.
Padel
Shadow padel: drills and footwork for every shot
Bandeja, víbora, smash and volley routines with reps and timing, the overhead footwork sequence and a 12-minute session.
Tennis
Shadow swings: drills for every stroke, and whether they work
What a shadow swing is, drills for every stroke with a coach's cue, whether shadow swings work, and how to tell a good one.
Tennis
How to increase racket-head speed in tennis, and how to measure it
The mechanics behind head speed, drills that build it, and five ways to measure it, from lab capture to a phone swing trainer.
Tennis
Tennis practice at home (no court)
Shadow swings, wall hitting, corridor footwork, serve drills, a fitness circuit and a 20-minute plan.
Tennis
Tennis footwork drills at home: no court, small space
Split step, shuffle and recovery drills sorted by space: one spot, a corridor or a garage, with tape, cones and a 12-minute session.
Tennis
Tennis homework for students: a coach's guide to home swing practice
How coaches assign shadow-swing practice between lessons: one stroke, one cue, 10 minutes, templates by level, a 4-week plan and how to check it.
Tennis
How to practice tennis alone, without a partner
Serve baskets, wall rallies, drop-fed groundstrokes, shadow swings and a weekly plan when nobody is free to hit.
Tennis, padel and pickleball
Do you need a camera to practice your swing at home?
Camera analysis shows the shape of a stroke; a phone held like the racket feels its speed. What each is good at, and how to use both.
Tennis
The best tennis apps in 2026: an honest comparison
Best tennis app for match stats, technique feedback, lessons, Apple Watch or home practice: 7 apps compared by what they measure, platforms and price.
Tennis
Is there a SwingVision for Android? Tennis training apps that work on Android in 2026
UNFORCE, AceCue, Spintip, TennisCut, Tennis AI and ShadowSwing: what each measures on Android, and the listed price.
Padel
Best padel training apps in 2026: an honest comparison
Padel AI, Linceya, Padelize, SwingVision and ShadowSwing, by what each measures, what you need and the listed price.
Pickleball
Best pickleball training apps in 2026: an honest comparison
Camera and AI apps, drill libraries and a home swing trainer, compared: what each does, what it needs and what it costs.
Tennis, padel and pickleball
Tennis swing trainer vs app: Dragonet, SLAP FLAP, magnetic sticks and ShadowSwing
Dragonet Swing, SLAP FLAP and magnetic trainers next to the ShadowSwing app: prices, feedback, and who should buy what.
Tennis, padel and pickleball
Daily tennis practice at home: how to build the habit
A goal you will actually hit, a 10-minute routine, a focus for each day of the week, and what to do when you miss a day.
Pickleball
Pickleball practice at home: drills without a court
Shadow dinks, drops and drives, wall volleys, kitchen-line footwork, reaction work and a 20-minute plan.
Tennis shots
Tennis
How to get a good tennis swing: the six fundamentals every stroke shares
Six fundamentals every stroke shares: balance, an early turn, contact in front, a loose arm, the path and the finish.
Tennis
Tennis strokes explained: the basic shots and when to use them
What each basic stroke is, when you use it and one cue to practice, from forehand to overhead.
Tennis
How to serve in tennis: first serve and second serve
The serve is the one shot in tennis nobody else gets a say in. A good one starts the point on your terms, and a bad one hands it over before the rally exists.
Tennis
How to hit a tennis forehand: the swing, the grip and beginner drills
How to hit a tennis forehand: grip, unit turn, lag and whip, contact, common mistakes, and forehand drills for beginners from shadow swings to the wall.
Tennis
How to hit a backhand: one-handed and two-handed
The backhand is the side your opponent will pick on, so it has to hold up under a steady diet of balls.
Tennis
How to volley in tennis
The volley is how you finish points you have already built, and how you take time away from someone who likes to rally.
Tennis
How to hit an overhead smash
The overhead smash is the reward for good net play: a lob that did not go high or deep enough, and a chance to end the point.
Tennis
How to hit a slice: backhand and forehand
The slice is the shot that buys you time on defense, stays low on an approach and breaks up a rhythm your opponent likes.
Padel shots
Padel
How to hit a bandeja: the padel overhead that keeps the net
The bandeja is the overhead you play when a lob has pushed you back from the net and a smash would be a gamble.
Padel
How to hit a víbora: the padel overhead with side spin
The víbora (Spanish for viper) is the aggressive relative of the bandeja: an overhead with more side spin and more pace, hit so the ball skids into the side glass and stays low.
Padel
Padel smash: flat, por tres and por cuatro
The smash (the remate) is the shot everyone watches in padel highlights and the one club players lose the most points with.
Padel
How to volley in padel: short, firm and deep
The pair at the net wins most padel points, and the volley is how you stay there.
Padel
How to lob in padel: the globo that takes the net back
In padel the pair at the net is in charge, and the lob (the globo) is the main way to take the net off them.
Padel
How to play off the back glass in padel (salida de pared)
The back glass is the thing that makes padel padel, and the shot that beginners fear most.
Pickleball shots
Pickleball
How to serve in pickleball: rules, technique and drills
The pickleball serve is not the weapon it is in tennis. It is hit underhand, the returner lets it bounce, and aces are rare.
Pickleball
How to dink in pickleball
A dink is a soft shot from the kitchen line that lands in your opponent's kitchen.
Pickleball
The third shot drop: how to hit it, and when to drive instead
The third shot is the serving team's first chance to play after the two-bounce rule, and by then the returners are usually at the kitchen line while you are still at the baseline.
Pickleball
How to hit a drive in pickleball: forehand and backhand
The drive is the hard, low shot in pickleball: hit from the baseline or midcourt, with pace and usually topspin, to push the opponents back, force a weak volley, or put away a ball that sat up.
Pickleball
How to volley in pickleball
A volley is any ball you hit before it bounces, and in pickleball most of them happen at the kitchen line, fast and at close range.
Pickleball
How to reset in pickleball
A reset is a soft shot that takes a fast ball and lands it in your opponents' kitchen, turning their attack back into a dink rally.
Pickleball
Pickleball backhand: one or two hands, grips and drills
One hand or two, which grip, a cue for each shot, and backhand drills you can do alone with shadow swings and a wall.