How to lob in padel: the globo that takes the net back

Why the lob is the most important shot in padel

The net pair has the easier game: shorter distances, balls to hit down on, and the other side forced to defend. A drive past them is hard on a narrow court with walls, and a chiquita keeps them busy but leaves them at the net. The lob is the one shot that moves them. After a good lob the opponents are behind their service line, playing an overhead or a ball off their back glass, and you and your partner are walking forward to take the net.

Club players lob too little and too short. Professional matches are full of lobs, often several in a row, because the pair that is better at lobbing and dealing with lobs usually wins. If you only improve one shot from the back of the court, make it this one.

Defensive lob vs attacking lob

• Defensive lob. Played when you are under pressure, often from a ball off the back glass. High and deep, with the aim of buying time and landing near the opponents' back glass. The height matters more than the pace.
• Attacking lob. Played when the opponents are close to the net, usually from a comfortable ball in front of you. Lower and quicker, just out of their reach, so they have to turn and chase. It is a riskier shot and needs disguise: prepare as if you were going to hit a chiquita or a drive, then open the face.

Both land deep. The difference is the trajectory and how much time they give the opponents.

What a good lob looks like

1. Preparation. Sideways turn and a compact take-back, the same as for any groundstroke. Knees bent.
2. Contact. In front of the body, below the ball, with an open racket face.
3. Swing. Low to high, slow and smooth. The legs straighten through contact and lift the ball; the arm guides it.
4. Finish. High, the racket pointing up toward the target, held for a moment.
5. Recovery. Watch the ball. If it is deep, move forward with your partner to take the net. If it is short, get ready to defend.

Grip: continental

Most padel players lob with the continental grip, the same as their volleys and bandeja. It opens the face easily on both sides and does not give away the lob with a grip change. Some players use a slightly more eastern grip on the forehand for drives; if you do, keep it for the lob too, and open the face with the wrist rather than changing grip.

How to lob in padel, step by step

1. Get sideways early. A lob played facing the net has no control.
2. Bend the knees. Get low so you can get under the ball. Most short lobs come from standing up straight.
3. Open the face. Tilted back so the strings face up and forward. How open depends on how high you want the ball.
4. Swing low to high. Slowly. The racket passes under the ball, from below knee height to above the shoulder.
5. Lift with the legs. Straighten the knees through contact. This gives height without the arm having to jerk.
6. Hold the finish. Racket up, pointing where you want the ball to land, for one second.
7. Move forward. On a good lob, both of you go to the net.

Cue: lift with the legs, not the arm. If your shoulders jump at contact, the ball will be short.

Where to aim a lob

• Deep. Land it in the last two metres before the back glass. Short lobs are the most common lob mistake at club level.
• Over the backhand side. Aim over the shoulder where the net player would have to play a backhand overhead, which few club players can attack from. Against two right-handers, the corner behind the left-hand player's backhand is the classic target.
• Cross-court when in doubt. The diagonal gives more court to land in and the ball passes over the lower middle part of the net.
• Over the weaker smasher. Most pairs have one. Find them early.
• High enough. A lob that an opponent can reach while standing still will be smashed. Aim to clear their racket with room to spare.

Common lob mistakes and how to fix them

• Short lobs. The ball lands around the service line and gets smashed. Fix: aim for the back glass area, not the opponents, and use more legs.
• Arm-only lobs. Jerky and inconsistent. Fix: bend the knees and let the legs lift the ball.
• Face too closed. The ball goes low and fast into the net player's volley. Fix: open the face more than feels natural and keep it open through the finish.
• Too much pace. The ball goes out or hits the back glass on the full. Fix: slow the swing down. Height and depth win the point; speed just gets it smashed.
• No follow-up. A great lob wasted by staying at the back. Fix: if the lob is deep, move forward with your partner immediately.
• Always the same lob. The opponents stand back and wait. Fix: mix lobs with chiquitas so they cannot sit deep.

Lob drills without a court

The lob is a touch shot, so home drills are about the shape and the legs rather than the power. The full home session is in padel training at home, and the method is in shadow swing drills.

• Shadow lobs with a step back, 10 each side. Step back as if the ball were deep, turn, bend, lift, hold the finish for a second.
• Leg lift check, 10 reps. Swing from a deep squat to standing. If the racket arrives before the legs straighten, you are lobbing with the arm.
• Lob to a target. Where there is space, toss a foam ball against a wall and lob it into a laundry basket a few metres away. Low-tech, and good for the feel of depth.

A good lob is slow and soft, not a wrist whip, so a hit sound built for the whip is not the judge of it. What an app can give you is structure: a coach calling the lob, counting the reps and pacing them, so you do fifty lobs instead of five.

Lob drills on court

• Back glass target. Feeder at the net plays balls to you at the back. Lay a towel two metres from the opposite back glass. Twenty lobs, count the ones landing past the towel.
• Lob and take the net. After every deep lob, you and your partner run to the net. The feeder plays a bandeja and you must volley from the net.
• Lob off the glass. Feeder hits balls into your back glass. You play every one as a lob. This is the shot you will play most often in matches (see how to play off the back glass).
• Lob against bandeja. One pair lobs only, the other plays only bandejas and volleys. Play to eleven, then swap.

Related guides

• How to play off the back glass
• How to hit a bandeja
• Padel smash: flat, por tres and por cuatro
• How to volley in padel
• Padel training at home: drills without a court