How to hit a víbora: the padel overhead with side spin

Víbora vs bandeja: what actually changes

Both are overheads played from the net zone against a lob you cannot or should not smash. Both use the continental grip, a sideways body and a swing that cuts across the ball. The víbora changes four things.

If you do not yet have a reliable bandeja, learn that first. The víbora is built on the same preparation, and a player who cannot control the slower shot will not control the faster one.

When to choose the víbora

• The lob is a little short or a little low. You can get behind it with time to spare, but it is not short enough to smash from a safe position.
• It is on your forehand side. Most players can only play the víbora from the forehand side. On the backhand side the equivalent is a backhand overhead, which is a different shot.
• You are balanced. The extra wrist and pace punish any stumble. Moving back fast and late means bandeja.
• The opponents are deep. A víbora that skids low off the side glass is hardest to handle for a player already standing near the back glass.

Against a deep, high, well-placed lob, the bandeja is the right answer. The víbora is an opportunity shot, not a default.

What a good víbora looks like

1. Preparation. Sideways turn as for the bandeja, but the racket goes higher and further behind, with the racket head laid back behind the head. The non-hitting arm points at the ball.
2. Contact. Further out to the side of the body than a bandeja and a little further in front, between shoulder and head height.
3. Swing. High to low and outside to inside. The racket brushes the outside and back of the ball, and the wrist releases the racket head through contact, which is where the side spin and the extra pace come from.
4. Finish. Across the body and low, toward the opposite hip or knee. The body rotates more than on a bandeja, but the head stays still.
5. Recovery. The harder swing tends to spin you open. Plant the back foot, come back to ready and walk in.

Grip: continental

Same as the bandeja and the volleys: continental, index knuckle on the second bevel for a right-hander. A forehand grip closes the face and turns the víbora into a flat hit with no spin. Keep the grip relaxed through the take-back. A loose wrist is what lets the racket head accelerate at the end; a tight one gives you an arm swing.

How to hit a víbora, step by step

1. Turn early. Shoulders first, left shoulder to the net for a right-hander.
2. Get behind and outside the ball. Move so the ball will drop slightly in front and out to your hitting side, not over your head. That space is what gives the racket room to cut across.
3. Load high. Racket up and back, elbow at shoulder height or a little above, the racket head dropping behind you.
4. Let the ball drop to shoulder to head height. Lower than a smash, similar to a bandeja.
5. Accelerate across the outside of the ball. Elbow leads, then the forearm and wrist release so the racket face slices around the side of the ball. Think of drawing a diagonal line from high right to low left (for a right-hander).
6. Finish low across the body. Weight onto the front foot, racket toward the opposite hip or knee.
7. Recover to the net. Two steps forward, split step as the opponent hits.

Cue: peel the side of the ball. If you hit the back of it, you have played a fast bandeja.

Where to aim the víbora

The target is the side glass. Aim for the ball to bounce in the last third of the opponents' court, close to the side wall, so it meets the side glass after the bounce and skids along it low and fast. With side spin it tends to stay down and come out at an awkward angle.

• Cross-court to the side glass. The standard víbora: more court to land in and the ball moves away from the player.
• Down the line. Riskier and less common. Useful when the opponent in front of you is already leaning toward the middle.
• Not the back glass. A víbora that goes deep and straight into the back glass comes out with pace, which is exactly what the opponents want.

Common víbora mistakes and how to fix them

• Turning it into a flat smash. Plenty of pace, no spin, and the ball comes back off the back glass. Fix: contact out to the side and cut across the ball. The spin is the point, not the speed.
• All wrist, no body. The shot becomes erratic and the forearm complains. Fix: the turn and the weight transfer drive the stroke; the wrist release comes last, not first.
• Contact too close to the head. There is no room to cut across, so the ball floats. Fix: finish your footwork a little behind and outside the ball.
• Playing it off every lob. A víbora from a deep, good lob is a low-percentage shot. Fix: decide early. Short and on the forehand side is a víbora; deep or rushed is a bandeja.
• Aiming too close to the lines. The side glass is the target, but you do not need to paint it. Fix: aim a metre inside the side wall; the spin will carry it there.
• Spinning open and staying there. You end up facing the side wall with the net empty. Fix: plant the back foot through the finish and step forward straight away.

Víbora drills without a court

The víbora is a harder swing than the bandeja, so shadow reps pay off more. The whole home routine is in padel training at home; the method is in shadow swing drills.

• Bandeja then víbora, 10 pairs. The same preparation for both, then a controlled bandeja and a víbora. The difference should be contact further to the side and a looser wrist, not a different stance.
• Contact-point check, 10 reps. Slow swing, stop at contact, and look: the racket should be out to the side of your body, not above your head.
• Diagonal cue, 15 reps. Full speed, thinking only about the high-right to low-left line (for a right-hander).

The víbora uses more wrist than a bandeja, and the wrist release is exactly what ShadowSwing's hit sound listens for. So the sound is relevant here, within limits: it tells you the wrist released through the swing, not that the spin was right or that contact was out to the side. With Pro, the racket-head speed readout helps keep the two shots apart: your víbora should read faster than your bandeja and slower than your smash.

Víbora drills on court

• Side-glass target. Feeder lobs short to your forehand side. Place a towel a metre inside the side wall, in the last third of the opponents' court. Ten víboras; count the ones that bounce near the towel and skid off the glass.
• Call it late. The feeder varies lob length. Short lobs are víboras, deep ones bandejas. The decision is the skill.
• Víbora and volley. After each víbora the feeder plays a fast ball at you and you volley it from the net. It forces the recovery.
• Live points with a rule. The net pair scores double for a point won with a víbora and loses double for a víbora error. It teaches shot selection quickly.

Related guides

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