With the pounding of tennis balls and the popping of champagne corks resounding on the hallowed turf of SW19, Wimbledon has captivated us, and we thought it was time to share something useful for tennis players who have tried or want to try padel Best time to suggest.
While the similarities between lawn tennis and padel sports are obvious, the differences that make the transition from the former to the latter tricky can be more subtle. We turned to one of the most respected coaches for critical guidance to help tennis players make a smooth transition into padel heaven.
Karen Hazzard is a professional cricketer, cricket and tennis coach. A graduate of the Padel MBA CPC course, she runs the Game4Padel Instructor Program at Brighton’s Withdean Sports Complex (currently running at 90-100% capacity with an eye-popping 1200 registered players).
Karen is a busy lady who also represents the LTA as a paddle tennis coach at historic venues such as the Queen’s Club and Hurlingham Club and the National Tennis Centre, and still finds time to play for the UK women’s national paddle tennis team .
While Karen coaches cricket at some of the most prestigious venues in the UK, she has also represented Sussex County in tennis and continues to coach tennis at an elite level.
Without further ado, here are Karen’s five key points for a seamless transition from tennis to cricket:
1: Grip:
“It’s very important for players to have a continental grip. Transitioners can continue to use the tennis grip, which is the western forehand grip, so they tend to swing the ball with topspin and it hits the ball far. Obviously, a cricket pitch is better than a tennis grip. The pitch is short, so grip is very important.”
2: Slow down:
“Padel is a slower sport than tennis – so slowing down is fine. Strength is not always rewarded in padel. A more accomplished player in this regard will use the wall to hit back With a heavier ball, they’ll find it easy to do that. Players will benefit tremendously by using less power on the court, getting into a rhythm and adding more consistency.”
3: Place above power:
“It starts with the last point, I would advise players to try to put the ball in the corners, the middle and the sides and keep the opponent moving. Again, if you’re a tennis player transitioning to cricket, if you use topspin, The ball might go far or bounce off the wall, and you really want your opponent to turn around.”
4: Working and moving together:
“As a pair, it’s important that you go forward and back together. In tennis you can obviously do one up and one back, and that works for tennis, but in paddle tennis, if you do Do, it leaves a gap in the middle of the diagonal on your side. That means the opponent just has to hit a nice low fastball, and then you don’t have any hope of getting it. So go forward as a pair and It’s important to step back and make sure you communicate.”
5: Longer assemblies:
“It’s important that you get used to having longer stand-offs in the points. In tennis we can finish the points early and beautifully and if you come to the net then you want to win that with two or three balls. Points. In padel, you can spend some time in front of the net trying to put pressure on your opponent, it is important not to chase victory prematurely.
“Tactically, the best thing you can do is stay at the net with your partner and try to maintain that position – you’ll find that’s the most effective way to put pressure on your opponent.”
When it comes to the differences in coaching the two sports, Karen concluded: “Tennis and paddle tennis are very different technically and tactically, and from a physical standpoint, paddle tennis is also played on a smaller surface, which obviously affects a lot of things. Both have an impact.
“Because padel is so young in England, I’m teaching a lot of new players, whereas in tennis I might have a junior player and I might have to work with them for an hour before they play a junior game.
“As a manager, I just love to see the players improve – no matter my age, I just want the players to improve and I will try to make sure I achieve that in any way possible.”
All of this begs the question: does anyone like padel?
