Playing the glass
Let the ball bounce, then play the rebound in front of you.
Bands 2 to 5, 6 min read, Reviewed October 2026
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Floor first, then glass. You can only use the walls after the ball has bounced once on the ground. A ball that hits the glass before the floor is out. See the rules.
The glass is part of the court, and it is on your side. After the ball bounces once on the floor, you may play it off the back or side glass. A ball that flies past you is a second chance. Let it pass, wait for it to come off the glass, then step forward and play a calm, high, deep reset.
Using the back glass
In tennis, a ball past you is a lost point. In padel, a ball past you is a reset waiting to happen. The back wall slows the ball down and hands you a controllable shot, easier than a rushed half-volley. Trust the glass and let it work for you.
This is the most-hit shot of your first year. Opponents lob you, the ball bounces behind your service line, and you track it to the wall.
- Decide early. The moment you read a deep ball, commit: that is a wall ball.
- Drop-step, don't backpedal. Pivot on your outside foot and open your hips towards the back glass. Backpedalling loses your balance and your sight of the ball.
- Get behind the bounce. Move to about a racket's length back from where you think the ball will come off the glass, so it comes to you.
- Racket back early. Prepare before the ball reaches the wall.
- Let it pass, then step in. Wait for the ball to rebound off the glass and step forward into it, contact out in front, weight moving towards the net.
You hit the ball as it travels back towards you off the wall, never as it heads into the wall. If you play it into the glass yourself, it flies back behind you.
Default wall-defence position is about one step (about 1 metre) off the back glass.
- Flat against the wall and you get jammed, with no room to swing.
- Up on the service line and the ball dies before you reach it.
- One step off is the middle ground. Step back to receive, and step forward if it drops short.
From the back glass, don't try to win the point. Lift the ball back high and deep, usually cross-court, and reset. Climb back to the net with your partner. There is no baseline behind you. The back glass is the end of the court.
| Use the wall when | Take it before the wall when |
|---|---|
| The ball is deep, past your comfortable zone | You can hit it comfortably in your hitting zone |
| You are stretched or off-balance, and the wall buys time | The ball is slow, so set up an attack instead |
| Slice or backspin will die into the glass | Opponents are out of position, so keep the pressure on |
| A lob goes over you at the net — retreat and use it | — |
Side glass and corners
If you can already wait on the back glass, the next step is the side glass and the corner double wall. The side wall does not kill the ball. It opens the angle. Corners look chaotic because the ball can hit side then back, or back then side, and each path leaves a different ball. Turn sideways, give the ball room, let it come to you, then play a calm reset, or leave a ball that is dying out.
The same rule applies: floor first, then glass. You play the rebound after one bounce on the ground.
Treat the side glass like a mirror. The incoming angle roughly equals the outgoing angle.
- Shallow into the side: the ball barely turns and keeps running along a similar line. Stay patient. Do not lunge wide.
- Steep into the side: the ball opens hard towards the middle of your half. That is the one that jams you if you crowd the wall.
- Floor then side: usually a higher, slower rebound, with more time to set your feet.
- Side then floor, on the ball coming at you, is out. The point is already over. Leave it. Floor-then-side is the path you play.
On the next wide ball past you, name the angle out loud before you swing, shallow or steep, then take one step away from the glass so the rebound can open into your strike zone.
The beginner error is sprinting into the corner and hitting while the ball is still travelling into the glass.
- Turn sideways early. Pivot so your chest faces the side glass or the corner.
- Give the ball room. Default is about a racket's length off the glass, the same idea as standing a metre off the back wall.
- Let it come to you. Contact in front as the ball travels off the glass towards the court, weight moving forward. If contact is behind your hip, you were too close or too early.
Think receive, then step in.
Not every ball near the corner is a double wall. Many only kiss one glass. True double-wall balls land tight to the corner and take both walls. Read which glass is first. That decides your first step.
| Sequence | What happens | First move |
|---|---|---|
| Side, then back (open) | The ball opens off the side, then hits the back glass and comes forward into space | Step away from the side glass. Get your back nearer the back glass so you only move forward into contact |
| Back, then side (closed) | The ball comes off the back first, then tucks into the side, often tighter and lower | Clear the path, then meet it as it opens off the side. Do not stand in the V of the corner |
Same discipline either way: early racket prep, small adjustment steps, contact in front. Turning with the ball is optional later. At band 4 and 5, space, wait, and a reset win more points than spinning.
Still learning the straight back glass? Stay with using the back glass until that rebound feels automatic.
From a clean side-glass rebound you usually have three options.
| Choice | When | Aim |
|---|---|---|
| Down the line | You are set, the ball is a comfortable height, and opponents are mid or deep | Deep past the near net player |
| Cross-court | Safer default when you are slightly late or off-balance | High and deep into the far corner |
| High reset lob | Crowded, low contact, or a double-wall scramble | High over the net pair, then recover towards the middle together |
If in doubt, high and deep. A flat drive from a jammed corner gifts a smash.
Leave the ball when it is clearly dying out after the glass, when a second floor bounce is coming before a clean swing, or when you are so late that any contact will be a pop-up smash feed. Call "out" early so your partner does not chase a dead ball.
For the side glass:
- Side-glass angle drive. Feed wide balls, name shallow or steep, step away, and drive or reset with contact in front.
- Double-glass corner escape. The feed bounces, then touches the side glass, then the back glass. Escape with a high deep reset, then recover as a pair.
- Leave drill. Same feeds, but leave anything dying out.
Practise it
- Partner feed. They hit a deep drive that bounces in your court, then hits the back glass. A feed that meets the glass first is out. Do not play it.
- Reset. Let it rebound, get low and sideways, and lift a lob that lands past the service line. Ten feeds, then swap.
- Leave the lunge. On every deep ball, let it go past you before you swing.
Back-glass reset · 2 players · 20 min
Common errors
- Hitting before the ball reaches the wall. The wall usually gives you a slower, easier ball. Let it come.
- Standing right against the glass. That jams you. Stay about a metre off.
- Treating a wall ball as a chance to smash a winner. From deep, it is a reset. Win the point later, from the net.
- Crowding the side glass. Take one step off and let the angle open into you.
- Swinging as the ball goes into the wall. Count pass, rebound, step before contact.
- Flat, hard swings from the corner. Use a soft face and a high arc, and reset first.
- Guessing the double wall too soon. Watch which glass is hit first, then move.
Watch this
Take it into a match
A deep ball past you is a reset: lob past the service line, then climb back to the net with your partner.
Ask your coach
Ask your coach to watch whether you let the ball come off the glass before you swing.
Work with a coach
Work with a qualified padel coach at your club.
Nothing replaces a coach watching you play and correcting you.
Ask whether they hold a padel coaching qualification, for example through the Padel Federation of Ireland (opens in a new tab), FIP Academy (opens in a new tab) or, in Northern Ireland, LTA Padel (opens in a new tab).