We have already written in the past about how you can get out of the Nevera, a prolonged attack on a single player, that our opponents are dedicating to us.
We have a few additional tips that will come in handy in the situation where you are not able to move the game to your partner and somehow you have to be the architect of your own success.
The situation is this: your opponents are at the net and they are throwing all the balls into your side of the court. You’re looking at your partner who may even have the audacity to ask you, “What do you want me to do?” but, objectively it’s really hard for him to be able to intercept any shots to break up the game.
BUT IS IT POSSIBLE TO SUCCEED WHEN WE FIND OURSELVES DEFENDING A PROLONGED ATTACK? ACCORDING TO PROFESSIONALS YES, PROVIDED WE MOVE WITH INTELLIGENCE AND A LOT, REALLY A LOT OF PATIENCE.
Patience, as you may have gathered from our repetition, is by far the first key ingredient.
You will be required to hang in there defending from the bottom with intensity waiting for the most comfortable ball to hit an effective globe (because we don’t need to repeat it but we do it anyway, the worst thing you can do in this situation is to throw a too short globe that lifts the ball for an easy smash).
You need patience because if you get into your opponents’ game, in a hurry to send the ball back over the net you have more risk of sending it straight to the glass.
After that create your own pace of play and don’t let the opponents pace you. Under siege their pace will easily be high and fast and often when we defend, out of habit we tend to respond with equally strong and fast shots. This is very counterproductive because fast ball returns fast ball and we are the ones in an unfavorable position. So we must do everything possible to slow down the ball.
Better in these cases to send back a softer ball that forces them to a volley below the net (technically a chiquita), so as to prevent them also to have a comfortable ball to send us back aggressively.
Another winning strategy is to target the body of our opponents. It is winning because aiming in this way they will have less ease of movement and will have more difficulty in responding to the shot with aggression and we can assume two scenarios: either they miss the volley and go to the net or they leave us a more comfortable ball to try the globe.
Another option is to exploit the high backhand of the opponents (with attention to the central backhand that could be taken by the left player with a smash or a comfortable vibora). We have already written several times that, in general and even more so in the amateur world, the high backhand is the weakest shot of every player. In fact, a ball that comes back to us from a high backhand will be less aggressive and easier for us to attack.
The goal of all these options is to win back the net and rebalance our game even though in an amateur court it could happen to close the winner while we are still in the defense phase, with a well-fitted orb on the glass or well-calibrated in the corner and again, with a nice ball that falls after the net.
So the next time you feel involved in a prolonged attack do not despair and indeed, have fun experimenting with all these options, the result will surprise you.
Good Padel to all
by Roberta Lozza
