Author: Lucas Sánchez

Lucas Sánchez is the founder of SimplePadel. Born and raised in Spain, Lucas has been living in the US and UK for the last 20 years and currently calls Miami his home. While he’s never played professionally, the dream is still alive.

Lucas loves nothing more than playing (and talking) about padel, and he considers himself lucky to have a wife and family that share his love for the game.

When to replace your Padel Racket

Padel Rackets next to Padel Court in Sweden. Photo by Oskar Hagberg.

Padel tennis rackets are one of the essentials for padel players. The best racket for advanced players is usually made of a carbon fiber racket face, carbon frame, and EVA rubber core. 

Carbon fiber bats offer more power, resistance, and durability. It’s designed for the player to have a good grip plus a nice spin on the ball upon contact. 

On the other hand, beginner padel rackets are made of fiberglass face and frame and a foam core material.

Fiberglass rackets are less resistant and durable compared to carbon fiber bats. Hence, it’s only suitable for occasional practice matches. 

But, no matter what materials were used, your padel tennis racket will eventually lose its shape and show signs of wear and tear.

When the racket loses its shape, it consequently loses its ability to give a good spin and will affect how you play the game. 

Once you feel that it no longer has enough elastic properties to give a powerful blow and start noticing a vibration upon contact, it’s HIGH TIME to change your racket. 

If you don’t know what signs to look for to change padel racket, read on! We’ll explain all these to you in detail.

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What is a padel overgrip, and when should I change grip?

Different types and colors of a Padel Overgrip. Image source: The Padel Magazine.

One thing that newbie padel players neglect but top players highly value is the overgrip. You can have all the skills needed, but an ineffective and old overgrip will throw you off.

The overgrip, which you wrap around the racket handle, ensures you have extra grip, proper handling, and better sweat absorption.

That said, you must change padel overgrip regularly. But how often is “regular”?

Well, it depends on multiple factors. We’ll elaborate more below.

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Where to play Padel in Miami, US?

Padel has come to the US, and it’s in Miami to stay. With more pros joining USA (USPA) powered clubs, the sport so many Europeans have come to love is here to stay. We’ve previously seen new courts and clubs being developed in Texas, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and California.

If you’re looking for a great place to play Padel in Miami, then you’ll want to check out the following six locations. There are a total of 25 courts (doubles) in Miami as of early 2023.

Each of these venues (most of which are in a sports complex) offers something unique and exciting that will make your game-playing experience enjoyable.

Be aware that not all of them offer a practice wall if you’re used to warming up with one.

So, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced player, read on to find out where you should go to enjoy a great game of Padel in Miami.

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Padel Shot Effects: How to play with spin

Spinning Padel ball in rain. Photo by Josh Calabrese.

Padel is a sport that allows for more creativity because you can utilize the back wall and bouncing to get into position and score points. This works thanks to a Padel slice or spin.

Advanced players who play Padel competitively can use their feet, racket position, and fore or backhand swing to spin the ball over the net and around the court.

Let’s look at the best ways to achieve a spin effect during a Padel game. We’ll look at how to spin a ball coming to you without too much difficulty. We’ll see how the net position and ball speed affect which shot to use.

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Gold Point in Padel, the Sudden Death of a Game

What is the Golden Point in Padel? Image source: PadelNuestro

The mechanics of a padel match are constantly evolving. World Padel Tour and the International Padel Federation incorporate new regulations to make the game more interesting.

The Gold Point was a new rule change introduced by the World Padel Tour in 2020. It’s recognized as one of the alternative scoring methods in padel.

But why was it called the gold point? Why is it coined as the sudden death of a game?

These could be a few questions you have in mind at the moment. You’ll have the answer to those and a whole lot more about the gold point of padel in this article which is a part of our Padel University series.

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How to Win points in Padel as a Beginner

Padel may be a descendant of other racket sports like tennis, but it is its own game with its set of rules, play styles, and strategies for winning.

While a passionate beginner may want to play in the World Padel Tour one day, they will need to sharpen their Padel skills, learning to hold the racket correctly and hit the ball in the sweet spot.

Let’s look at how to ensure victory when playing Padel as a beginner. We’ll look at the basic shots, some common mistakes, and what you need to know to go from the amateur to professional level.

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How to Play an Americano Tournament in Padel

Americano is a “quick tournament setup” of padel that is normally played with non-fixed teams, and often more participants than six.

The main difference between a normal game of padel in terms of the scoring system, and an Americano setup is that each ball counts towards the total scoring.

As an example; each match is decided by playing a predetermined number of points (1 point per ball), for example, 21 points. If playing to 21 points per match, one team will serve four times and then the serve will switch to the other team.

An example result would be 14-7, this means that the players on the winning team will each take 14 points from the match, and the losing players will each take 7 points to their total points in the tournament.

Read on to learn how to play and organise an quick padel tournament using the Americano way.

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The Ultimate Guide to Positions in Padel

Mixed padel match in a green grass Padel court indoor behind the net

One technique that recreational players neglect in playing padel is their court position.

Many players who recently learned about padel struggle with good positioning. However, learning this is essential as it would also determine your game.

Padel positioning is one of the padel tactics you should master to secure a win for your team.

This article will serve as your ultimate guide to learning different positions in a padel court.

After reading, you’ll undoubtedly be neck on neck with other pro padel players.

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What Is a Tiebreak in Padel?

Padel is highly similar to tennis. There are few distinctions, like how a padel court (33 x 66 feet) is 1/3 of a tennis court.

Tennis is checkers, while padel is chess.

Lee Sponaugle, President of All Racquet Sports

But tennis and padel rules are essentially the same.

Following that, the tiebreak games are also the same. If both teams tie at 6-6 in a set (six games), the tiebreak winner wins with a 7-6 score.

Let’s learn more, shall we?

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Highlights from the Global Padel Report (2022)

A few weeks ago, Playtomic and Deloitte (Monitor Deloitte) released a massive 115 pages report labelled Global Padel Report. The report, focuses on the growth of the sport from both a leisure and professional perspective and shows a lot of interesting points.

In the introduction of the report, Martita Ortega and Fernando “Bela” Balasteguin speaks about how they got started with playing padel. Even though the report is labelled as global, the US is hardly mentioned, probably because of its relative growth to pickleball in the US.

In this article, we’ll give you the most important highlights from the report.

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