Improving mentality
Hi all, I’ve been playing padel for about 8 months coming from a tennis background. It’s been super fun but I can feel a plateau in my progress. On some days I feel like I’m even worse than I was a few months ago, but I understand it’s because I had to unlearn some bad habits and am trying to play safer/not kill every shot so it FEELS like I’m not “winning” as much.
I’ve also read that playing lots is helpful but not without intention. Mindlessly playing lots of games might lead nowhere. The advice I’ve read is to work on ONE thing each time I play, but I have trouble deciding what is priority. As a result my mind is super scattered in a match trying to focus on a billion things. I end up doing everything half heartedly and very mediocre. In my coaching sessions, a lot tends to be covered but it’s also not a match situation so it doesn’t always immediately translate when I’m under pressure.
Between these four areas that I think I’m poor at, what should be the most pressing to commit to in matches?
- forehand volleys w compact backswing (tendency to have v big backswing & prep)
- overheads (tendency to wrist flick right before shot (like tennis))
- lobbing more
- defending cross court shots off the glass with turn/spinning around
Appreciate any advice and/or sharing on how you play matches with intention and use the volume of play to your advantage!