Unlike Pickleball, Padel is a Legitimate Sport !!!

Which is a better tennis alternative:

  • Total voters
    72
ByeByePoly said:
lol … I like the loud sound at contact. Some of the newer pickleball paddles are starting to have hollow sounding “boom”. It makes your 10 mph wiffle shots sound like 100 mph. :-D

Building a Padel court is a commitment … don’t see those taking over park tennis courts like the wiffle virus.
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These paddles we have been playing are introductory-paddles. Some have cracks, also. Last time (clip above), I switched to one of the personal paddles the guy running the court has. A red-Wilson of some kind. Felt day-n'-night better, like when I first played with my first proper tennis racket (Diadem Nova) versus those junk, aluminum paddles.
Sense of controlling everything (underspin, depth on my shots, confidence) went to another level.

I've made my arrangements and will deliver my first proper Padel racket until the end of the month. See how that one plays compared to a top-of-the-line (red and white) Babolat LeBron a guy has.

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Singles Pickleball is another beast. A tennis partner of mine who had never touched a Pickleball paddle before needed 10-15 minutes to get used to the different hitting zones. Then, busted my ass 3 games strainght. Never had so much fun with this friend on the tennis court. Just facts.

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Tennis is still the King of racketsports in my eyes, no doubt about it. It demands another level of commitment in every single shot. Almost zero forgiveness.
 
ByeByePoly said:
Building a Padel court is a commitment … don’t see those taking over park tennis courts like the wiffle virus.
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You don’t see padel courts going up around you because you live in the boondocks of a third world country.

But in faster developing places like Paraguay, Colombia, Spain, the UK, and San Diego, padel cages and padel-focused pro shops are springing up faster than I can count them.
 
travlerajm said:
You don’t see padel courts going up around you because you live in the boondocks of a third world country.

But in faster developing places like Paraguay, Colombia, Spain, the UK, and San Diego, padel cages and padel-focused pro shops are springing up faster than I can count them.
Click to expand...

4th world lately
 
konstantinos kalfountzos said:
These paddles we have been playing are introductory-paddles. Some have cracks, also. Last time (clip above), I switched to one of the personal paddles the guy running the court has. A red-Wilson of some kind. Felt day-n'-night better, like when I first played with my first proper tennis racket (Diadem Nova) versus those junk, aluminum paddles.
Sense of controlling everything (underspin, depth on my shots, confidence) went to another level.

I've made my arrangements and will deliver my first proper Padel racket until the end of the month. See how that one plays compared to a top-of-the-line (red and white) Babolat LeBron a guy has.

------------------------------------------------

Singles Pickleball is another beast. A tennis partner of mine who had never touched a Pickleball paddle before needed 10-15 minutes to get used to the different hitting zones. Then, busted my ass 3 games strainght. Never had so much fun with this friend on the tennis court. Just facts.

------------------------------------------------

Tennis is still the King of racketsports in my eyes, no doubt about it. It demands another level of commitment in every single shot. Almost zero forgiveness.
Click to expand...

There is no replacement for the satisfaction of a ball compressing on strings followed by trampolined dipping topspin. Three years into pickleball … and I still tell my paddles “you suck”.

:cool:
 
sureshs said:
You forgot badminton. BTW, a new Table Tennis facility has opened.

@ByeByePoly is very unhappy about your comment, though.
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Badminton is good for filling a slot on the junior high PE calendar, but not much else.

I have a mini ping pong table at my office, but it doesn’t get much use. We use it for serving buffet spreads to special guests.
 
sureshs said:
It is the toughest among the 4 racket sports I play. The cardio requirements are unbelievable.
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That is because you are forced to move up and back to cover both lobs and drop shots, alternating underhand lunges with scissor kick overheads.

Pickleball rules circumvent this cardio-intensive pattern by introducing the cardio-friendly kitchen line.

Padel is also forgiving by letting you play lobs after the bounce off the back wall.

And in tennis, you are allowed to let the drop shot bounce.
 
travlerajm said:
That is because you are forced to move up and back to cover both lobs and drop shots, alternating underhand lunges with scissor kick overheads.

Pickleball rules circumvent this cardio-intensive pattern by introducing the cardio-friendly kitchen line.

Padel is also forgiving by letting you play lobs after the bounce off the back wall.

And in tennis, you are allowed to let the drop shot bounce.
Click to expand...
Correct.

The root cause is that the birdie does not roll like a ball.
 
ByeByePoly said:
There is no replacement for the satisfaction of a ball compressing on strings followed by trampolined dipping topspin. Three years into pickleball … and I still tell my paddles “you suck”.

:cool:
Click to expand...
I hit with a tennis racket after a long 5-month-break and, yes, there is no substitute for this sensation.
I have to say that Padel and Pickleball have boosted my confidence to go to the net much more frequently than I used to and also, just hitting the shortest angle possible is the best way to build a point, rather than hitting 90% POWEEEER from one baseline to the other, trying to overpower the opponent.
 
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konstantinos kalfountzos said:
I hit with a tennis racket after a long 5-month-break and, yes, there is no substitute for this sensation.
I have to say that Padel and Pickleball have boosted my confidence to go to the net much more frequently than I used to and also, just hitting the shortest angle possible is the best way to build a point, rather than hitting 90% POWEEEER from one baseline to the other, trying to overpower the opponent.
Click to expand...
Also… swinging explosively out of your shoes for power is a young guy move. Crafty old guys would rather finesse the ball to a smart spot without putting any soft tissues at risk.
 
So... you are one of THEM!
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/inde...nter-the-pickleball-wave.786790/post-19060630

donald-sutherland-pod.gif
 
I played Padel for the first time and I could see myself switching to it if it was affordable. It was a free introduction lesson and play and the downside is my normal tennis strokes are detrimental to Padel. The instructor said topspin was bad and slice is the way to go. This makes sense since you want to keep the ball low. My favorite shot in tennis and pickleball is topspin and another negative for Padel is no singles.
 
ByeByePoly said:
I looked up a couple of Padel paddle specs. Wow … 12+ oz … I expected lighter.

I liked my tennis rackets around 11.5 oz, and pickleball paddles 8.2 - 8.4ish.
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I'll put mine on the scale to see if it is 356 grams as the sticker says. Yeah, most intermediate (I guess) paddles are around the 360 grams area.
All my Pickleball paddles are 218 grams with no overgrip and fully-stock.

The Padel paddle can feel too heavy for some tennis players. One of my tennis hitting partner found that Padel brings him pain on his elbow joints (has background of injuries), so he's not gonna be involved. I've played Pickleball with him and maybe he'll get on-board him Pickleball.
 
treo said:
I played Padel for the first time and I could see myself switching to it if it was affordable. It was a free introduction lesson and play and the downside is my normal tennis strokes are detrimental to Padel. The instructor said topspin was bad and slice is the way to go. This makes sense since you want to keep the ball low. My favorite shot in tennis and pickleball is topspin and another negative for Padel is no singles.
Click to expand...
Yeah, top-spin is a big NO-NO, as you make yourself a sitting duck. I've never played doubles-tennis and barely can watch a doubles-tennis match. Padel was a completely new experience for me, having to cooperate with someone else other than me, myself and I.
 
treo said:
I played Padel for the first time and I could see myself switching to it if it was affordable. It was a free introduction lesson and play and the downside is my normal tennis strokes are detrimental to Padel. The instructor said topspin was bad and slice is the way to go. This makes sense since you want to keep the ball low. My favorite shot in tennis and pickleball is topspin and another negative for Padel is no singles.
Click to expand...
Not sure if I fully agree. Yes a good slice and good volley and good overhead should be the foundation of your padel game, but having good topspin dipper is huge.

And unlike pickleball, the physics enable great grip on the ball for executing topspin and shaping trajectory.
 
travlerajm said:
Not sure if I fully agree. Yes a good slice and good volley and good overhead should be the foundation of your padel game, but having good topspin dipper is huge.

And unlike pickleball, the physics enable great grip on the ball for executing topspin.
Click to expand...
If you can make sure the ball bounces very close to the bottom of the fence or the glass, yes.
 
konstantinos kalfountzos said:
If you can make sure the ball bounces very close to the bottom of the fence or the glass, yes.
Click to expand...
In padel, the guys who know what they are doing stand very close to the net and near the center net strap ( just like high level doubles tennis). This places a premium on being able to hit a return hard enough to get it by the net person. A slice return is easier for the center net guy to cut off. So you really need to have the topspin drive as an option unless you are a slice wizard with laser accuracy.
 
konstantinos kalfountzos said:
I'll put mine on the scale to see if it is 356 grams as the sticker says. Yeah, most intermediate (I guess) paddles are around the 360 grams area.
All my Pickleball paddles are 218 grams with no overgrip and fully-stock.

The Padel paddle can feel too heavy for some tennis players. One of my tennis hitting partner found that Padel brings him pain on his elbow joints (has background of injuries), so he's not gonna be involved. I've played Pickleball with him and maybe he'll get on-board him Pickleball.
Click to expand...

I like to start with stock paddle 8.0 oz/226 g … it leaves room for overgrip and picking added weight (now I use tungsten) locations. You don’t get grip size options like tennis, so sometimes stock grip and overgrip, sometimes remove stock grip and two overgrips. With a low-mid powered paddle I might like 8.4-8.5 oz, but with more power I am finding 8.2-8.3ish good to go. It’s all a tradeoff in pickleball … baseline drives vs hand speed at the kitchen. To me fast enough hands is priority by the time you are playing good intermediate doubles. Some may be fast enough with 9.0 oz, most won’t. Also … there is the satisfaction aspect … even if you can play with very heavy paddle, you may not like/enjoy it.
 
ByeByePoly said:
I like to start with stock paddle 8.0 oz/226 g … it leaves room for overgrip and picking added weight (now I use tungsten) locations. You don’t get grip size options like tennis, so sometimes stock grip and overgrip, sometimes remove stock grip and two overgrips. With a low-mid powered paddle I might like 8.4-8.5 oz, but with more power I am finding 8.2-8.3ish good to go. It’s all a tradeoff in pickleball … baseline drives vs hand speed at the kitchen. To me fast enough hands is priority by the time you are playing good intermediate doubles. Some may be fast enough with 9.0 oz, most won’t. Also … there is the satisfaction aspect … even if you can play with very heavy paddle, you may not like/enjoy it.
Click to expand...
 
travlerajm said:
Pickleball to warm up your padel game? …

… I’ll allow it.
Click to expand...
Just Padel for today. Some weekends it's just very hard to get friends onboard for Pickleball. Remember that Pickleball is almost non-existent here in Greece yet.

Had not played any Padel for a month. The guy with the black t-shirt is a beginner, so we all 3 toned-down a bit to help him blend in.

 
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konstantinos kalfountzos said:
Just Padel for today. Some weekends it's just very hard to get friends onboard for Pickleball. Remember that Pickleball is almost non-existent here in Greece yet.

Had not played any Padel for a month. The guy with the black t-shirt is a beginner, so we all 3 toned-down a bit to help him blend in.

Click to expand...

Looks fun. I’m guessing initial learning curve is similar to racquetball where at first you chase the ball before moving to where ball is going to be. Padel also solves the problem of four people being two too many on a racquetball court. :p You guys were half contortionist for some of those balls off back wall.
 
ByeByePoly said:
Looks fun. I’m guessing initial learning curve is similar to racquetball where at first you chase the ball before moving to where ball is going to be. Padel also solves the problem of four people being two too many on a racquetball court. :p You guys were half contortionist for some of those balls off back wall.
Click to expand...
Ball speed may be slower than tennis, but you get many more balls at rapid-fire succession.
The learning curve is fast, not as fast as Pickleball for total beginners, because learning where you have to be to play the ball off the glass or off a smash coming your way, needs time and repetition.

Today, I was making some of the same mistakes I did last time, but at least I remembered to keep my racket up on the volley preparation phase.

One of them is hitting the forehand volley in front of my body, whereas it needs to be hit on the right side//parallel to my body, like Tennis. This caused me to hit the net a few times I shouldn't.
Another mistake was the way I was hitting the overhead shots (Viboras, Badejas). I just forget to get the proper body position to hit the ball on the right side of my body using underspin. I caught myself being undecided on what to do: hit a smash with a super loose wrist, wait and hit a vibora or a badeja towards the fence?

I didn't want to target the weakest player of the day in order to get easy points. My priority was to make him and everyone have a good time, so we can meet and play again, uplift each other's level, share advice as much as needed and let the game come to each one naturally. The leftie player is a high level tennis hitting partner and hits the volleys much better than me. I have more "flair" in my game derived from the very first tennis players I watched when I started tennis 5 years ago (Nick Kyrgios, Benoit Paire and Dustin Brown). I didn't watch any Federer clip for more than a year. Stan is the man responsible for the one-handed backhand.
 
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Many players I know have switched to Padel. They were mainly older 5.0 tennis players with varying ailments.

Apparently, Padel is far more forgiving. Pickel is for pleps.
 
For me, it's more of the need of socializing with friends and tennis hitting partners I already know and meeting new people.

Long working hours during the week as I am a solo Driving Instructor, I may find free-hours and apetite for some tennis mid-week, but may prefer to get some mid-day rest, instead. Used to play 3 tennis 3 times a week these past 4 years, then took a long 5-month-break.

Didn't miss the "tennis-action" as much as missed the sensation of ball striking that is quite addictive. But, because I was mostly hitting groundstrokes and volleys and didn't really play point-games with serves, it's getting a bit boring and the worst part is that I cannot have conversations with the guy on the other side. We get to talk to each other only during warm-ups and at the end of the 1.5 hour session. Which for me is a problem, because I feel disconnected from the other person and having a good/fun time while staying fit is more important to me than getting into a mood of putting lots of hours of improving my footwork and technique in order to be able to play matches (I keep the frustration out of context).

I found lots of fun 2 years ago when I tried LOTS of different rackets and strings. That was more interesting to me than actually improving my weaknesses.

Back to the topic, I am making a transition to Padel and trying to get people to try Pickleball with me, because I just have much more fun with these two than I ever had with tennis. Plus, because the learning curve is so much faster for complete beginners, you can get into playing "Friendly"-matches after 2-3 times at most, once they get accustomed to the use of the glass.

With Pickleball the problem is that trying this new sport, some people will feel uncomfortable being seen by others playing a seemingly "child" activity. I totally get that, so I'll try find my own space to lure some friends in to give it a try. I have something in mind.
 
konstantinos kalfountzos said:
For me, it's more of the need of socializing with friends and tennis hitting partners I already know and meeting new people.

Long working hours during the week as I am a solo Driving Instructor, I may find free-hours and apetite for some tennis mid-week, but may prefer to get some mid-day rest, instead. Used to play 3 tennis 3 times a week these past 4 years, then took a long 5-month-break.

Didn't miss the "tennis-action" as much as missed the sensation of ball striking that is quite addictive. But, because I was mostly hitting groundstrokes and volleys and didn't really play point-games with serves, it's getting a bit boring and the worst part is that I cannot have conversations with the guy on the other side. We get to talk to each other only during warm-ups and at the end of the 1.5 hour session. Which for me is a problem, because I feel disconnected from the other person and having a good/fun time while staying fit is more important to me than getting into a mood of putting lots of hours of improving my footwork and technique in order to be able to play matches (I keep the frustration out of context).

I found lots of fun 2 years ago when I tried LOTS of different rackets and strings. That was more interesting to me than actually improving my weaknesses.

Back to the topic, I am making a transition to Padel and trying to get people to try Pickleball with me, because I just have much more fun with these two than I ever had with tennis. Plus, because the learning curve is so much faster for complete beginners, you can get into playing "Friendly"-matches after 2-3 times at most, once they get accustomed to the use of the glass.

With Pickleball the problem is that trying this new sport, some people will feel uncomfortable being seen by others playing a seemingly "child" activity. I totally get that, so I'll try find my own space to lure some friends in to give it a try. I have something in mind.
Click to expand...
Good point. Padel does not have the social stigma of pickle.
 
ByeByePoly said:
Mockers suck … wait … what is the difference between mocking and trash talking. If they are the same I am a world class mocker. That would be embarrassing.
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Having watched a lot of NBA from 2007, mockers are just jealous and envious, the mock derives from their problematic psyche.

Trash talking is part of any competitive sport. I would trash talk with my basketball buddies all the time, but always kept it between ourselves, not people we didn't know who may take offense. Trash talking can be fun and amuzing when used properly.
 
konstantinos kalfountzos said:
Having watched a lot of NBA from 2007, mockers are just jealous and envious, the mock derives from their problematic psyche.

Trash talking is part of any competitive sport. I would trash talk with my basketball buddies all the time, but always kept it between ourselves, not people we didn't know who may take offense. Trash talking can be fun and amuzing when used properly.
Click to expand...

Thank goodness … didn’t want to be a mocker. There was that time on a changeover during a tennis tournament singles match when I told a guy “I am very impressed you can play at this level with that backhand”. :-D
 
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