Padel forehand technique for beginners — the essentials that build a clean shot

The grip

Semi-western or eastern forehand grip works well for most padel forehands. The racket V sits on the top-right bevel of the handle. Don't grip too tight — the padel racket's solid surface requires a relaxed grip to generate natural feel on contact. Tension kills the forehand before the swing starts.

Stance

Open or semi-open stance on the forehand is standard in padel. Your non-dominant shoulder doesn't need to point at the ball the way it does in tennis — the shorter swing and smaller court make a fully closed stance impractical. Load weight on the back foot, transfer through contact. Stay balanced rather than lunging.

The backswing

Compact. This is where beginners who played tennis overcook it. The padel forehand backswing ends with the racket roughly level with your ear — not above your head, not looping behind your back. Early preparation is more important than a big swing. Get the racket back early and the rest of the shot takes care of itself.

Contact point

In front of the body, at waist height or slightly below. The forehand in padel isn't a topspin shot — you're hitting relatively flat or with slight lift. A contact point too low produces net errors. Too late produces floaters. At waist height, slightly forward, the ball tends to go where you aimed it.

Follow-through

Finish upward and across the body. The follow-through shouldn't be long — it should complete the shot's natural arc and stop. A common beginner error is stopping the follow-through early, killing pace and direction. A common intermediate error is letting it loop into a long finish that adds nothing and costs recovery time.

The most common forehand mistakes

Late preparation — the swing starts when the ball is already at your side, producing rushed contact. Tight grip — the ball comes off rigid rather than clean. Over-swinging — a long backswing produces timing errors in the constrained padel court. Fix these in order: prepare early, loosen the grip, shorten the swing.

Drilling the forehand

Forehand against the front wall from two metres: hit, let it bounce, hit again. Focus on consistent contact height and the same follow-through each time. Once you have that, start adding direction — alternate between the left and right wall. Deliberate repetition at close range builds muscle memory faster than open-court rallying.

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