Most people practise the shots they already own. The padel drills that actually move your level are the dull ones: the same ball, struck fifty times, until your feet arrive before your racket does. This is a guide to the drills that carry into a real match, alone and with a partner, and the ones that only look like practice.
The short version: the padel drills worth your court time are the wall for solo work, cross-court volleys and lobs with a partner, and the overhead played as a controlled bandeja, not a smash. Repetition with intent beats variety. Drill the shot you avoid in matches, not the one you enjoy.
Which padel drills actually improve your game?
The drills that transfer are the ones that rehearse a decision you have to make under pressure: where to stand, when to lift, how to slow the ball down. In padel that means the bandeja, the cross-court volley, the defensive lob, and footwork to and from the net. Speed and power drills feel productive and change almost nothing. A player who lobs well and volleys with control wins more points on the Bukit than one who smashes hard and nets half of them.
Practice has one rule above the rest. Fix your attention on a single thing per repetition: contact point, or feet, or the height of the ball over the net, never all three at once. The moment a drill becomes a rally you are keeping score, and scoring is not practising.
Padel drills you can do alone
You do not need a partner to improve. The back and side glass turn any empty court into a practice wall, which is the whole reason padel rewards solo work in a way tennis never did. Solo padel drills build the two things beginners lack most: a reliable contact point, and comfort letting the ball come off the glass.
The wall rally (control)
Stand three to four metres from the front wall. Feed yourself a ball and hit it into the wall above head height so it returns at a catchable pace. Play continuous controlled shots, half pace, aiming for the same spot on the wall each time. Count how many you string together before you lose the line. Twenty clean ones is a good morning.
The overhead feed (the bandeja alone)
Throw the ball up, let it drop, step under it side-on and play a slice overhead into the wall so it comes back as another feedable ball. Keep your non-racket hand pointing up at the ball for timing and balance. You are not trying to win anything. You are grooving the overhead you will need every time an opponent lobs you, which in padel is constantly.
The glass read (defence)
Stand at the back and feed the ball hard into the back glass, then let it rebound and play it back off the bounce. This is the shot that separates people who have played six months from people who have played six weeks: reading the ball off the glass and staying patient instead of panicking. Ten minutes of this a week is worth more than any smash you own.
Padel drills with a partner
A partner turns drilling into rehearsal for the real game, which is played almost entirely cross-court. Resist the urge to play points. The best padel drills with a partner keep one variable fixed so both of you can actually repeat a pattern.
- Cross-court volleys. Both at the net on the diagonal, volley to volley, controlled, no winners. The goal is a hundred without a miss. It teaches soft hands and the diagonal that most points live on.
- Lob and overhead. One player lobs from the back, the other plays a controlled bandeja and holds the net. Then swap. This drills the single most important exchange in padel: the fight to keep or take the net.
- Volley versus groundstroke. One partner at the net volleys, the other stays back and drives or lobs. The back player learns to trouble the net player without going for too much; the net player learns to hold position. Rotate every five minutes.
Place a couple of cones or water bottles to mark targets. A drill with a target is training. A drill without one is a knock-up.
The overhead is the drill most players skip
If you only fix one thing, fix your overhead, and learn it as a bandeja before a smash. The bandeja is a controlled overhead slice, struck at about shoulder-to-head height with an open face, that keeps you at the net and sends the ball deep into the opponent's back glass. It is not a winner. It is the shot that lets you stay in charge of the point.
The reason to drill it endlessly is simple: in doubles you get lobbed on almost every rally, and the amateur reflex is to smash and lose position when the ball comes back off the glass twice as fast. A calm bandeja resets the point in your favour. We cover the full family of overheads, the bandeja, the vibora and the flat smash, in our guide to padel shots, but the drill is the same for all of them: feed, move under it side-on, contact above the shoulder, land balanced.
Footwork: the drill hiding inside every other drill
Every missed shot in padel is usually a footwork problem wearing a technique costume. You did not arrive early enough, so you reached, so you mishit. Padel footwork drills are the least glamorous and the highest-return work on the court.
The one to own is the net-and-back pattern. Start at the service line, split-step, move up to volley an imaginary ball, then backpedal to the baseline to play a lob, then forward again. Thirty seconds on, thirty off, for ten minutes. Add the ball once the pattern is automatic. Good movement is why a fit fifty-year-old regular beats a stronger newcomer: they are simply always in position. Where you stand and when you move is its own discipline, which we go deeper on in padel strategy and positioning.
How to build a 45-minute practice
A session with a shape beats an hour of hitting whatever comes. Here is a simple structure that holds solo or with a partner.
| Block | Minutes | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Warm-up rally, half pace | 7 | Contact point, find the middle of the racket |
| Wall or cross-court control | 10 | One target, count clean repetitions |
| Bandeja and lob | 12 | Overhead control, holding the net |
| Footwork pattern | 8 | Net-and-back, split-step, arrive early |
| Free points with a rule | 8 | Every point must start with a lob |
The last block is the only one that looks like a match, and even then it carries a constraint so you keep drilling a habit rather than reverting to your favourite shot. Then stop. Twenty minutes of honest, attentive practice beats ninety of vague hitting, and it leaves something in the legs for the recovery that makes it stick. On which, the hours after you play matter more than most players admit.
Where to drill in Uluwatu
Drilling well is easier with the right court and, now and then, the right eyes on you. On the Bukit the game has arrived properly, and where to play padel in Uluwatu sets out the options. At Azoria Padel Club the clay courts are built for the long session and the longer conversation after, and the Azoria Padel Academy runs structured drilling for players who want to stop guessing and start grooving. An hour with one of the club's coaches will usually find the one footwork habit costing you a dozen points a match. The house believes in the unglamorous repetition. It is where the good afternoons come from.
Frequently asked questions
What padel drills can I do alone?
Plenty. Use the front and back glass as a practice wall: controlled wall rallies for your contact point, self-fed overheads for the bandeja, and feeding the ball into the back glass to learn to read the rebound. Ten focused minutes on each beats an hour of aimless hitting.
How often should I drill to improve at padel?
Two short, attentive sessions a week will move you faster than one long one. Consistency and focus matter more than volume. Drill the shot you avoid in matches, and keep each session to one or two clear intentions.
What is the most important padel drill for beginners?
The controlled overhead, learned as a bandeja rather than a smash. Beginners get lobbed constantly, and a calm, deep overhead that keeps you at the net wins more points than raw power ever will.
Do padel drills need a partner?
No. The enclosed court makes solo practice genuinely useful, which is rare among racquet sports. A partner helps for cross-court and lob-and-overhead patterns, but a wall and a basket of balls will improve your control, overhead and glass reading on their own.
The best players on the court are rarely the ones hitting hardest in the knock-up. They are the ones who spent a quiet Tuesday feeding themselves the same overhead until it stopped being a decision. That is the whole secret, and it is not a secret.
Further reading
- International Padel Federation (FIP) — the sport's governing body, for the official rules and the shape of the professional game your drills are chasing.
- Padel, explained (Wikipedia) — a clear overview of the court, scoring and how the glass comes into play.
- LTA padel guidance — a national federation's introduction to learning the game, useful for beginners building a first routine.
