A glossary of padel terms

The game began in Mexico and grew up in Spain and Argentina. The shots were named there and travelled untranslated — English-speaking clubs use the Spanish too.

What follows is what you'll hear most, roughly in the order you learn it.

These are the strokes that separate padel from tennis. Without the first two there is no net game.

• Bandeja — a controlled overhead struck at shoulder height with slice. Its purpose is to hold your position at the net, not to end the point. The most important shot in padel.
• Víbora — a sharper bandeja: more side spin, faster, harder to control. Not worth trying until the bandeja is reliable.
• Lob (globo) — the high ball that pushes opponents off the net. In padel it wins position rather than buying time.
• Chiquita — a soft, low ball to the feet of a player at the net, forcing them to hit upwards so you can come forward.
• Bajada — taking a ball off the back wall on its way down, the way you turn defence into attack.
• Contrapared — playing a ball off your own wall into the opposite one. An advanced recovery.
• Rulo / por tres — going outside the court to bring the ball back in. Rare, but it happens.

Not every ball struck from above the shoulder is a smash, and the difference between them is the most confused part of the game. What they share is that they all answer a lob; what separates them is how much risk they take.

They are listed by risk: the bandeja is the safest, the por cuatro the most exposed. A beginner can get by on the first two for a long time.

• Bandeja — sliced and controlled at shoulder height. It does not end the point, it holds your position at the net. The first overhead to learn.
• Víbora — faster than the bandeja and carrying more side spin. Again the aim is pressure, not a winner.
• Remate — the flat, full-power smash. It ends points, but miss it and you lose the net as well.
• Gancho — the hooked overhead played over the shoulder while moving backwards, when the lob lands behind you. A recovery shot.
• Por tres (x3) — bouncing the ball so it flies out over the side fence, forcing the opposition to run outside the court.
• Por cuatro (x4) — the same over the back fence. The hardest of them and the most spectacular.

The terms are Spanish and none of them is said the way it looks. Three letters cause most of the trouble on court: j is always a throaty h, v slides towards a b, and ch is the ch of church.

Stress matters too — not for meaning but for recognition. Putting the stress at the end of víbora makes the word unrecognisable.

• Bandeja — ban-DEH-ha (the j sounds like h)
• Víbora — BEE-bo-ra (b for the v, stress on the first syllable)
• Bajada — ba-HA-da
• Dejada — de-HA-da
• Chiquita — chi-KEE-ta
• Globo — GLOH-bo
• Gancho — GAN-cho
• Salida de pared — sa-LEE-da de pa-RED

• Pared — wall. "Use the pared" means play the ball off it.
• Doble pared — the ball touches two walls; among the hardest to read.
• Salida de pared — meeting a ball coming off the wall at the right moment.
• Red — the net. "Get to the red" is padel's basic tactic: points are won from there.
• Fondo — the back of the court, the defensive position.
• Punto de oro — golden point. At 40-40 a single point decides the game instead of advantage.

The words that turn up around the club and in tournament notices. Unlike the shot names, most of these have an everyday English equivalent and you will hear both.

• Pala — the racket. English-speaking clubs mostly say racket, but Spanish sources always say pala.
• Pista — the court.
• Cristal — the glass wall; malla is the mesh fencing above it. That the two send the ball off at different angles is a property of the material, not a rule.
• Red — the net.
• Saque — the serve; resto is the returning side.
• Fondo — the back of the court, the defensive position. Being stuck in the fondo means you never got to the net.
• Dejada — the short ball dropped in front of the net; the drop shot.

• Americano — everyone partners everyone, points are individual.
• Mexicano — each round is re-paired from the current standing.
• Team Americano / Mexicano — fixed partners, points go to the pair.