Every padel player knows the feeling. The other pair is camped at the net, volleying everything back, and you are pinned to the back glass with no good low option. Forcing a passing shot through that wall of rackets is a gamble. The lob is the calmer answer, and it is one of the first shots every club player should trust.
In Spanish it is called the globo. It is a high, arching shot played over the net players, deep into the back of the court. Done well, it forces opponents to retreat, breaks up their attack, and buys you time to recover your position. Done badly, it is a gift: a short, sitting ball that invites the smash you were trying to avoid. The difference is almost always depth, not height.
What a Lob Is For
Think of the lob as a reset button with an attacking upside. Its first job is defensive: get the ball over the net players and give yourself time to get back into the point. Its second job is positional: a deep lob pushes the other pair off the net, and if it forces an awkward overhead from deep, it can hand you the net instead. That is why coaches treat the lob as a central part of padel tactics rather than a last resort. It is not the shot you hit because you have run out of ideas. It is the shot you hit because the net battle is going the wrong way and you want to change it.
When to Lob
When both opponents are at the net. This is the classic moment. If they are crowding the net and expecting a low ball, a lob over their heads makes them turn, retreat, and hit their next shot moving backward.
When you are under pressure or out of position. If a fast ball has stretched you wide or pushed you deep, a high, deep lob buys time to recover with your partner instead of forcing a low-percentage winner from a bad spot.
When you have time and want to attack. A lob is not only defensive. With balance and time, a flatter, faster lob aimed tight toward the back can force a weak overhead or an error, and it sets up your move to the net. The defensive version is higher and safer. The attacking version is flatter and quicker. Both need the same thing: depth.
How to Hit a Lob, Step by Step
- Prepare early and get low. Bend your knees, stay balanced, and take the racket back low. Most bad lobs are rushed lobs played from a poor base, so the preparation matters as much as the swing.
- Use a continental grip. It keeps the racket face versatile and easy to open, which is what you need to lift the ball without forcing it.
- Meet the ball in front, with a slightly open face. Contact should be in front of your body, around waist height or a little below, with the face open enough to lift the ball. Contact behind your body costs you control.
- Swing low to high, smooth and compact. Start low, brush up through the ball, and follow through high toward your target. Keep the swing controlled rather than wristy: the shape of the swing, not a flick, creates the arc.
- Aim for the deep window. Your target is a bounce past the service line and before the back glass, ideally toward a back corner. That is the zone opponents cannot comfortably smash from and cannot ignore. Height is only the way to get the ball there. Depth is the point of the shot.
Defensive Lob or Attacking Lob?
The two versions differ in intent, not in basics. A defensive lob is higher, safer, and very deep. After it, stay back, stay ready, and brace for the reply, because you have bought time rather than won the net. An attacking lob is flatter and faster, played when you are balanced and have time. After it, step in with your partner and take the net while the opponents are still retreating. Knowing which one you just hit tells you what to do next, and moving the wrong way after a good lob wastes the advantage you just created.
Three Lob Mistakes to Cut Out
The short lob. This is the costly one. A lob that lands short of the deep window gives the net pair exactly what they want: a comfortable overhead. If you cannot reach the back of the court, a higher, safer lob beats a flat one that drops short.
Lobbing on autopilot. Lob every rally and opponents start waiting for it, stepping back early and smashing with confidence. Keep the lob as one option among several, and vary its direction between the corners so it stays hard to read.
Admiring a good lob instead of moving. After an attacking lob, staying in the middle of the court lets opponents recover the net for free. Move forward decisively with your partner and rebuild your net position while they are still going backward.
Two Simple Drills
Lob-only rally. Your partner volleys from the net while you answer every ball with a lob, aiming into the back of the court. It trains the low-to-high swing and the deep target under real rally pace.
Lob and move. Hit a deep lob, then immediately move to the net with your partner and take the next ball as a volley. This trains the part players forget: the lob is only half the play, and the move that follows it is what turns defense into attack.
The Bottom Line
Judge every lob by one question: did it land deep? A high ball that drops short is a problem. A controlled ball that bounces past the service line and toward the back glass changes the point, even if it looks unremarkable. Prepare early, swing low to high, aim deep, and then move according to the lob you hit: stay ready after a defensive one, step in after an attacking one.
And remember what your lob invites on the other side. A deep lob that an opponent handles from the back will often come back as a controlled overhead, which is exactly the shot covered in the bandeja guide. Learn both shots and the net battle starts to make sense from both sides of it.