Padel Coaching in Abu Dhabi: What Your First Month of Training Actually Looks Like

If you’ve taught yourself, you probably have at least one of these. That’s normal, and it’s fixable.

• The forehand grip. It feels natural, but it makes volleys and overheads awkward. Almost every self-taught player has it.

• The tennis swing. Big, flowing strokes look great and send the ball into the back fence. Padel rewards short, compact swings.

• Running away from the glass. New players chase the ball before it reaches the back wall. The glass is there to give you more time, not less.

• Rushing the net. Getting to the net is good. Getting there at the wrong moment is how you get lobbed all evening.

Week 1: Grip and Ready Position

We’ll almost certainly change your grip. Most players move to the continental grip, the one grip that works for forehands, backhands, volleys and overheads. It feels strange for a few sessions. Stick with it.

The rest of the week is about your ready position and short, controlled groundstrokes with the racket head up in front of you. Expect a lot of repetition. Players who rush this week usually come back to it later.

Week 2: Serve, Return and the Volley

The padel serve is underhand, hit at or below waist height after a bounce. It’s not a weapon the way it is in tennis. Its job is to start the point and get you to the net in a good position.

Then the volley. In our experience, this is where self-taught players improve fastest. Once you stop swinging at volleys and start blocking and placing them, your whole net game changes.

Week 3: Learning to Love the Glass

This is the week that makes padel feel like padel. You’ll practice letting the ball come off the back wall and the side walls, turning your shoulders and playing it back with control.

Honestly, most students hate this week for the first two sessions. By the end of it, they’re the ones asking to stay on court longer.

Week 4: Positioning, the Lob and Real Points

The last week puts it together. You’ll learn where to stand with your partner, when to move up and when to hold back. The lob becomes your main tool for pushing opponents off the net, and most players get a first look at the bandeja.

We finish with supervised match play. The coach stops the point when your positioning is off and shows you where you should have been. It’s the most useful 20 minutes of the month.

People ask this more than anything else. Our answer: if your budget allows, start with a few private sessions to fix your grip and swing, then move into a group.

Private lessons are the fastest way to fix technique because every ball is yours. Groups are cheaper and give you real match situations, plus people at your level to play with afterward. Doing only one of them for months is where players stall.

After years of padel training in Abu Dhabi, our coaches can usually tell by week three who’s going to make a big jump. It’s rarely talent. It’s these things:

1. They play between lessons. One lesson and one social game a week beats two lessons and nothing else.

1. They stay with one coach. A coach who knows your habits catches them faster.

1. They watch themselves. Five of our courts have AI cameras. Ask your coach whether footage from your session can help you see what they see.

1. They pick one thing. “Racket up at the net” is something you’ll remember. A list of eight corrections isn’t.