The power smash is an attacking shot used to finish points in padel, typically played when an opponent hits a short lob or a high, slow ball.
An effective power smash relies on striking the ball at the highest possible contact point, maintaining a straight overhead racket path and reading the ball’s trajectory correctly to generate maximum power. At a more advanced level, the aim is also to make the ball rebound high enough off the opponent’s back glass to return to your own side of the court.
The objective of this session is to progressively develop the key technical elements of the power smash, from body position and arm movement to wrist action, before applying them to balls that require more movement and positioning.
The session consists of an introductory exercise on the correct racket grip, followed by six progressive drills, allowing players to develop each stage of the movement separately before combining them into a powerful, controlled smash.
This session breaks down power smash technique in padel step by step, focusing successively on body position, contact point, racket movement, topspin, the role of the non-dominant arm and movement into position underneath the ball.
Before starting the progressions, the player learns to use a grip similar to the one used for a backhand from the back of the court, with a slightly more closed grip to help generate topspin and make the ball rise after rebounding off the back glass.
1️⃣ The first progression focuses on a side-on body position, transferring weight forwards and reaching a high contact point, using an overhead ball throw without a racket, with the arm fully extended.
2️⃣ The second progression introduces the complete smash movement with the racket, aiming for the highest possible contact point, a straight overhead racket path and good core stability to transfer power efficiently into the shot.
3️⃣ The third drill focuses on using the wrist to generate topspin, hitting against the back glass while holding the elbow in place with the non-dominant hand to isolate the wrist movement.
4️⃣ The fourth progression reinforces the role of the non-dominant arm in pointing towards the ball, while developing a controlled finishing position with the arm extended high, the wrist flexed downwards and the tip of the racket pointing towards the ground.
5️⃣ The fifth drill develops the ability to read the ball’s trajectory and move actively into position underneath it, through short rallies against the back glass with the coach, consistently aiming for a high contact point.
6️⃣ Finally, the sixth progression allows the player to put the complete technique into practice on a short lob fed by the coach, moving quickly into position underneath the ball to hit a power smash towards the back glass directly opposite them.
✅ Through these six drills, the objective is to progressively develop a powerful, controlled smash with topspin, a high contact point and correct positioning underneath the ball, mastering each key technical element separately before combining them into a complete movement while on the move.
Preliminary step: using the correct racket grip for the power smash
Before starting the six technical progressions for the power smash, the player must adopt a racket grip suited to this shot.
✅ The objective is to use a grip similar to the one used for a backhand from the back of the court or a vibora, with a slightly more closed grip, allowing the player to generate more topspin on the ball.
This topspin helps the ball rise higher after rebounding off the opponent’s back glass, with the aim, at a more advanced level, of making it return to the player’s own side of the court.
The player should maintain this racket grip throughout all six progressions of the session.
