PABLO FRANCO DURAN is known throughout the continental padel community as ‘The Maestro’ and we are delighted that the Padelmba coach to the coaches is now delivering master classes and padel clinics at Game4Padel venues in the UK.
After recently wowing students at Bloom Heathrow London, Ipswich and Broxbourne, we asked the former World Padel Tour star, who has also coached the Qatar national team, to provide us with five glinting gems of padel advice that we can share with our followers. Over to you Maestro!
1: Position:
Pablo says: “If you don’t have good position, it doesn’t matter if you have perfect technique – it is impossible to play good padel. If you are in the correct position every time you will be in the point, so this is the first tip, it is the basic that you must get correct.”
2: Tactics:
Pablo says: “It makes a huge difference if a player knows where they have to put every ball. If you do not have a plan of where to play and you just think: ‘I will put it cross, then straight, then cross and all will be good,’ then you will be dead.
“So you must have a tactic and you must try and repeat this consistently in order to improve that tactic and make it more effective. It is about being smart on court and if you are smart then you will win more points for sure.”
3: Communication:
Pablo says: “For me communication is a basic requirement and one of the initial problems with beginners is that they don’t speak with each other. If you watch World Padel Tour matches every time in every point they speak: ‘They are coming, they are close, yours is close to the net…’ whatever, but the communication is constant.
“Whatever the situation, you must talk to your partner, because if your partner knows what they have in front of them when they are hitting the ball from say the back wall, it makes a huge difference as he knows where he has to put the ball.
“The content of what you are saying is also important so if you are at the back of the court then: ‘They are coming’, to warn that your opponents are moving to the net is important, as you can lose the point because you played a straight ball and the opponent was waiting at the net with a big smile!
“But if you let your partner know your opponents are at the net, then he can get the lob away and you can stay in the point. That information is vital.”
4: Analyse:
Pablo says: “For example, when you are attacking and in at the net playing the volley most players try to play fast and for me this is a big mistake. Why? Because if you always play fast, the ball comes back quickly to you and sometimes your next shot hits the glass really high and the opponent will kill you because of this.
“So you have to choose the correct ball every time when you are on the attack – play with less power, play with full power – make the correct choice and you will be more effective and make sure you win the point.”
5: Activation:
Pablo says: “You have to be focused in the match and making sure you are moving your feet. We have a phrase in padel called ‘the fridge’ and this is when the opposition realises that you are better than your partner and they start to play every ball to him.
“When this happens if you stop your feet moving and become rooted to the spot then when the ball is switched to you, you will miss it as you are not ready. So you must stay active at all times and not just when you are playing your shot. If you are not active then you are dead, for sure.”
Pablo will return to the UK to continue his Game4Padel Master Class series so please keep an eye on the website for sign up information, or follow us on social media.
