100 Games of Padel

2-6 5-7 5-5 Rating: What a gift that God could gie us...... Venue: Playtomic Barn Well that was a toughie, a step up in rating and opponents given my recent wins. However, we brought our usual work game attitude and got absolutely clobbered initially. 14 min first set and then didn't finish the three sets in the remaining 1h:40m.  So so many Deuces First Set: just gave up the net completely and just got smothered. Any gaps were exploited, any poor lob was smashed. We came off a bit disorientated but I was like "We have to play harder, we have to take more risks and we have to contest the net" Second set that immediately payed off with our returns posing problems in a way that they didn't in the first set. My serving was absolutely on point and anchored our games but the big change was stopping the terrible lobs and leaning into hard and flat returns. This cause them to commit errors as they were very good at stepping into the net but tended to stay there and not have ...

6-2 0-6 6-0 Rating: Sometimes it's about showing up Venue: Usual Place, The Beach A mixed cast for this landmark game. 3/4 of the way through. We had 3 decent level players and one more limited. We swapped teams around after every set and you can see the impact. The limited player was more back to the wall, can't play off the glass very well and really talks himself into a bad headspace. But you know what, he was there and he enjoys it.  I said after, if he'd thought about playing some games with people more around his level and he said that he doesn't mind getting beat as he learns more. Good attitude! although on court you'd think he was in a deep depression ha ha. First set me and my partner went 3-0 up before it went back to 3-2. I wasn't bothered in the slightest but I could sense some unease, worry and impatience within points from my partner. He got himself sorted though and we cruised to the first set. Second set, I was with the more limited player and h...

  Casual Game but scores were 6-0 2-6 6-0 6-1 Rating: Palate Cleanser Venue: Playtomic Barn Well that was the palate cleanser that was required. It's not about the scores or the rankings as it was a Casual game because that was exactly what I was looking for. I set it up on Playtomic and got some interest from the sealclubber player I'd played before and his girlfriend. They wanted to play but not enter scores as his girlfriend was a wee bit lower in rating. By that time, another player had joined and I bunted the decison to him. As we didn't have anyone else we changed the competitive game to an unofficial casual game and it was ideally what I needed. High level but no pressure. Now, I will call one of the players the sealclubber as he beat me and a rookie badly in one of my earlier matches before but he's a really nice guy. Loves his Padel, was great to play against him tbh. So the main takeaway is that I didn't fluff an overhead the entire game. They weren't...

 3-6 5-5 (we won a tiebreak played as we were running out of time) Rating: The Hangover part 3 Venue: Usual Place, Center Court Same cast as the Hangover Part 2. Just not much fun. At some points I was turned away to get ready for the next serve knowing that there was no way my partner would return a shot. I mean, that's bad from me but you just knew. "ah, that's gone". At one point my partner literally was playing with his back touching the glass. For multiple shots in the same rally. I then gave up and stopped playing proper padel. I just stayed at that back with my partner and tried to hit defensive shots. Because of this, we went on a 3 game streak to tie at 5-5. We agreed on a tiebreak and our opponents made more errors that we did and we managed to sneak the second set. ugly though and again. I STILL played utter shite. Was standing there with none of the intensity and tactical nous of the previous month or so. getting distracted from my own game by thinking of ...

4-6 5-5 Rating: The Hangover part 2 Venue: Usual Place, Center Court The hangover continued.  Another poor match. Another time I played below what I'd consider my usual level. I miss playing with partners that take the net with you rather than stay at the back and leave you marooned. They then are forced to then soak up all the balls from the opposition.

Scores - pfffffft? Rating: The Hangover Venue: Usual Place, Center Court Ugh, back to normality. this was a work match with work players and I think everyone came away a bit annoyed.  I steamrollered one set and then struggled the other two.  The standard wasn't high. There was limited tactical play. Just a bit dissapointing.  Not every game can be an epic but it shows the importance of levels. It's not great if the level is too far apart. I played shit as well, way below what I thought I'd class my standard as.

6-4 6-2 4-6 Rating: Unbeaten European Adventure Venue: Green Padel, Tenerife Playtomic match again with Fraser against an higher rated Father and Son pair.  The dad had won intermediate tournements and was double my Playtomic Rating. Match Report We absolutely farmed points all game from my lobs within a foot of the glass. Only shot available to reply was a weak lob and Fraser would just eat those up with his smash. Yum yum. He carried it in the second set especially, his service games were automatic holds with his fast serve where as mine were battles. I served first. Got broken. The 3.8 was playing left and my serves were too pedestrian for playing Australian formation. He was placing it to my feet or out wide where I was struggling to cover. But here's the bit. I LEARN. I knew he was doing that. I made sure that my serves were 10% faster and with 15% more slice. He was still going parallel but under pressure now and I knew what he was doing so I was volleying his return to the m...

Score Immaterial Rating: By God, I think she's GOT it Venue: Green Tenerife My first ever Singles Padel game. Playing against my competitive daughter we didn't keep score but I could tell I was winning as she was utterly raging at points (at points in time and in and rally points). I wasn't trying to beat her but she struggles with the glass and in singles Padel, pretty much every point involves the glass. I can't say I would run back to play it again, I missed the angles in playing cross court and the tactics of a bigger court and multiple players. What was good was I gave her a loan of my racquet and I played with her entry level Decathlon one, she immediately "got" the harder carbon fibre racquet and loved the accuracy and the noise it made. Near the end the rallies were going on for a while, and you could see the lightbulb going off about the tactics and the pace.  "Dad's at the net, I'm going to lob him. OK now I can take the net and go for w...

6-3 6-3 7-6 (11-9) Rating: Good Game, Good Game Venue: Top Padel, Tenerife This started as a rematch but R never signed up and B had to call off at the last minute. Luckily Fraser managed to get a replacement so our opponents this time were C - an English Expat (signed up for the open slot originally) and L a Hungarian guy on holiday who was the last minute replacement. Because B had pulled out at the last minute we didn't enter the scores in Playtomic which was a shame as my rating could do with a win. I'd say that Fraser and I had clicked and worked really well together. I was setting up points for him to finish. Match Report I carried my partner in the 1st and 2nd set through sheer consistency. He carried us through the third, we was hitting great winners and I was starting to flag in the heat.  I won the tiebreak, not through arrogance, just played very very well in that pressure situation. 2 times it was 5-6 and then 7-8 on my serve and all my serves were absolute peaches....

6-4 7-6 (10-8) Rating: Absolute Padel  Venue: Top Padel, Tenerife First Playtomic match abroad, paired up with 3 random people and it was absolutely epic. 90 minute match and the first 2 sets took 70 mins. The opposition were dissapointed in losing and it was hella hot that they didn't want to play out the start of a 3rd set. Maybe that's the ettiquete over there but, for once, I didn't mind as I was absolutely dead on my feet. I matched up with an English guy called Fraser, tall, plays on the left, good smash, absolute perfect foil for me.  We were playing against a lawer from Madrid and another older but higher rated Spanish guy. Playtomic was a desert in Tenerife which was a real surprise so I was happy that I'd grabbed the bull by the horns, set up a game and got people interested. Match Report: Well first. It was Hot.  28c with no wind.  Outdoor court. 2 pasty Brits, Fraser had been here 3 days. 2 Spaniards one B and R. R was an older guy but wiry, looked like h...

Vibes not scores Rating: Hot Competition Venue: Tenerife, Aqua Padel Family Padel with the kids. It was great fun if a bit stressful managing the age differences and the competitive streaks. My oldest daughter is a bit diffident but good at smashing (older teen) My youngest daughter is very competitive, can hold a rally but can't deal with the glass (younger teen) My son is just delighted to be there (under 10) We played a mixture of drills, and mini games. I went with the youngest in games to try and keep it fun but overheard my youngest daughter say "Just hit it towards *son*!" so yeah, it was a challenge keeping all engaged and having fun for 90 mins in the heat.  It was good fun though and good to make memories.

2-6 2-6 3-1 Rating: What a difference a day makes Venue: The Beach Executive game at work with high level players, I was the weakest link and it showed. Too many unforced errors from me but I played against a player with a high level tennis background and he basically bossed the game.  We swapped sides after each set and so the last set I was with the tennis player and we were cruising as he had been all game. First set, I played with a really agressive player (in approach, not personally!) and we've never really clicked on the court. Every time we've been paired together we've underperformed. The box score was closer in this one with lots of deuces but in the end we were well beaten Second set, I was playing with the OG Padel player who I usually play really well with but it just wasn't to be today. you can tell by the scores when the teams were swapped that it was me that was the weak link. I think in both cases, because I wasn't aggressive enough, my partners wer...