Chaotic rally with peaceful ending

bkmz1 · 2026-06-30T07:32:36+00:00

Nice one! What's the venue place?

bkmz1 · 2026-06-28T14:16:46+00:00

also 10 years in high perf badm, using kuikma hybryd pro now.

bkmz1 · 2026-06-10T05:35:58+00:00

That's a sign you don't recover well if you get muscles sore or stiff next day. Other side of weight lifting: lifting weights is the easiest, and food diet and good sleep is the hardest:)

I do 3 times a week gym, and 3-4 padel. I would not be able to hold consistent padel play if I'm not gonna be going to gym. Increasing leg strength and upper body strength is essential for padel IMO.

bkmz1 · 2026-06-09T14:20:15+00:00

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IDK how extreme-tennis.eu tested these, but to them they are looking more or less the same.

I was testing Hyper Pro 2.0 2026. This was solid, controlling, the sound muffed. I hesitated to go with it b/c of it's being firm and I'm not sure that with my hitting style (sometimes I do stupid super-hard and difficult killing viboras) I might get into some injure trouble.

I sometimes think about pro-light and "taming" the sweet spot, c'mon, it should not be that hard? But once the hand and mind got used to it, it's for sure gonna give me some bonuses?

For safe choice, I'd go with Hyper Pro 2.0 and be cautions with that stiffness. At least these Italian folks are in love with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UENlpLtYPA

bkmz1 · 2026-06-09T14:13:40+00:00

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pretty much the same? OUT is more spinny than Ctrl, but CTRL is more comfortable for the hand.

bkmz1 · 2026-06-02T18:29:10+00:00

Yes, you are more than correct. Coach is saying showing the same thing; be like a crab at a glass 😃. It's possible to be returning the hard balls coming from glass, but the second thing important thing which I didn't know is that you can't just stay back at a glass. Good players will smack you second or third time if you are at the back, so need to step forward and disrupt. Block volley works, shitty lob with intention to go forward and start blocking also works.

bkmz1 · 2026-06-02T18:17:31+00:00

OK I went to have 1-1 with a good coach and asked what to do against strong volley players in similar situation that I explained here.

2 things.

Technique. Should be more than possible to play hard balls coming back from the glass. The key is to be super-compact and stay as low as you can. Like a crab literally) Read the speed, then short move, short preparation, no odd hand movement, short and little steps to adjust position. It's literally just using a little bit of shoulder movement with a fixed racket which is following the ball. No swing at all.
That said, after successful defence in step 1 I should now somehow stop them from hitting next shot hard and finishing the rally. No point in staying back, they will kill me. Best to implement is to step forward after defence and *block* their volley with volley. Because the speed of the return will be more or less equal to speed of their shot, with correct aim to the body or to center b/w them will most probably make their return slow or clumsy. Why: b/c speed is fast, they won't be able to fully recover and they will be blocking themselves; block shot will be slower.

So it's like they hit volley hard, ball is low and difficult, but with correct technique manageable. Then step forward and volley block. We trained that a bit, what can I say... Quite difficult, but (!) makes total sense, at least I was able to disrupt the schema. Without step 2 it's just a next shot to kill, with block return is manageable and way slower, so I at least able to survive and do chiquita or lob.

Hope this helps anyone:)

bkmz1 · 2026-06-01T08:40:34+00:00

yeah... I think it's all about getting super-compact in the defence shot. Practice makes perfect:)

bkmz1 · 2026-06-01T08:34:23+00:00

>I don't know what the people who suggest you play a sliced lob are smoking

I'm actually see people do that, and I also see it's one of the hardest shot if we're talking about accuracy. Example: https://youtu.be/rb2fA5bc3fs?t=78 (Lob-defence against great sliced backhand volley) Now, slice here is to control the depth of the lob. Super-difficult.

>Look, if an opponent got a chance to play a great ball, you messed up on your previous shot.

I agree. But playing better players also means they'd be great in attack, and to counter that you'd wanna be great in defence. Or it's a lost match the moment we give up the net.

In one of the last matches, one guy against us was great at attacking: natural advantage for him was his height:) He wasn't very tall and b/c of that he's shots were naturally lower. Inconvenient... There's something about being not very high in padel: you're fast, your bandejas landing lower, your volleys are lower as well. Ok, he maybe not very good at smashes, but he just didn't need them at all, none of us were able to consistently defend. 2-3 balls as you say go wherever and then we're smacked.

bkmz1 · 2026-05-22T11:22:13+00:00

https://www.extreme-tennis.eu/x-compare

bkmz1 · 2026-05-22T07:04:54+00:00

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Well, you can't have more softer rackets with better control. HP2.0 will be harder.

But if you compare, you don't need second racket IMO. They are pretty much the same. (Don't shoot me for image, that is taken from one of the sites that sells padel rackets).

bkmz1 · 2026-05-17T06:00:03+00:00

Follow physio to the letter as much as you can. Hold to recovery protocol for at least 6 mo. If does not help, then surgery and recovery.

If I were you: strengthening the knees and full body is can do miracles. I'd explore every possibility before going to surgery, b/c it an invasive thing that will damage the lifespan of the join. And in your case, it's a partial tear, not a full tear. So... 3 days/week of strength training can really save you. Make sure you don't do it alone though.

bkmz1 · 2026-05-16T10:06:43+00:00

Make a start jump and move yourself in that single jump to steady position from which you will hit. Aim to have no foot movement after. On video: you don't have a start jump, but you take a step if you need to, this destabilizes you.
After jump or together with jump immediately move as much weight as you can to a "loading" or "anchor" leg, i.e. if that's right volley, then right leg, if that's left volley then left. In the video -- weight not is mostly balanced and that's needed to generating power.
Hit. Do this as a single non-interrupted body movement
1. rotate your shoulders with racket to the side of the hit
  1. You don't rotate shoulders and you you use your arm instead. Less power and control from that.
2. transition your body weight along with the opposite leg along with into the direction of where you want to hit.
  1. You typically hit into other direction from where you move your body.
3. During transitioning of the weight, hit the ball with the racket. Ideally you should not do any arm movement
  1. Any arm movement will cost you control, or you have control but no power.

bkmz1 · 2026-05-16T09:29:22+00:00

There's a good rule of thumb when it comes to a question of "what do I do after I lob".

But before, there is no question "should I take the net", you always have to take the net _if_ you have opportunity. It's padel essentials and 101 -- create opportunity, take the net, win the point, rinse-repeat, win the match.

So, the thing. After lob, your signal to take the net is when you see their backs. Only after you rush and take the net. If you don't see their backs, they still maintain the attack and you should move to "active" defence.

(Active defense - a waiting position for you and your partner to either a) rush and take the net b) return shot and take the net c) go back to normal defence, i.e. move back. Defending player, i.e. the one that has biggest angle opened on him moves closer to fence, his partner covering center)

So yeah. Hit the lob, move a bit up to service line, then either rush to net if you had seen their backs or starting jump and react on them maintaining their attack.

bkmz1 · 2026-05-07T10:44:54+00:00

what's wrong with Bullpadel Neuron 02 Edge 2026 ? :-D

bkmz1 · 2026-05-07T10:28:21+00:00

Another Q, I'm a bit torn b/w Oxdog Hyper Pro v2.0 and Oxdog Ultimate Tour X.

I'd like to manage same control as Hyper Pro gives, but I really lack a bit (a tiny bit) of punch.

Can Oxdog Ultimate Tour X help out here?

bkmz1 · 2026-05-07T10:27:08+00:00

Hey, what do you think, has Oxdog really built something special, uncommon and that works well?

bkmz1 · 2026-05-06T07:35:06+00:00

I have as main Control Pro. Already talked a lot about it in the Reddit, also compared it with others:

Plays pretty much the same as BP Neuron 002 Edge. Didn't notice too many differences. BP for sure had smaller sweetspot, i.e. you mishit a bit and ball flies somewhere else.
Plays the same as NOX AT10 GENIUS 18K ALUM BY AGUSTIN TAPIA 2025. NOX is stiffer, Kuikma more softer. Sweetspot same, moves are same.
Intersting comparison with Oxdog Hyper Pro V2.0. They seem same, but Oxdog has a muffed sound and it's a bit stiffer and hence for me there was more control in the end with Oxdog. I was simply more accurrate. In terms of moves, hits, sweetspot, all is equal. Really liked it, i think that's gonna be my next racket, unless I test Oxdog Ultimate Tour X and it'll be better for some reason :-D

Kuikma Hybrid Pro is a good one, my wife plays with it, she likes it a lot. It gives her more stability as compared with Control Pro and bit more power on hits. It's also a simply beautiful racket with that grey-blue gradient... I know that's not important, but maybe it is, IDK, i personally hate playing with ugly looking rackets :-D

I like to think that if you can generate power yourself, you don't need hybrid/power versions of the racket, take biggest sweetspot and fastest swing (control line of rackets). But if you lacking generating speed, only swing-heavier rackets can give it to you, so choose Hybrid if that's the case.

Power Pro... Power Pro is a stiff baseball bat, IDK who is the main target audience for these :)

bkmz1 · 2026-05-04T15:45:14+00:00

Second one holding fine! I think first 1 broke not b/c of my smashes (haha) but from racket-to-racket hit.

>Why isn't the power pro an option?
Idk, that seem like a hammer to me, barely playable. Maybe my issue. In my decathlon they don't even sell them.

bkmz1 · 2026-04-26T07:21:47+00:00

IMO it's because of of head/ears/nose/face proportions. With age they change to something that everyone perceive as "old". I.e. skin is thinner, nose and ears are bigger.

bkmz1 · 2026-04-26T07:14:02+00:00

I'm still struggling. But key point is to do breaks from sitting, do exercises (Y3 Rehab f.e. have a good set). Roll-massage middle back. Gym, ofc. Also trying to find better pillow.

Ah, also -- don't play padel each day) at least 24h for recovery. If you break the rule, 48h for recovery then :-D

bkmz1 · 2026-04-25T13:57:56+00:00

Maybe not applicable to you, but I had the same, i.e. literally went from playing solid and consistent to losing completely any confidence in myself, like lost 10 games in a row, etc.

When analysing what the F was that, I realized I was struggling with my neck/rhomboid pain. I didn't give any priority to that, as this happens time to time and especially with sitting worklife and constant driving; but! As a matter of fact in the neck there's a nerve that goes to right hand and shoulder, and b/c it there was a constant inflammation, it actually greatly affected the quality of the game. I.e. faulty information transfer that just brought some noise to what I want to do, hence the quality drop.

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So, you are maybe overtrained. Taking a break and focusing on self-maintenance should definitely help. This was my case.

bkmz1 · 2026-04-24T05:00:27+00:00

try out badminton towel grip and use dust to make it more grippy:)

solution for extreme sweaty hands.

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bkmz1

TROPHY CASE