Analysis of the lob shot in male and female professional padel: a pilot study

Abstract

The lob acquires a very important relevance in padel tennis, as it is the most used type of stroke to reach the net, being this action a success synonymous in this sport, because the 80% of the points are earned by the players who are in this position. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the lob stroke in professional padel tennis through the use of effectiveness variables, to determinate in which game situations is it more appropriate to use this stroke. The sample contained 296 lobs from the 2 finals (male and female) of the 2021 Madrid Masters Finals World Padel Tour. The lobs made by the 8 finalist players of the tournament were evaluated. The results of the study shown that women make a higher percentage of lobs compared to men in padel tennis. Moreover, the kind of stroke witch which more lobs are made is the forehand and the indirect forehand, finding differences between genders, due to men make a higher percentage of volley lobs, whereas women make a higher number of double wall lobs. Regarding to the stroke side, we observed that players make a 10% more of forehand strokes than backhand strokes, and the parallel trajectory is 10% superior than the cross court. Relative to the zone in the playing field, we can say that women make almost a 30% more of back court lobs, whereas men make a 20% more of lobs near the net. In terms of lob effectiveness, we find that a 64.6% of the lobs didn’t overcome the rivals, a 28.3% overcome them, and a 6.7% were errors. Finally, we observed that more than 70% of the lobs are made in irrelevant points.