Analysis of Off-The-Wall Smash Shots in Men's and Women's Professional Padel.

PURPOSE: our aim was to analyze the characteristics of the off-the-wall smash in men´s and women´s padel, and to compare gender differences in the set-dependent frequency of these shots. STUDY SAMPLE: through systematic observation, we analyzed 441 off-the-wall smashes from the Final Master of the 2022 season of the World Padel Tour. RESULTS: showed that the women performed twice as many off-the-wall smashes as the men. This shot was executed most frequently (90%) from the center and right side of the court and from the dominant side, usually providing volley continuity (73%) and sometimes resulting in point winners (21.5%). Furthermore, there were gender differences, depending on the defense zone from which the wall smashes were defended (p = .014) and on the final match result (p = .018). In men's padel, the losing pair performed more off-the-wall smashes, while in women's padel, the winning pair performed more of these smashes. Finally, between both genders, most off-the-wall smashes occurred in the first set and decreased in number in the third set, with the second set containing the fewest off-the wall smashes.

Performance Analysis in Padel: A Systematic Review.

The aim of the study was to carry out a systematic review of the most recent research on performance analysis in padel. An electronic search was made in four sport science databases: Web of Science, Pubmed, Scopus and Google Scholar. Systematic review principles were used to identify and select studies following inclusion and exclusion criteria. From a total of 261 articles identified in the initial search, 27 articles were included in analysis, all dating from after 2018. The articles were classified according to four study variables: temporal aspects, game actions, on-court movements and match score studies, ordered in turn according to the year of publication. The results show differences in the four study variables according to the gender or the level of players, the side or the zone of play and the duration of the match. In conclusion, the results define the relevant aspects of the game with the aim of being used at a technical, tactical and physical level, as well as contributing to the development of scientific knowledge in padel, allowing future research to address less studied topics and carry out more complete and specific studies and interventions for a greater understanding of the needs of padel.

Análisis De La Efectividad Del Golpeo en Pádel en Función Del Género, Duración Del Punto Y Tipo De Punto / Analysis of the Effectiveness of Hitting in Paddle Depending on Gender, Duration of the Point and Type of Point

This study aims to analyse the winners and errors shot in professional padel according to gender, type of point and the point duration, observing the differences between winners and losers. For this 1927 points of 14 matches (7 male and 7 female category) from the World Padel Tour Master Final 2021 were analyzed, where participated 32 padel players (16 men players and 16 women players), using an ad-hoc instrument obtaining an inter-observer reliability above 0.9. The results show that the effectiveness depending on the gender (p = .001), where the male padel players perform 12% more winners than females padel players. Attending to the importance of the point, winning pairs perform 10% more winner shots than lossers, both in the male category (p=.002) and female (p= .004) in no key points. No differences exist in key points. Point duration affects to the shot effectiveness, specifically in medium duration points in male category (p=.026), and short duration points in female category (p=.007), with a higher winner shot produced by winning pairs. These results have a great practical application for coaches, providing information for the design of training programs similar to competitions situations. In addition, especific strategies can be develop during the matches according to the gender and the score.(AU)