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A 2 minute read, written in August 2026 and read over again on 10 October 2026

The bandeja: the shot that keeps you at the net

The bandeja is not a smash and it is not meant to win the point. It is the shot that lets you answer a deep lob without giving the net back, and it is the clearest sign of a player who has stopped playing tennis.

What it is

A bandeja is a controlled, sliced overhead played at around shoulder or head height, out in front of your body, with the racket travelling across and through the ball rather than down on it. The word means "tray", after the flat, waiter-carrying-a-drink shape of the swing. It sends the ball deep and low, usually cross-court, and it keeps you exactly where you were: at the net.

YouPartnerOpponentsBall
Contact in front, from the service line Back to the service line and side on, then meet the ball in front of your shoulder. Behind your head it is a weak smash.

When to play it

The rule is not about how high the ball is. It is about where it will land and where your weight is going.

YouPartnerOpponentsBall
Deep to the corner, then back to the net Aim deep at the corner so it dies off the back glass, and use the time the ball is in the air to get back to the net.
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  • Lob landing behind the service line, you moving backwards: bandeja.
  • Lob landing in front of the service line, you balanced and moving forwards: smash.

A smash hit from deep is a low-percentage shot that also hands back the net when it comes back. The bandeja gives up the chance to end the point in exchange for keeping the position that wins the next four.

How to hit it

YouPartnerOpponentsBall

Your call

You are both at the net. Your partner has to move wide to volley a ball by the left glass. What do you do?

Move with your partner, like a rope between you. Wide on one side means the other slides to the middle.

The whole reasoning, at every level

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  1. Turn early and travel side-on. If you are backpedalling square to the net, you have already left too late.
  2. Point at the ball with your free hand. It fixes your spacing and stops you letting the ball drift behind you.
  3. Contact in front of your head, not above it, at about shoulder to head height.
  4. Slice across the ball, high to low, finishing low and across your body. The face stays slightly open.
  5. Land moving forward, and recover to the net.

Aim deep and cross, at their side glass. Cross-court is the longer diagonal so you get margin, and it keeps the ball away from the middle where the down-the-line counter comes from.

Bandeja, vibora, smash

They sit on a spectrum from control to risk:

YouPartnerOpponentsBall
A lob is coming. Bandeja or smash: what decides it? In front of you and high: smash. Pushing you back: bandeja. Depth decides, every time.
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  • Bandeja: flattest swing path, most slice, most control, lowest risk. Your default when you are pushed back.
  • Vibora, "viper". Hit more to the side of the ball with heavy sidespin and slice, a touch more aggressive, contact slightly higher. It kicks off the side glass and dies rather than sitting up.
  • Smash: flat and downwards, only when the ball is short and you are balanced.

The mistakes

Hitting it too hard is the big one: a bandeja that flies sits up off their back glass and comes straight back at you. Second is letting the ball get behind your head, which turns the shot into a scoop. Third is standing still after it: the bandeja buys you a second, and that second is for recovering to the net, not for admiring the shot.

YouPartnerOpponentsBall
A lob is going to your forehand corner, deep. Bandeja from there: where to? Bandeja from the corner goes deep cross-court. The long diagonal is where the time is.
The Playbook, chapter 5: The overheadsFirst question, always: is the lob in front of you (smash) or pushing you back (bandeja)?See the chapter

Try it on court: chains on this idea

No overhead

The player on your left cannot hit an overhead.

No overhead, from the right

The player on your right cannot hit an overhead.

What a padel engine taught us

Lab note: Padel: The Game is a small physics engine: a ball with gravity, a 20 by 10 court with 3 metres of glass and a metre of mesh above it, four players with reactions and speeds and error, and a coach who plays every option in his head before you choose.

What the pros and coaches say

Sanyo Gutiérrez, whose bandeja is the one coaches show their students, has described it as a shot you hit to keep the net, not to end the point: the ball goes deep, dies off the glass, and the other pair has to lob again. Mauri Andrini of Hello Padel teaches it with the same idea, sideways, contact at shoulder height, follow through toward the target and recover to the net. Both say the same thing about the mistake: players hit the bandeja like a smash, and then they lose the net.

Drawn from match commentary on Sanyo Gutiérrez, the bandeja tutorials of Hello Padel and The Padel School, and conversations with club coaches.

Questions people ask

What is a bandeja in padel?

A controlled, sliced overhead hit at shoulder height and out in front of the body, played deep and cross-court to keep you at the net rather than to win the point.

When should you play a bandeja instead of a smash?

Play the bandeja when the lob lands behind the service line and you are moving backwards. Smash when the ball is short, in front of the service line, and your weight is moving forwards.

What is the difference between a bandeja and a vibora?

The vibora is hit more on the side of the ball with heavy sidespin and slice, at a slightly higher contact point. It is more aggressive than a bandeja and kicks awkwardly off the side glass, but it carries more risk.