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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Elite Sports and Performance Enhancement
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1505817

Training under pressure mirrors competition: Technical-tactical insights from highlevel male padel players Similarities between pressure training and official competition matches in padel

Provisionally accepted
Rafael Conde-Ripoll Rafael Conde-Ripoll 1Adrián Escudero-Tena Adrián Escudero-Tena 2Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez 1,3Eduardo Navarro Jimenez Eduardo Navarro Jimenez 4Álvaro Bustamante-Sánchez Álvaro Bustamante-Sánchez 1*
  • 1 Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, European University of Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Spain
  • 2 University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
  • 3 Costa University Corporation, Barranquilla, Atlantico, Colombia
  • 4 Simón Bolívar University, Barranquilla, Colombia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study aimed to analyse the differences between pressure training and official competition matches in high-level male padel players from Finland, focusing on the proportion of points won by serving and returning players, the frequency of break points and golden points, and the effectiveness of the last shot. A total of 4,417 points from 38 matches played during the 2022 and 2023 seasons were analyzed. The results revealed no significant association between match type (pressure training vs. competition) and the distribution of winners, forced errors, or unforced errors (p=0.867). Similarly, the frequency of break points, non-break points, golden points, and non-golden points remained consistent across both match types, regardless of the service situation (serving or returning players). While a relationship was observed between shot type and match type in forced errors (p=0.024), the overall shot effectiveness remained comparable across different shot types. In conclusion, this study suggests that high-level male padel players display comparable technical-tactical performance in pressure training and official competition matches.

    Keywords: racket sport, performance, game analysis, notational analysis, Pressure training

    Received: 17 Oct 2024; Accepted: 14 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Conde-Ripoll, Escudero-Tena, Clemente-Suárez, Navarro Jimenez and Bustamante-Sánchez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Álvaro Bustamante-Sánchez, Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, European University of Madrid, Madrid, 28670, Madrid, Spain

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.