Things you should keep in mind when playing padel in the cold

If you like to play padel even when it's cold out, and especially if you're playing on outdoor courts, you need to take special care to ensure the game goes smoothly and you enjoy yourself, while avoiding any injuries.

To begin with, it's really important to wear the appropriate clothing. For the upper body, we highly recommend wearing a zip-up sweatshirt or windbreaker, as they protect you from the cold and are easy to take off once you've warmed up. For the legs, padel players are often seen sporting technical tights during the colder months. Ultimately, your outfit needs to protect you from the external elements, without weighing you down or hindering your freedom of movement.

It might seem basic, but the warm-up really is the most important thing of all. You must ensure you warm up thoroughly, taking your time until you feel like all your muscles are working, and your body is agile and ready to undertake intense, continuous movement. Check out our blog post “5 warm-up exercises to get you playing in 5 minutes”: https://noxsport.es/blogs/making-you-improve/5-warm-up-exercises-to-get-you-playing-in-5-minutes. Ideally, you start playing wearing the least amount of clothing possible and use your breaks to warm up and hydrate.

Observe your surroundings. How does the carpet look on the court? What about the walls? During the winter months, humidity levels are high, which means that balls become heavier and less bouncy. As far as possible, you should avoid rebounding off the walls because the balls will slide, making it difficult to return them, especially if they arrive at a low speed. Damp balls also making it harder to deliver effective blows. A racket with a rough surface can help with this, for example, the new AT10 LUXURY GENIUS: https://noxsport.es/collections/luxury-series/products/padel-racket-at10-luxury-genius-agustin-tapia.

The cold can also affect some of the features of your racket, especially its rigidity. For this reason, it's essential that you protect your racket as much as possible from low temperatures, as well as from high temperatures during the summer. A racket bag with thermal compartments is the perfect accessory for this, such as the Nox PRO Series racket bags: https://noxsport.es/collections/racket-bags-and-padel-backpacks.

Follow these tips to smash your opponent while braving the cold!