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1. Fitness & Footwork

Limited physical endurance, affecting shot selection, and execution. Can sustain a short length rally at very slow pace. No understanding of padel specific footwork.

Limited physical endurance. Can sustain a medium length rally at a slow pace. Footwork may be better due to more practice, or coming from oter sports.

Limited physical endurance. Rallies are longer and fitness tends to determine who ends up losing the point. Footwork starts to be padel specific, but still needs work.

Can sustain comfortably long rallies. Court movement tends to be faster. Footwork is fast, accurate and helps them to execute better shots.

Can sustain high intensity matches where almost every rally is very long. Fast court movement and footwork

Can sustain high intensity matches, with very fast court movement, in fast paced and long rallies. Footwork is on point and allows them to transition excellently between phases of play.

2.Groundstrokes

Players do not have a racquet sports background, hit with basic flat forehands, with limited or no technique and very low ability to execute any backhand.

Some racquet sports experience from any sport (including padel for a while). More understanding of the connection between racquet, ball and outcome, but still inconsistent results as a whole.

Difference between the three spins, sliced, flat and top spin is starting to be understood, but technique is still a problem, and so are the results, with many unforced errors

Flat and sliced strokes are consistent, they are more comfortable with backhand flat groundstrokes due to more practice and experience. Variation in power, placement and spin with less UE Groundstrokes are quite consistent in most situations.

Technically solid in flat and sliced shots on both sides. Uses chiquitas and topspin only when needed, with very few unforced errors. At this level, the player has multiple winning, very reliable shots even under pressure.

Shot selection is on point, groundstrokes are super consistent with flat, slice, topspin and chiquita shots used appropriately. Speed, effects and angles are handled perfectly

3.Glass defence

Players have limited understanding of the ball bounce off the glass, and are either too close, or too far to be able to return even medium height balls at slow to medium speed. Double glass defence is not understood at this point.

Can defend balls against a single wall, although forehand is stronger than backhand. Start to get some success in defending the double glass. Turning at the corners rarely happens. Lobs are used but without much control over them.

Consistently defending against a single wall, but struggle to read direction and spins fr3om their opponents. Double wall defence starts to happen more often but can't control the way they hit after turning or stepping away. Lobs are a basic defence tool

Single glass defence is very consistent using sliced shots. Double walls, turns in both directions are the norm in long rallies but can break down under pressure. Lobs are high and relatively deep but lack variety.

Single and double glass are well understood only struggling with maximum spin or speed from their opponents. Consistent lobs, with variation in height, speed and angle.

Perfect control of double wall defence, regardless of the receiving shots' spin (vibora, bandeja etc). They can defend to obtain an advantage. Lobs are deep, a little sliced, high and very well placed

4.Net play

Very limited ability to execute volleys and no evidence of technique. Occasionally prefer to let the ball bounce in front of them instead of taking it on the rise.

Forehand volleys are better than backhand ones. Slicing their forehand is somewhat understood and occasionally applied, but backhands are a struggle. Usually, don't hold a strong READY POSITION, hence the poor contact points.

Forehand volleys start to be sliced regularly and backhand volleys become a bit less uncomfortable. Still  have to get reminded of holding their racquet when preparing their backhand shot, hence the inconsistent results

Consistent in medium to low height sliced volleys, not many translating into winners. Transition  volleys are well understood and produced with consistency.

Volleys are low, sliced and overall, DEEP. They understand the difference between transition and winner  volleys, and when to use them. Can dropshot occasionally.

All volleys are very sliced, fast paced and extremely consistent. Direction is precise  and can dropshot at ease.

5.Overheads 

No understanding of overheads, inconsistent results.

Bandeja is starting to be understood, but players struggle with basic technique. They may rely on power smash as a winning shot.

Bandeja is used regularly, though with inconsistent execution, not great depth and not as sliced as it should be. Flat smash used regularly but many times leading to losing the point instead of winning it.

Bandeja is used regularly and always relatively sliced. Viboras have started to appear, but are quite inconsistent. Smash is flat if it exists, topspin smash not understood. At this stage, the smash is not consistently effective and can lead to them losing the point against better or fitter players

Bandejas are no longer a problem and most times are substituted with viboras which remain low, are heavily sliced and very deep. Great understanding of all overheads including x3 smashes, flat smashes, rulos (fence smashes), ganchos(hooks), etc. Shot selection tends to be on point.

Shot selection is on point and overheads tend to dictate who wins the point. Extreme slices and a lot of spin on every shot they play.

6.Court Position

Limited understanding of where to stand in defence or at the net. Do not come to the net after they serve.

Net position is slightly better more often. Defence down the line is slightly better, but cross court defence position is poor. They come to the net after they serve, but find themselves in no  man's land zone too often

They always come to the net after they serve. Net position is now good but the defence not as much: they stay in an accurate position when down the line and cross court are  starting to understand where to stand so they can deal with opponents more efficiently and read balls

Net position is great and they understand when to close in after a good volley. Down the line defence is no longer a problem, but cross court they still find themselves out of position and not being  able to defend more difficult shots, or becoming too inconsistent in them.

Net position is perfect depending on the phase of play. They may need minor adjustments when defending cross court, but overall they  position themselves perfectly.

Seamless transition from defence to attack and back, when appropriate. Always in the best possible position according to the phase of play they  are at: Attack, Rally or Defend.

7.Partner Work

Play as individuals, rather than as a team, and are focused on their shots with limited awareness of their partners' shots. No understanding of moving in partnership depending of where the ball is, or the game situation.

They start to move in tandem with their partner front and back, but inconsistently, and not as much sideways. They start to understand when to attack or defend depending on their partner's position but again, partner work is embryonic at this stage. Limited understanding of roles of left vs right player

They communicate with their partner and design some sort of strategy. They show some consistency on how they play their role on court (left/right side), and adjust their game in relation to their partner. As a pair, they may struggle to cover the middle effectively and leave too many gaps on court, which can be easily exploited by slightly better opponents.

Effort to develop tactics with their partner on a consistent basis. They are aware of each other’s' court position at most times and adjust their individual game and shot selection accordingly. The players understand their role (left vs right) and adapt their tactics based on that most of the time.

They adapt their game to complement their partner, spot patterns and devise strategy. They may break traditional court formation if and when required. Will cover empty court spaces when their partner is under pressure. As a pair, they attempt, regardless of the partner, to cover up their joint weaknesses.

Can alter their game to fit their agreed strategy. Can perform in any court formation (i.e. front and back) and adjust to the opponent’s game. Will cover any space left by their partner and also will modify their opponent’s choice selection by faking moves or making faints.

8.Strategy and Point Construction

They don't adjust their game in relation to their cross-court opponent. Limited understanding of attack vs defence and therefore, unable to use shots to turn defence into attack.

They start to adjust their game in relation to their opponents. Lobs are used but consistently and struggle to play slightly sliced shots off the glass to take advantage (i.e. bajadas). They can identify stronger players and try to avoid them but results are still inconsistent.

They react to the opponent, but are unable to anticipate, take control and dictate. They understand opponents' strengths, but cannot see their weaknesses. They start to play off the glass in a way that can help them building the point (i.e. using sliced instead of top spin shots) or choosing lobs instead of bajadas, but tactically still choosing lobs instead of bajadas, but tactically still struggle to choose the best option. They understand how to transition between defence and attack and start focusing on retaining the net position, though they struggle to do so consistently.

Good point construction, using lobs to regain the net and transitioning well between defence and attack. They may attempt more complex strategy, but in a trial-and-error fashion. They can see opponents' strengths and occasionally can identify their weakness, but may not be fully able to adjust their game. Their shot selection supports their tactical choice, not the other way around. Still some technical deficiencies separate them from the level above

Accurate point construction, but rushed at times especially in defence when opponents put more pressure with spins and angles. They can locate opponents’ strengths, weaknesses, and can exploit their own strengths accordingly. Weaknesses are still visible. Shot selection supports their tactical approach and there is clear intent and purpose in every shot.

Player can readjust their strategy as many times as necessary "on the go" in order to in the match. They avoid their opponents' strengths and exploit their weaknesses. They can anticipate their opponents moves several shots ahead and change the pace, dynamic or situation in a way that favours them and gets them out of a losing streak.