Padel shot simulator

Forward aims toward the net; backward aims toward your own back glass. Face, swing and launch angles follow the selected shot direction, with positive launch angles pointing upward. A swing following the incoming ball must catch up with it to make contact. In the table, positive spin is clockwise in this side view: topspin traveling right and backspin traveling left. The model uses a centered hit and a 5 ms contact. It holds the hitting spot’s velocity and face rotation rate constant and uses the halfway face angle to estimate the impulse. The outgoing flight begins at release.

Flight includes gravity, air drag and spin-induced lift. With Show bounce enabled, outgoing paths continue through floor and glass rebounds until the second floor contact, the net, mesh, or exit from the plotted area. Mesh ends the trace because its rebound is irregular. Turning off Show bounce stops an outgoing path at the first floor or wall contact. The fixed view spans the 20 m court and heights up to 5 m.

The dashed gray incoming path starts at Opponent hit and ends at your contact ball. Direct approaches travel left. Off back glass requires a shot from the opponent’s half that clears the net, bounces once on your floor, then rebounds from your left back glass before reaching you traveling right. A second floor bounce before contact is not accepted. These incoming bounces are independent of Show bounce, which controls the outgoing paths.

Incoming speed, approach angle and spin describe the ball at your contact. Positive incoming spin means topspin in its direction of travel. Moving Opponent hit or its direction handle solves for a launch speed that reaches contact while keeping the opponent’s launch spin; turf and glass friction can change the spin at contact.

Changing the incoming sliders reconstructs a compatible opponent hit, including the required floor and glass rebounds in Off back glass mode. For a contact with zero surface slip, reconstruction chooses zero tangential impulse. Paths that hit glass before the floor, bounce on the opponent’s side, meet the net or mesh, leave the view or exceed 30 m/s at contact are not accepted in this mode. The same floor-before-glass rule applies without separate serve and rally settings. At 0 m/s, move Opponent hit or its handle to create a feed.

Rebounds use a normal restitution impulse and friction opposing the ball’s surface slip, updating both velocity and spin. Assumed restitution and friction coefficients are 0.72 and 0.45 for turf, and 0.75 and 0.20 for glass. These are illustrative, not calibrated to a particular ball or court. The two-dimensional model omits side-to-side travel and spin decay.

Net margin measures the gap between the bottom of the ball and the 0.88 m net at court center before the first bounce. Negative values mean the ball hits the net. A dash means it never reached that point in flight. First-bounce distance in the table is measured from the hitting spot, with negative values toward your back glass. The court axis and ball x input use the net as zero.

The enclosure shows one typical stepped sidewall. Glass and mesh appear in the background of the center-court flight. Hiding the enclosure leaves the net and end-wall collision limits active.

FIP court dimensions and enclosures · Padel spin experiments · Ball bounce and friction model