To hit a víbora, turn side-on and take the racket back behind your head with your wrist cocked. Swing sideways across your body, cutting across the ball with the wrist to put heavy slice and sidespin on it, and let the follow-through carry on down past your waist. Played well, the ball skids low off the floor and into the side glass, which is very hard to return.

The víbora (Spanish for "viper") is the attacking version of the bandeja. It is harder to learn and easier to get wrong, so this guide covers the technique, the mistakes, and when the bandeja is the better choice.

What is a víbora?

Like the bandeja, the víbora is an overhead played from the net when your opponents lob you. The bandeja is about control: it sends the ball deep and keeps your position. The víbora is about pressure. It is hit faster, with more spin, and aimed to kick low off the floor and away off the side glass, forcing a weak reply or winning the point outright.

For how the víbora fits alongside the bandeja and the smash, see our guide to padel overhead shots.

Why the víbora works

The víbora is built around the walls. A flat smash that bounces in the court usually comes off the back glass at a comfortable height, giving your opponents a second chance. The víbora's slice and sidespin keep the ball low after it bounces and push it sideways, so it reaches the side glass at an awkward angle and stays low off it. Your opponents have to play it from near the floor, close to the wall, which rarely produces a good lob. That is how the víbora helps you win the point without giving up the net.

The checkpoints of a good víbora

These come from the padel coach who helped build OnCourtAI's padel analysis, and they are what our model checks in your video.

  • Racket behind your head at preparation. Where the bandeja is prepared with the racket out to the side, the víbora is prepared with the racket taken back behind the head. This gives the racket a longer path to accelerate along.
  • A cocked wrist. At the back of the swing, your wrist is bent back. Releasing it through contact is what generates the spin.
  • A sideways swing across the body. The swing travels across your body, the same as the bandeja. This is why the two shots are so easily confused.
  • A follow-through down past the waist. After contact the racket keeps going, down and across, finishing below your waist. This downward finish is the clearest sign of a víbora.

As with every overhead, contact is above you and in front, and the power comes from turning your body, not from the arm alone.

Step by step

1. Turn early and get the ball in front

Turn side-on as the lob goes up and move so the ball will come down slightly in front of your hitting shoulder. The víbora needs a well-placed ball. If you are scrambling, play a bandeja instead.

2. Take the racket behind your head

Lift the racket up and back so it sits behind your head, with the wrist cocked. Point your free hand at the ball to keep your shoulders level and your eyes on it.

3. Rotate and cut across the ball

Turn your body into the shot and swing across the back and side of the ball, releasing the wrist through contact. Think of slicing across the ball, not hitting through it.

4. Let the racket finish low

Do not stop the swing at contact. Let the racket carry on down and across your body, finishing below the waist, then recover into your net position.

The most common víbora mistakes

  • Preparing out to the side. If the racket never goes behind your head, you do not have the swing path to generate the spin, and you end up with a fast bandeja.
  • A stiff wrist. Without the wrist cock and release, the ball goes flat and sits up for your opponents.
  • Stopping the swing. Checking the follow-through at contact kills the spin. The finish has to go down.
  • Hitting it like a smash. Swinging straight down through the ball with power sends it high off the back glass and gives your opponents time.
  • Trying it from a bad position. A víbora from behind you, or off balance, rarely works. Choose the bandeja and wait for a better lob.

Víbora or bandeja?

Use the víbora when the lob is short or mid-depth, the ball is in front of you, and you have time to set up. It is the shot that puts your opponents under pressure. Use the bandeja when the lob is good, when you are moving backwards, or when you simply want to keep the net. At club level most lobs call for a bandeja, and the víbora is the shot you pick when the lob gives you a chance.

We explain the difference in detail, and how to tell which one you are really hitting, in bandeja vs víbora: what is the difference?

Drills for the víbora

  • Shadow swing in slow motion. Practise the full path without a ball: racket behind the head, wrist cocked, swing across, finish below the waist. Film it from the side and check each position.
  • Short lobs only. Have a partner feed short, comfortable lobs so you can learn the swing without fighting the footwork.
  • Side-glass target. Aim for the ball to bounce in the opponent's court and hit the side glass. If it hits the back glass first, you have hit through it instead of across it.

How OnCourtAI analyses your víbora

Choose Víbora in the padel analysis and film side-on. OnCourtAI checks whether the racket goes behind your head at preparation, whether your wrist is cocked, how far the swing travels sideways, and whether the follow-through goes down past the waist. You get a score for each part and advice on the one to fix first.

Two honest limits. OnCourtAI measures your body, not the ball, so it cannot see the spin itself or where the ball lands, only whether your movement is the one that produces it. And the víbora is one of the strokes with the least real footage in our training data so far, so treat its scores as a guide, especially alongside the data-quality rating that comes with every analysis.