Research and Prediction of Winning Smashes in Professional Padel: Men's Versus Women's Matches and Winning Versus Losing Pairs

Abstract

Purposes: (1) Assess differences in winning smashes between men's and women's professional padel players, (2) examine disparities between winning and losing pairs within sets, and (3) predict the evolution of winning smashes among these players.

Methods: Between 2016 and 2022, 31,885 winning smashes (22,739 men's and 9146 women's) across 2567 sets (1476 men's and 1091 women's) from the World Padel Tour men's and women's circuits were analyzed using the World Padel Tour YouTube channel and television website. Descriptive and inferential analyses, including Mann-Whitney U test and effect size (Cohen d), were performed. In addition, a time-series modeling procedure was applied to track the evolution of winning smashes.

Results: (1) Men's padel showed a higher number of winning smashes compared with women's, regardless of set number, tournament round, season, and court type (P < .001; 0.62 < Cohen d < 1.65). (2) The number of winning smashes was significantly greater in winning pairs compared with losing pairs in both men's and women's padel (P < .028; 0.24 < Cohen d < 1.01). (3) In men's padel, the number of winning smashes appears to remain random across seasons, whereas in women's padel, losing pairs show a random pattern in winning smashes and winning pairs tend to experience a reduction.

Conclusions: Winning smashes are a crucial performance indicator in professional padel, significantly contributing to winning sets in both men's and women's play.

Keywords: high performance; performance analysis; racket sports; racquet sports; sex; shot efficacy.