There should be an upgrade at the very start, which is low-cost and speeds up the movement.
Currently, the only affordable upgrade is extra life. Not having the speed boost for our paddle can cause repeated defeats, and not having enough money for anything.
Often, after a certain point in the game, the ball comes to a state where we need to move the paddle all across the screen repeatedly. It's okay when we are at a lower ball movement speed, but this infinite state of going back and forth is only for a short period, as the ball is getting faster and faster, but the paddle is at a constant slower speed.
Our paddle is not even the same speed as the other one!! So it is an inevitable death situation.