Maybe you can reduce the ennemis mouvement, or add a delay before he follow the ball.
Perhaps, add a random direction when the ball it you or the ennemis

Do your share your p8 files ?

each game on the bbs can be downloaded as PNG carts (see Cart under the player), which pico-8 can load (including edu edition)

@Darwin, I think the main issue is that your paddle's position and movement don't affect the angle at which the ball rebounds, so it always follows the same simple up and down pattern. That would need to be changed for the game to play more like regular Pong.