General Tips
Get to the kitchen ASAP
This is important, as it will give you the best and easiest opportunities to put pressure on your opponents and attack high balls. It will also limit the number of angles and open spots your opponent has when hitting the ball back.
Play it safe
Every shot will not be a winner. Therefore, play the safe shot and keep the point moving instead of risking it all and potentially making a mistake. Pickleball is a game of mistakes, NOT a game of winners.
Don’t attack low balls
You don’t want to attack low balls below your knees because you are creating a low to high trajectory, which will allow your opponent to hit down on the ball when returning your shot. Additionally, the likelihood of hitting the net or having the ball sail long out of bounds when attacking low balls is high.
Keep your opponents back
It is always best to keep your opponents as far from the net as possible. By keeping your opponents back, you limit the amount of shots that they can hit down and toward your feet. In addition, there is a better chance for them to make mistakes on longer shots.
Target your opponent's feet
This is a great strategy because it forces your opponent to reach down and hit the ball with an upwards trajectory, thus setting you up for a great return. Additionally, it’s just hard to hit a ball near your feet in general.
Use short strokes
Short, compact strokes are the key to pickleball. They allow you to prepare quicker and hit with more control.
Practice your 3rd/5th shot drops
These shots are the best way for both you and your partner to advance to the non-volley zone. They take skill and time to develop. However, once you begin to use and develop them, you will understand how incredibly important they are.
Make your serve a weapon
For beginners, it is ok to just get your serve in to start the point. However, as your game evolves, you must use your serve to set the tone of the point. Using speed, spin and distance, will allow you to have an advantage from the start of the point.
Practice your weaknesses
This is important. Especially when you play competitively, opponents will seek out your weaknesses and try to exploit them. If you practice your weaknesses, they will soon become less of an issue and more of an opportunity to counter attack.
Have fun!
Pickleball can become a stressful activity. Tournaments, leagues and open play can all contribute to the added stress. That being said, it is very important to remember why you started to play and why you continue to keep playing, to have FUN! There will always be the next shot or game, but making new friends while getting an awesome workout is what it’s all about.
Dinks
The dink is one of the most fundamental and iconic shots in pickleball. It is the most commonly hit shot in the game, especially at the higher levels, and it defines the way the game is played.
Eliminate Your Backswing
Dinks are soft shots that are meant to bounce inside the kitchen. If you take a large backswing, you may hit the ball too hard, allowing your opponent to volley it. If you are having trouble with your dinks, the first thing to check is whether or not you are taking too big of a backswing.
Relax Your Arm
It is difficult to hit a soft shot if your arm is not relaxed. Therefore, it is very important that your arm is completely relaxed while you are hitting your dinks. This will help you maintain control over the ball so you can dictate the point and move your opponent around the court.
Mix Up Your Spots
If you hit your dinks to different spots every time, it will keep your opponents from getting into a rhythm. This will cause them to be less consistent and accurate, so you will get easier opportunities to attack. If you watch the pros play, they almost never hit a dink to the same spot twice in a row!
Play High Percentage Shots
Keeping the ball in play by hitting high percentage shots is often better than taking low percentage risks. Remember, dinking cross court is usually higher percentage because the kitchen is longer corner to corner and the net is lower in the middle. It is also better to hit a dink too high than to hit one in the net. If your dink lands in the net, the rally is over automatically. If you give your opponents a high ball, even if it is an easy shot, the pressure is on them to make the shot and finish the point. Live to fight another day!
Serve & Return
The serve and return are arguably two of the most important shots in the game, because without them, you wouldn’t be able to play out a point! Despite being relatively simple technically, the serve and return can present some issues if they are not practiced the right way.
Be Mindful of your Positioning
Your stance and location on the court are very important for hitting good serves and returns. For most beginners, it is easiest to hit these shots standing sideways, and angling your body in the direction that you want to hit. Both shots should also be hit from behind the baseline (except for on returns if your opponent gives you a short serve).
Prioritize Consistency and Depth
On both serves and returns, the number one goal should be to make the shot in the court. If you miss a serve or return, you do not get a second chance to hit the shot, and you are essentially giving your opponent a free pass. After getting the ball in the court, the next priority should be to hit a deep shot. The deeper your shot lands in the court, the farther back your opponent has to stay to hit it, and the harder it will be for them to hit the ball effectively. Beginner and intermediate level players should not prioritize power on their returns, as the cons of missing by hitting too hard are well outweighed by the pros of getting the ball in and deep.
Mix Up Your Spots
If you are comfortable being able to hit your serves and returns in the court, the next step is to mix up where you are hitting it. If you hit the ball to the same spot every time, your opponents will get into a rhythm. Test both their forehands and backhands, and try returning to both players to figure out what their weaknesses are.
Third Shot Drop
The third shot drop is one of the most fundamental, yet hardest shots to master. The third shot is literally the third shot in a rally (the serve is first and the return is second), and it is hit by the serving team, who should still be positioned at the baseline, while the returning team is positioned with both players at the net.
Eliminate Your Backswing
In order to get your third shot drop to bounce in the kitchen, you need to hit a very soft shot. In order to do this, it is very important that you keep your swing small and compact. This starts with the backswing. If you take too big of a backswing, you will likely hit the ball too hard, so that it goes past the kitchen and is an easy shot for your opponents. On drops, your paddle usually should not cross behind your waist. You should keep your paddle out in front of your feet as you prepare to hit.
Hitting the Ball too High is Better Than too Low
If you miss the ball in the net, the rally is automatically over. However, if you hit the ball a bit too high, the rally is still live and the pressure is on your opponents to hit the next shot. In fact, high level players are rarely perfectionists with their drops, and a statistical analysis once found that over 50% of third shot drops at the pro level are returned out of the air by the receiving team! If your drop is too high, stay back and try again on the fifth, or even the seventh shot.
Follow Your Shot to the Kitchen
If you hit the drop well (i.e. you get it to either bounce in the kitchen or your opponent reaches far to hit it in the air), you and your partner should follow the ball in and get positioned at the kitchen line. Move forward between the time when you hit your shot and when your opponents go to return it. Once your opponent makes contact with the ball, you should stop wherever you are on the court and prepare to hit. It is always hard to hit while moving, so it is ok if you don’t make it all the way up in one shot. Stop where you are when your opponent hits, and try to drop their next shot again to make it up to the kitchen.
Third Shot Drive
An alternative to the third shot drop, the third shot drive is an aggressive, hard hit shot that is meant for your opponents to hit out of the air (volley). It is used primarily when the return is high, short, and/or slow, and the goal of hitting a drive should be to get an easier next shot. Drives tend to be riskier than drops, and therefore are used less frequently. Drives are also used in conjunction with the drop, as many players like to drive the third shot so that they have an easier opportunity to drop the fifth shot.
Stand Sideways (Closed Stance)
It is easiest to hit powerful, accurate drives if you hit the ball standing sideways (closed stance). Although many advanced players are able to drive facing square to the net (open stance), it is usually better to use a closed stance, especially for beginners. The ball tends to go in the direction that your body is angled in. Therefore, if you are standing in an open stance, it will be more natural to swing across your body and have the ball go off to the side. In a closed stance, the ball will naturally go straight. This stance also makes it easier to get up to the net, as you can push your weight through the shot. An open stance requires a brief recovery before moving up to the net.
Use Your Whole Body
As with many other shots in pickleball, the drive requires you to use your whole body to hit most effectively. The swing is not just with the arm. You should bend your knees, rotate your hips, and push with your shoulder. Your arm alone isn’t strong enough to hit an effective shot. The best players use their entire bodies to hit the ball. That’s why you sometimes see players who look small and weak hit the ball harder than players with huge muscles, they know how to use their bodies efficiently!
Shot Selection is Key!
Perhaps the most important key to hitting good drives is choosing the right time to drive! Because the drive tends to be riskier than the drop, it is important that you play with high percentages. In general, you don’t want to drive low balls or when you’re out of position. Here are a couple situations that can help you decide whether a drive or a drop is the right shot:
Drive when the return is high
Drive when the return lands short in the court, as long as it is not bouncing super low to the ground
Drive when you are balanced and able to hit with your weight moving forward
If the return is low, deep, or you are off balance with your weight moving backwards, you should probably drop the third shot.
Volleys
The volley is a shot that is hit before the ball bounces. Volleys are primarily hit from the kitchen line, and are used on both offense and defense. In fact, there are many different types of volleys that are used in different situations.
Learn When to use the Different Types of Volleys
There are four main types of volleys, each with their own utility. They are as follows:
Punch volley: A volley hit with no backswing and a small, straight follow through. These volleys are hit with no spin and used as counter attacks or to attack high shots. The motion is straight forward from the chest and mimics a punch. It is usually your best choice if you are in a firefight.
Roll Volley: A roll volley is a volley hit with little to no backswing, and a follow through across the body. This volley is used almost exclusively to attack slow shots. Because it has a larger swing than the punch volley, it is not recommended for firefights, or when there are hard shots coming at you, because you won’t have time to take a swing.
Dink Volley: A dink volley is when a player reaches over the kitchen line to hit a dink before the ball bounces. This shot is not attacked, it is simply dinked back into the opponent’s kitchen. The dink volley is used as an aggressive dinking strategy, but is not a full on attack.
Block Volley/Reset: A block volley, or reset, is when a player blocks a hard hit shot back into the kitchen. This volley has no backswing or follow through. It requires soft touch, as the goal is to absorb the pace of the ball. Block volleys/resets are used when a player is attacked and is not in a position to execute a counter attack.
Keep Your Paddle in Front
No matter which type of volley you are hitting, you always need to keep the paddle out in front of your body. If you bring the paddle back too far, it is very likely that you will miss the shot. All volleys should be hit with short, compact swings.
Be Mindful of your Follow Through
It is important to keep your follow through compact. Some volleys require more follow through than others (ex: a roll vs a block), but no follow through should be so big that you are not ready for the next shot. Volleys are often hit in firefights and fast, offensive plays, so if your follow through is too big you won’t be ready for the next shot.