David Zapatka
You’re in a crosscourt dinking rally and your opponent continues to put you under pressure with consistent dinking that tries your patience. The rally becomes more difficult as your opponent pushes you closer to the sidelines with shots close to the net. How long can you dink like this? Is it a battle of who is going to make the first error? What should you do? Can you outdink your opponent or should you change the pattern?
Most of these dink rallies are crosscourt giving you and your opponent more margin for error as you both hit over the low part of the net into the area of the court where there is more space.
Eventually, you may be pulled outside your comfort zone and possibly out of position outside the sideline. How do you neutralize your opponent’s strategy?
The best strategy is to reset the rally with a dink across the net to the opponent directly in front of you changing the pattern. This comes with some risk as the net in front of you is higher than in the middle and the space you hit into is smaller. Your risk can be reduced by making your backswing and follow-through much shorter. Another risk is your opponent may try to Erne you by jumping around the non-volley zone and hitting the ball just after it crosses the net. To avoid this, hit your dink 2 to 3 feet inside the sideline keeping the ball low to the net so your opponent cannot hit down on it.
To remain unpredictable, here are a few other options:
1. If you’re pulled out wide enough to hit around the post, hit it. You can hit the ball low and deep in the court; a tough shot to defend. The key to making this shot is to stay low and wait as long as possible. Be sure not to step on the line.
2. A somewhat desperate, more defensive shot is to hit a lob. Aim your lob crosscourt and over the opponent’s backhand to give you more space to hit into and more time to get back in the rally.
3. Even more desperate and lower percentage is to try to speed the ball up hitting it hard through the opponents. This is high risk as you’re more likely to lose the rally when an opponent blocks this shot into your open court for a winner.
Regardless of the shot you choose, be sure to calmly stop before hitting the ball. Also be sure to sidestep across the court to your shot rather than crossing your feet. Best positioning is to face the action. This means to face the direction in which the ball is coming using your footwork to prepare in advance.
Have a question about pickleball? Want to know more about the sport, the rules, equipment, or have some pickilicious news you would like to share with our pickleball community? Email David Zapatka at [email protected].