Pickleball Strategy: Serve return

Very often, the best return of serve is a soft floating return that keeps your opponent in the back court. You will be taking advantage of the 2-bounce rule that prohibits the serving team from volleying the return of serve. The soft floater gives you and your partner plenty of time to establish your positions at the no-volley line. When you control the no-volley line, you have assumed the offense and put the serving team on defense. The other advantage of using this type of return is that it is one of the easiest returns to make and greatly cuts down on errors.

There are times when a hard driving return is appropriate. It can be especially effective if one of your opponents has a tendency to move up too quickly after the serve. If he has moved up too quickly, the hard drive forces him to backpedal quickly and forces an off-balance shot. But, keep in mind that your chances for error increase with that type of return. An attempt at a drive return means that it is much more likely that you will hit the net or hit the ball long. The other risk of the drive return is that it may be returned to you before you have had time to establish your position at the line.

Use the hard drive return every now and then for a change of pace and to keep your opponent off balance. But, most of the time, it would be wise to play the winning percentages and return a deep soft floater.

Pickleball Strategy: Playing singles

Last Thursday night I had a great time to shy away from the doubles scene for a few games of singles. Singles mentally challenges you to make sure your strokes are precise, and where you place a shot will put you in good place for a put away finishing shot. I've put together some tips for playing better singles.

1. Serve from the center of the court, deep and in.  Some books and instructors say to serve within one foot of the back line.  NO – that is a low percentage shot.  Deep means within three feet of the back line.  That way, if you miss by a little, the ball will stay in.
2. Try to hit to opponents backhand.  Hitting to the backhand whenever you can is a higher percentage shot, because 80 to 90 % of the time, people are stronger on their forehand side than their backhand.
3. Return serve deep to corners and go only halfway up.  Going halfway up to the net means halfway between the back line and the 7 foot no volley line.  That way, in singles you can go left, right, up or back on the first ground stroke from the server.
4. Take the net (7 foot line) when you can, but do a split step just before your opponent hits the ball.  For any shot after the service return, if you are not at the net, stopping with your feet at shoulder width will allow you to run down the next ball coming your way.
5. When your opponent is at the net, hit a (1) passing shot, (2) lob, or (3) drop shot.  In order of highest percentage, when your opponent is at the net, the drop shot is best, the passing ground stroke is next, and in singles, the lob should be your last choice.