If you’re a pickleball addict like most of us are, chances are, you’re looking to improve your game. That means adding to your arsenal of different shots to use in your game. Here are some of the best pickleball shots to practice and use so you can put away the point.
Best Pickleball Shots That Finishes The Point
Topspin Drive
One of the best pickleball shots that is not often practiced enough are basic groundstrokes. Groundstrokes include topspin drives that go between your opponents before they can block them. Topspin drives are effective because while the ball may look like they’re going out of bounds, the spin makes it drop.
To create topspin, you will have to brush up against the ball with your paddle. If you don’t come with another racket sport, it may take some time to get the touch right. You will always want to load your opposite leg to push off and swing your hips with your stroke for power. You can find many demonstration videos on YouTube.
The best way to learn and master this shot is to take a caddy full of pickleball, and hit with a friend or a wall. Topspin drives are also extremely useful when you’re playing singles. Using topspin is not limited to just driving the ball. You can use a topspin drop or even dink for more aggressive dinks that will put pressure on your opponents.
Angled Smash
Angles are highly effective in pickleball. The great thing about using angles to your advantage is that it does not require you to have power. Even if you don’t have a powerful overhead, angling your smash can be even more effective.
Because chances are, if your opponent lobs or sees a high ball, they’re already backing up toward the baseline. If you’re not angling your smash, the ball will lose its speed enough by the time it gets to your opponents. By angling your smash short, the ball will bounce out wide.
Drop Shot
A drop shot is a must when you’re in the transition zone trying to get to the kitchen line. Or if you’re trying to buy your opponent time to recover from being pulled away from the non-volley zone. But a drop shot can be used effectively when your opponents are far back in the baseline.
You may often hear that you want to keep your opponents back when they’re back. However, if there is a high ball coming to you and your opponents have backed up far to retrieve a smash, using a drop shot to safely put the ball in their kitchen can be extremely effective.
Your opponents will have to rush up front to retrieve the ball, which tends to result in them propping the ball up again. You can then smash the ball behind them. A drop shot requires a special touch. You will have to loosen your grip on your paddle and tap or slice the ball so that it barely lands in your opponent’s kitchen.
Dink Variety
If you’ve been playing pickleball for some time, you will know how important dinking is. Dinking allows you to be in control of the point by moving your opponents. It also creates unattackable balls and tests a lot of players’ patience.
Knowing how to do a variety of dinks is beneficial. There are normal, soft dinks. And there are push dinks that have more pace and require your opponent to have enough control so as to not add additional pace. Otherwise, the ball becomes high enough to attack.
There are also different spins that you can add to your dinks. That includes topspin and backspin. When you add spin to the ball, it creates a different pattern for the ball to bounce. It creates a little discomfort for your opponents when you switch up the patterns of the ball to land.
That is what you want to do in a game of pickleball. You want to add pressure with each shot. Either by pace or spin so that each shot is a little harder to return.
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