Is Your Game One of Substance, or is it Reactionary?
- Alice Tym
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
Becoming a better player involves the ability to dictate play. Most pickleball players begin by being reactionary: “Just get the return of serve back into the court.” “Keep the ball in play.” “Just get the ball in to start play—the serve doesn’t matter.”
If your play is in line with these comments, it means your game has no real substance. Other players control your ability to play the game.
Where to start to build a game of substance?
You should begin by identifying the shots that dictate play, and, perhaps more important, the court positions that dictate play.
The serve is of utmost importance because it initiates play and is required to win a point.
Far from just “putting the ball in play,” your serve should be the first move on the chessboard. Should you serve deep, hard, topspin, slice, wide, backhand, down the middle, short, or high? And where should you stand to serve, and who takes the return if it is down the middle?
The ability to dictate play comes from practicing a variety of serves so that you have a selection in your arsenal, and can hit the type that your opponent does not want to see.
The first point of the match is crucial, just like the opening move in chess. Pressure starts when you warm up and observe your opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. That first serve needs to be well-thought-out, again like the opening salvo in chess. Those who have watched the wonderful movie “The Queen’s Gambit” will remember how the star visualized the entire board and the pieces in motion. Your serve initiates and dictates the course of the point. Practice your serve.
When you practice your serve, you should also practice the skill of concentration. Leave the last point behind you. Clear your thoughts of the previous play, especially if you made an error or a weak shot. Focus entirely on the point ahead. Plan your service motion. Use the information you have gathered about the opponents to construct tactics that suit your strategy.
It is a common mistake to carry the burden of poor execution into the next point. Practice thinking ahead. Develop rituals that keep you calm and your head uncluttered.
Pay attention to which serve is your most consistent. Be mindful of your own abilities. If you cannot consistently hit a certain serve, do not go for it on an important point—even if it seems to be the most tactical choice. Pickleball is a game of consistency. What serve can you deliver when the pressure is on you?
The return of serve is the next most important shot.
You must be able to place the ball and tell your partner in advance where you are going to return. Your partner needs to focus on your placements quickly if he is to be able to poach and dictate play. You want your partner to be able to squeeze the available space for the opponent’s third shot. Your partner must narrow the field of play because you will have to hit the ball while on the move forward.
Back to thinking about moving the chess pieces. You want to give your opponent very few options. For example, if I return the serve deep down the middle (and I have told my partner I will do that), he looks to the center of the court and knows the opponent has no angle available. Now my partner can hug the center and cover four-fifths of the court without having to move much at all. I have to move in, but I only have to cover the one-fifth of the court wide to my forehand.
Practice your return of serve. You may want to go wide to a lefty’s backhand. You may want to go wide to open up the middle, but if the opponent has a strong forehand you will shut down the effectiveness of your partner. He will be busy covering the down-the-line and the wide-angle forehand, and the lob, and the deep crosscourt! Give an angle, get an angle. Just be sure your angle is better than theirs.
Practice lobbing a return of serve. Change of pace is always worth trying. It requires greater judgment on the part of the opponent. It adds one more factor to consider.
Size up the opponent. If her groundstrokes are better than yours, you need to lob the return and not give her clean balls and consistent pace. Give her junk and spins. The rule of thumb is to hit when you can outhit; junk when you cannot. Never give the opponent what she likes to hit.
Position and footwork determine your options, and pickleball is a game played at the NVZ line.
Your objective is to move forward as soon as possible and preferably before the opponents do. So, practice approach shots.
When you drill, don’t just hit back and forth. Hit and go in. Do ball machine drills with two or more players so that you hit one or two balls, race in and volley the next. Don’t get complacent. In practice and in play, look for every opportunity to move forward. You want to dictate the opponents’ response.
Dominating play at the net requires quick hands, good placement, and some authority on the ball.
Develop quick hands by watching the ball come off your opponent’s paddle and by watching your opponent’s feet very closely. Line up your body to attack his shot. Not so much reactionary but more pre-planned aggression is the key.
Placement is a matter of practice. Use targets when you practice. Again, it is a chess move. If you hit an angle, the bishop will respond in kind. Know what options you give with your volley placement. Do not hit harder than you can cover for the next shot. If you are out of position, lob. Or you may find a soft drop or a reset the best response for you to get back in the game. Otherwise, you just made the opponent look good with a quick exchange to the opening you have given him. Don’t be the player who makes everyone look good.
To develop authority on the volley, practice rat-a-tat-tat on a wall. Start back and move in as you volley quick exchanges, consistently keeping the ball in play. Build up your forearm and your quads. Get down. Keep the ball out in front. Use frontal vision rather than peripheral vision. Control the pace. It is weightlifting for the in-close volleyer!
Then switch and do backhand volleys. Next, alternate forehand, backhand, forehand. You can also make up patterns: three to one side, one to the other, back to three, etc. Practice your concentration while watching the ball and moving your feet.
Now you have preparation, placement, and authority. No more reactionary thoughts. It is up to you to set up the point and make things happen.
And poach! Practice poaching.
Poaching should not be simply reactionary; it should be planned. Do drills that require you to poach.
Women’s doubles needs poaching to dominate play. It forces the opponents to place the ball and it protects a weaker partner. Men’s doubles is one big poach, first-come, first-served. Mixed doubles is won by the woman being consistent and the man dominating with power. But both partners must practice poaching so as not to hesitate when at the net. Get rid of the notion that partners divide the court 50/50. The person closer to the net has priority.
In mixed doubles, my partner can be a Flying Wallenda and cover the entire net if he so chooses (and often does). But he must put the ball away or be able to cover the next shot. In women’s doubles, my partner has priority if she is closer to the net, but I must be ready to back her up if she chooses not to take that ball. Practicing together is so important to establish possession. In men’s doubles, it is a scramble to the net, with one player usually having a better “look” at the ball.
Better angle, better court position, in a bit closer, or just being more comfortable should help you decide who should take the ball. But do not divide the court in half and consider yourself as possessing one half. Good strategy involves accentuating the skills of the better player and minimizing the weaknesses of the lesser player. If the players are of equal ability, one still has better court position. The next ball belongs to that player.
Of course, to some degree we are all reactionary. There are let cords, bad bounces and mishits. You must be flexible, but that too is a matter of preparation and discipline. In practice, be sure to play the let cord shots—in the event that the let cord ruling is changed.
Make up your mind to add substance to your game through quality practice and good court communication. Visualize the opportunities before you, and be prepared to execute them. The ball is in your court. •
Alice Tym was ranked 13th in the world for tennis in the ‘60s. She’s been named USPTA Coach of the Year and is a USPTA Master Professional. As a 4.5 pickleball player, she has won gold in Huntsman, NSGA Nationals, US Open, and USA Pickleball events around the country. Alice is an IPTPA member, SSIPA founding board member, Bainbridge Cup Originator and gold medalist in Spain, Italy, and Germany.