How to improve your dinks, spot lobs early, protect your shoulder, and systematically develop your game by playing against stronger opponents.
Pickleball is booming and drawing more and more players to the courts. But with this rapid growth, the demands on your own tactics and technique are also rising. If you want to improve without risking injury, you need to adjust the key areas of your game. Reports from US portals like The Dink show that the key to success often lies in small but effective adjustments to your play.
According to analyses by pros like John Cincola, many recreational players lose rallies at the kitchen line because they play too passively. Instead of standing low and waiting for the ball to bounce, pros use the so-called "half-volley hunt". This means: as soon as the opponent is in trouble – for example, because they have to stretch sideways – pros reach their paddle forward and take the ball directly out of the air instead of after the bounce. This immediately puts the opponent under pressure.
Defending against lobs (high, deep balls) can also be optimised. Sports science findings, referenced among others by Dr. Susie Reiner, prove that experienced players do not necessarily have faster reflexes after the shot. They anticipate better. They watch for visual cues even before ball contact: an open paddle face, a more upright stance, a foot sliding back, or their own poor balance. If you read these signs, you can position yourself early.
A common mistake with the two-handed backhand concerns power distribution and the swing. Pro player Jack Munro explains that the dominant hand should not do most of the work, but rather the non-dominant hand. For him, this hand does about 70 to 80 per cent of the work and pushes the ball forward, while the dominant hand merely provides stability. In addition, Munro warns against too large a backswing. His golden rule is: the ball and paddle must always remain in your field of vision at the same time. If the paddle is lost from your field of vision during the backswing, the error rate rises drastically.
Although the underhand serve in pickleball seems harmless, it is a common cause of shoulder pain. The problem is usually not an acute injury, but the sheer volume of repetitions combined with a lack of strength endurance in the rotator cuff and scapular muscles. Older players in particular show an increased susceptibility to injury: data from emergency rooms in the USA (2013–2022) show that around 91 per cent of the pickleball injuries treated there affected people aged 50 and over (average age 64). If symptoms persist, a professional medical assessment should always be sought.
To raise your own level, it is recommended to play against players who are a touch better. According to guidelines from Pickleball US, the ideal range is 0.2 to 0.5 points above your own rating. Within this range, you will be challenged and weaknesses in your shot selection will be exposed without you being completely without a chance. According to experts, if you play against opponents who are too strong, you hardly learn anything anymore, as you are only busy running after the ball.
Your takeaway: Focus on playing the ball early out of the air at the kitchen line, and protect your shoulder through targeted training of the rotator cuff.
This article was generated automatically with AI from the sources listed above and has not been editorially reviewed.