Whether you come from tennis or want to improve your recreational pickleball, you often struggle with the same mistakes. Here is how you play tactically smarter and with more control.
Pickleball is booming, but many recreational players stand in their own way on the court. This is often due to old habits from tennis or simple tactical misjudgements. Various experts and pros show on YouTube channels like Selkirk TV, Better Pickleball or Tony Roig Pickleball where the typical weak points lie and how you can fix them immediately with targeted adjustments.
One of the biggest problems when transitioning from tennis to pickleball is the urge for big, powerful swings. According to Selkirk TV, the so-called reset – a controlled, soft shot from the transition zone gently into the opponent's kitchen – is the hardest shot for tennis players to learn. While tennis teaches you to stand sideways, backswing and follow through, the reset requires the exact opposite: stay facing the net, loosen up and absorb the speed of the ball instead of adding new energy.
If you swing too hard in the transition zone, i.e. the area just behind the kitchen line, you play the ball back to your opponent at the perfect attacking height. To practice this, a DUPR video recommends a simple drill: one player stands at the kitchen line and exerts pressure with volleys, while the other stands in the transition zone and plays every ball softly back into the kitchen. After each successful reset, the back player takes a small step forward until they reach the line.
According to pro player Zane Navratil, many mistakes in the recreational game are invisible to the players themselves. These include:
Against so-called 'bangers' – players who play almost every ball with maximum power – many recreational players panic. According to pro player Ashley Griffith and the channel Mari Humberg Pickleball, this is often due to two mistakes: you watch your own ball instead of advancing immediately, and you forget the split step.
As soon as you have hit the ball, you must move towards the kitchen line. Just before the opponent hits the ball, you do a split step – you stop, land stably on the balls of your feet and bring the paddle into the ready position. This gives you the necessary balance to defend even hard shots with control. Against fast, younger players, according to CJ Johnson (Better Pickleball), fighting fire with fire does not help, but a controlled block volley does. In this case, it helps to mentally position the paddle slightly angled (at 10 or 11 o'clock instead of 12 o'clock) even before the shot to be ready faster.
Choosing the wrong volley also often leads to mistakes. A flat punch volley (a straight, pushed volley) works well when the ball comes directly at you at a comfortable height. However, if the ball drops lower towards your knees, a punch volley usually results in the ball landing in the net or bouncing too high. In this situation, according to Selkirk TV, the roll volley is the right choice. Here, you deliberately lower the paddle head below the height of the ball and pull it upwards with an upward motion to generate topspin. This keeps the ball low and puts the opponent under pressure.
Your takeaway: Reduce the swing size on hard balls, use the split step before the opponent's shot and just let shoulder-high balls fly out.
This article was generated automatically with AI from the sources listed above and has not been editorially reviewed.