Pickleball! Valuable Tip! Hitting The Ball Just A Little Too High Could Make You a Loser!

[@CWK090]

It's not as simple as... his dink was "too high" causing his team to lose the rally. You could have a dink 2 feet above the net, that is not attackable, especially when hit cross court (Well, unless your opponent is Artis Gilmore. (I'm dating myself, I know ;-)) If the dink angle is not cross-court, the apex of a high dink must be on your side of the net. The downside of a high dink in that case is the bounce may be high enough to be attackable. The goal in dinking is to vary the pace, spin and target to move your opponents around to open a gap or get them off balance and force them to give you an attackable ball, all while never giving your opponent an attackable ball. Worst case is a ball above the net and within reach of your opponent because he has a lot of options. A dink a little below the net and within reach is still attackable with a forehand roll. A lower ball that is within reach is attackable if you have the angle for a body shot. I love to chicken-wing them on their non-dominant side. One final point is if you watch new players trying to add dinking to their game, they almost always dink to the player directly in front of them as players often do to warm up before a game. If you watch really good pickleball players, they mix it up but the majority of their dinks are crosscourt.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

I do agree that a cross-court dink to a backhand is more effective than a dink to a player directly in front. Thanks for your lengthy comment. It's very helpful.

[@ender133]

I think a distinction people often miss that you havent pointed out so far is that a poor dink at this level can be do high OR too deep (too much power). Most of my missed dinks clear the net by and inch but are hit too hard (esp if sliced) and get attacked. It's not a height issue it's a depth/power issue. Just don't want ams thinking they should only focus on the height the ball goes over the net. They need soft hands too...

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Good point. When hitting a third shot, if the dick is just a little bit too high, you have to be careful not to move all the way to the kitchen. Most of the time, if that happens, it's best to stop in the transition zone and get ready to defend. Thanks for watching.

[@ender133]

@pickleballpick-apart9787 heh autocorrect error? More thinking just at the kitchen, esp when going crosscourt. You can have a dead ball crosscourt backhand dink that barely clears the net but if you hit it too hard it'll still stay between knees and waist(just below the net) on an opponent who will light up your parnter. Mostly a 4.0 plus issue probably though as below that you probably just get a step back.

[@Vanessa-pe2xs]

Very valid and often overlooked point. People always think he dink needs to be low, but I think deep and hard is the biggest issue because it's easy to attack. No matter how high, if a dink is shallow, it'll be petty safe unless the opponent is 7'4".

[@ender133]

I would actually like to see Victor wembanyama play pickleball.....

[@ianmcnally8501]

@@pickleballpick-apart9787 I think you meant dink, consider editing the comment

[@woodsman4cb]

The dink that the opponent hit the ernie might have not been too high, but should have been hit to the left so as to not give the ernie opportunity, in my opinion.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Good point! Thanks for watching.

[@linsu2854]

One thing I appreciate players at this level or above is how they respond to speed ups: They are able to reset. They don't react by adding more power back which becomes a banging game at that point.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

You are spot on. Thanks for watching.

[@cgong415]

I don’t think these are 5.0 players. Maybe 4.0 ish.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Well. They won the gold medal in the 5.0 division at the U S Open.

[@cgong415]

@@pickleballpick-apart9787 em, they made quite a lot of mistakes though even if they are at level 5.0.