Pickleball Excellence! Exceptional Play At The 5.0 Level! Gold Medal Match! Learn By Watching!

[@mcarlson4854]

Good variety of excellent drives and drops. I bet if the team ducked some of these hard drives would be out. But they were hitting the drives so hard and fast you just have to react and defend with your paddle , almost no time to duck or move!

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Good point. Sometimes it's hard to avoid putting your paddle up for a ball that is going out.

[@929mmr]

Best skill you can have against guys that hit 3rd shot drives that hard is recognizing which balls will go out. Interesting strategy early on of hitting 3rd shot drops to the guys forehand. I wonder if they knew him cuz I usually think it is better to target backhands.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

I found that unusual as well. I aim for the player on the other side. I hit it to his backhand. Thanks for watching.

[@ender133]

If the return is crosscourt and you're dropping with a crashing partner I find thst it's actually better to drop to the crosscourt opposite wing(in this case the forehand). If you hit a good drop it puts a lot of pressure on the 4th shot because it's pretty hard to roll the ball crosscourt to the open space. Backhand generally being a better target is broadly true against most players but esp with the crashing partner the wide crosscourt drop (which is a forehand from the right side but a backhand from the left) is a better decision

[@AnnMitt]

It was fun to watch this game. They actually played pickleball with 3rd shots, 5th shot resets and dinking. The Rec Center that I just quit was too annoying with aggressive bangers and slammer and *no* dinking. It was like tennis and ping pong on a pickleball court. 😕 Anyways, love your analysis. I'm learning a ton from you!

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks for watching. You are exactly right. I played in three games yesterday. My opponents didn't dink one time. I went home.

[@elliottfletcher4830]

Player with "windmill" swing advertises his drives way too much, gotta keep that compact, make it look identical to a dink until the last moment then execute the drive. Thanks Rory for the analysis. As good as these players are, there is still lots of refinement possible, I guess that is a big part of what makes pickleball so fun and addictive.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Really surprised he took that big of a swing. Compare that to Jack Sock's forehand and it's really a different game. Thanks for watching.

[@cgong415]

A fantastic game!

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

It really was. Thanks for watching.

[@sportsenthusiast7360]

GREAT ANALYSIS, ON POINT AS ALWAYS

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thank you.

[@sccks]

Hey Rory! Did u sign up for the Hallowheel Tournament in Baton Rogue this October?

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

I was thinking about it. Didn't know I should do it this early. I know it's a very popular tournament.

[@tomfowlerwrites919]

The guy definitely ran through the kitchen on the erne attempt. Probably hard for the referee on the other side of the court to call. I think most pro-level matches have an official on each side, though this might not be a reasonable expectation at the club level.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Cool! I was correct. Thanks for watching.

[@keithchasteen8593]

Interesting that the one team kept going for the drop to the forehand.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

I thought so as well. I more often see it hit to the backhand. Thanks for watching.

[@sportsenthusiast7360]

Good players with some bad shot decisions. Overall, good match

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks for watching.