For the first time, I am excited to review some pickleball gameplay. The video, originally posted on Reddit, features two solid 4.0/4.5 teams in what looks like competitive rec or tournament play.

For the sake of anonymity, I will refer to the team closest to the camera as the near team, and the team further away from the camera as the far team. Let’s dive into the film and analyze what each team did well and could work on.

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Pro Analysis By

Eric Roddy | DUPR 6.24

Turned Pro: 2022

Doubles Ranking: 55th

Singles Ranking: 20th

This video may be short but there’s a lot of good pickleball played in that small amount of time, and the first point is a great example of good pickleball by both teams. The near team starts off serving at 2-2-1. We have very little context otherwise, but we know that it is early in the game, which is helpful when analyzing strategy.

Point #1 – Test Your Opponents & Apply Pressure

Near-Side Team Analysis

I really like how they utilized a 75% drive on the third shot to set up a manageable fifth shot drop to work their way to the Kitchen. Neither player seemed rushed to get in, and neither player tried to overhit the third or fifth shot, instead using them as transition balls to get into the Kitchen.

Test Your Opponents — Once at the Kitchen, the player in the white hat on the right side tested his opponent in front of him with a nice speed up down the line, and he made sure to cover his opponents’ counter by sliding middle and making the next shot. Again, I like how much composure the near team had despite initiating the speed up. From here, both players continued to move their dinks around and make their opponents move at the Kitchen line, which is essential when all four players are at the net. 

Take High Dinks Out of the Air: The only thing I noticed from the near team in this otherwise well-played point is that the right-side player in the white hat had an opportunity to lean in and take a forehand dink out of the air to apply pressure. Instead, he let his opponents’ higher dink bounce, and as a result he had to step way off the line to hit a defensive dink. If he had leaned in, he would have had a nice opportunity to apply more pressure to his opponents. Regardless, their aggressive dinking led to an error by their opponents and a point.

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Far-Side Team Analysis

I don’t have a ton of criticism for the far team on this point. All four players played a good point. However, I do have a few areas where the far team could improve. First, kudos to the returner for a high, deep return that gave him plenty of time to get to the Kitchen line and minimized his opponents’ ability to be aggressive on the third shot drive. For all amateurs out there, a return doesn’t need to have a ton of power or speed if its deep. Depth is key. 

Maintain Offensive Posture — The only other criticism I have here is the difference between the far team’s ready position and body language at the Kitchen when compared to the near team’s. The far team is not as low in their ready position, and they look more defensive in their posture. As a result, their dinks aren’t as aggressive, and they are ultimately pushed around more at the line by their opponents’ dinks, which leads to their unforced error. It is so important to stay low at the Kitchen and really focus on moving well to hit the best dinks possible.

Point #2 – Choose Your Poaches Wisely

Analyzing Both Left-Side Players

This is a quick point, and I’m going to just focus on the left-side players from both teams. The left-side player on the near team does an excellent job of identifying his opponents’ weaker slice return. If your opponent slices their return short, you should absolutely hit a topspin drive on the third shot. The slice spin will enable you to come over the top of the ball and hit a dipping third-shot drive, as seen in this video. 

Choose your speed-ups wisely — Where the left-side player on the near team makes a poorer decision is on the fifth shot. He wisely follows his third shot drive in, following the path of the ball nicely to the middle of the court. However, he takes the fifth shot which is below the net and tries to speed it up at the player in front of him. As a result, the ball comes off high and the far player is able to counter the ball at the player's feet, creating an overhead shot to the near-side player on the baseline.

Well played by the left-side player on the far team to overcome a weak return, but it’s the decision by the left-side player on the near team that ultimately causes the loss of point.

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Remaining Points – Get Your Returns Deep

Near-Side Team Analysis

Beginning with the near team serving at 3-2-2 until the end of the video (which ends with the near team serving 6-2-2), the obvious theme is the far team hitting weak returns. 

Far-Side Team Analysis

Hit deep returns — Again, the far team is not as low as they need to be, and as a result they hit weaker returns. While the near team is hitting above-average serves, they are by no means bombing the serve or hitting the backline, so there is no excuse for the far team to hit such short returns. As a result, the serving team is able to attack the third shot with well-placed drives that lead to missed volleys by their opponents.

Use Your Timeouts — From a strategy standpoint, I would have liked to see the far team call a timeout after the first or second point here. It’s possible they did not have any timeouts in the format they were playing in, but if they did, they should have used one to try to stop the serving team’s momentum. A 4-2-2 lead is very different than a 6-2-2 lead, especially if this was in a third or deciding game. 

Final Thoughts

Overall, the level and decision-making by both teams were solid. In just this short clip, you can see the common themes (short returns, decision-making) that lead to points scored in a competitive pickleball game. Thanks for reading, and be on the lookout for the next article. Enjoy the grind, and remember, you can’t dink all day if you don’t start in the morning.

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