APP Tour and PPA Tour gold medalist Chris Haworth was the special guest on this week’s episode of PicklePod. Last month, Chris collected monumental wins over the top two players in the world, Ben Johns and Federico Staksrud.

In his conversation with co-hosts Thomas Shields and Zane Navratil, Chris explains a strategy for singles that he swears by and is surprised that most people don’t implement it.

He says that 95 percent of the time he returns the serve to his opponent’s strength … not their weakness. But why?

By moving an opponent toward their strong side of the court, it opens up space to hit the ball to their weak side. He uses the fourth ball to exploit their weak side more effectively.

Chris gives an example involving Tyson McGuffin, who will typically run around a backhand to hit an inside-out forehand. McGuffin is more dangerous with the inside-out forehand than just a regular forehand from his strong side.

In Chris’ eyes, it's safer to return to McGuffin’s forehand then target the backhand on the next shot.

The Same is True for Doubles
Chris and Zane also discuss how the concept is beneficial in doubles.

Instead of hitting every ball to an opponent’s weakness, it can be more effective to hit a ball to their strong side as a setup for the next ball.

Listen to what Zane and Chris have to say in this week’s episode.