Transcription
These are the 15 best cheat codes I've discovered while teaching hundreds of students, especially tennis or older players. If you apply these tips, you'll win more games starting today, even without spending a single minute on drilling.
So, what I see with a lot of people is they'll bring their paddle back here where you can't see it. Now, they're opening up their wrists and now they have to use timing. So, that's where we go wrong. We hit it in the net, we hit the ball long, we pop it up, and it gets smashed back at us.
One of the big ways we keep control is that we keep our paddle inside our peripheral vision. So, keep your paddle here, especially on backhand. When you're bringing it over and you know you're going to have to hit a backhand, put your non-dominant hand out there. Stop your paddle right here where you can see it. And then you're just going to lift with your paddle. That way, you're keeping it in front of you. You're going to keep it in more control and you're going to win more points while you pop the ball up or hit it into the net.
Quick tip for you on keeping your head still. I see a lot of people when they come down like this, they drop their head down and then when they're dinking or returning, their head comes up with the paddle. What happens to that? So, when your head's coming up, your paddle is also coming up. People ask why are they you popping the ball up? That's one of the reasons. So, when you get down here, keep your head down. Keep your head down when you hit so that you can your paddle stays on the same line that you want it to. If I bring my head up, my paddle comes up. Are you popping it up? Are you hitting it long?
If you're at the nine volley zone, one of the main reasons is probably your grip pressure. Uh what we suggest when you're at the no volley zone is you want to have a grip pressure of about three. What's three? I'm holding a baby bird. I don't want to crush it, but I don't want to let it go. That's the hardest you should be gripping your paddle. Let your paddle absorb the ball and the paddle will automatically spring back and give you a nice return. The harder it comes, the less you want to grip it hard.
I have a few friends who stand here and they play pickle ball like this and they make swings like this. Frequently they hit it in the net. Frequently they hit it so high that their opponent can smashing on it. What am I not doing? I'm not bending my knees. When your knees get low like this, you can get down. You can catch the ball here. Big difference, isn't it? So, we want to keep our knees bent. We want to come straight down. We want to keep down so that our shoulders and our head stay straight and our knees bent. And that's how we can return the best ball.
One of the things I see from students is they come running through and they're moving while they're hitting the ball. We don't want to do that. In tennis, we call it a split step. So once once the ball's coming, once we see their paddle go up to hit the ball, we want to split step. We want to drop our paddle down and then we want to be ready to repel the ball. Don't run through a shot. split step.
One of the things I see from my students are they don't like to move their feet. They will reach out and try to hit it. Well, when you're reaching out and hitting it from out here, you're using your wrist. You're using the weaker muscles of your body and the ball could go anywhere. If you get your feet behind the ball and you get stable and you're just pushing that shot, you can push it anywhere you want because your body is behind the ball. So, make sure you get your feet behind the ball. Your shots will be much more accurate. they'll be much more controlled and they're going to go where you want them to go.
One of the biggest things we can do, especially at the nonvolley zone, we want to keep our paddle up and in a ready position. When we're attacked, when we hit the ball down, don't drop your paddle. I see a lot of people who hit the ball and then they let their paddle come down to their side. Once you hit that ball, get ready for the return. If it comes back, your paddle's here. You're ready to go.
I see a lot of people coming up here, hitting these big shots right here and coming clear across and their paddle ends up here. That's not good. If your paddle's already out here, hit down on it. Snap it down. Hitting down is more important than hitting it hard. And when you slap it, your paddle comes right back to the same position. Once you hit it down, they're going to pop it back up. You're ready to rock and roll. So, don't come clear across like this.
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>> Make sure when you hit the ball across, you are tracking it with your paddle and your upper torso. So, if I hit the ball out to the left, I don't necessarily have to turn my feet. I can if I want to, but I'm going to make sure my paddle and my chest and my torso is there where the ball is so I can get a good hit at it. Wherever it's at, I'm going to track it with my paddle and my torso. Make sure you do that. You'll be more consistent.
I see a lot of people in backhands. They're coming over and they're using their wrist. They're trying to do some fancy things with their wrist. Don't do that. Shoulder is your hinge. Nice straight arm. Push with your feet and lift with your shoulder. Keep your wrist locked in position. And you're going to be much more consistent on back end.
We used to say return and run. We don't say that anymore. When you hit a shot, if you hit or your serve return and it's deep, let's get all the way up there. If you hit a return of serve and it's about halfway back there, take a couple steps in, put your paddle to where the ball is, split step and get ready. If you hit a lousy return, you got to stay back because it's going to come back at you fast. So, don't always run up. Run up in the right situation.
We want to make sure we stay behind the baseline after we serve. Uh, I like to start my serve back here. And when I'm serving, my paddle's down. I'm going to take a step forward. I'm gonna whip, bringing my hips through and really put a lot of speed on it, but I'm gonna end up behind the baseline. Uh, some of you like to start right here and step through. That's fine, but then step right back and behind the baseline. Stay back here. If you've got good opponents, they're going to put it back here. You don't want to have to come running back and hit it off your back leg.
One of the big mistakes I see people doing is they come in, it's coming back, and they're coming back and having to hit up with their arm. That's the big mistake. If you're back here, you're cool. If you come into the court and they hit it, you're going to hit a popup. We don't want you to do that.
One of the things I see is people get down here and just before they hit the ball, they stop and say, "Oh, I I think I should hit a dink or I should hit it soft or I should hit a drive." Commit to your shot. Commit to the place. Hit it to there. And if you make a mistake, you make a mistake. But let's get that three-step system.
But what I'm doing is when the ball is coming towards me, and I know it's going to be my responsibility, either backhand or forehand. I'm turning getting ready. I see the ball's going to bounce here. It's going to end up about here at apex. I'm going to be ready for the ball. Once I'm in position, I'm going to glance over and see what my opponents are doing. Are they rushing up to the net? Are they crowding the middle? Are they watching the lines? So, I'm going to look at that and at the last minute before I hit the ball, I'm going to watch my paddle and I'm going to commit myself to hitting the ball. See where the ball's going to bounce. Be in position. See where your opponents are very quickly. Get back and watch the ball into your paddles to make sure you get the best control.
Students are always asking me, "When should I be turned sideways? When should I be straight right against the net?" And the answer is this. The further we are back, we need to put more power in. We need to get that ball back about 40 feet. So, when I'm back here, I'm going to be turning sideways. I'm going to be putting the weight on the back of my foot. I'm going to be putting my paddle back. And then I'm going to be using my legs and driving a shot back there. Whether it's forehand or backhand, as I get closer, if I'm in the transition zone, I might turn 45 degrees instead of 90. Hit it back. As I get closer to the non volley zone, I want to be flat across here with my feet. My torso will turn to where the ball is, but my feet are going to stay square. So, if I'm dinking, I'll be like this. If I dink crosscourt, I can always turn my torso while keeping my feet here. And that's where we want to be. We want to be straight across here, 90° back there, about 45 in the transition zone.
This one's an old adage, and we used to teach this four or five years ago. red light, yellow light, green light. It still applies. I don't hear that terminology used that much, but it still applies. So, a red light is when the ball is so low that you can't attack it. We don't want to attack it. So, if somebody's hitting the ball clear down here and I'm at the nonvley zone, if I try to hit it hard, it's going into the net or it's going long. I don't want to do that. That's a red light. If the ball is right here about hip high, maybe just above my knee, and I have a good roll volley, that's a yellow light. That means if I'm feeling that shot, I can go ahead and make that shot. I might miss it sometimes, but I'm going to get I'm going to get it in most of the time. Green light is shoulder high, let it fly. So, if your paddle is here and it's coming right up here, you know you have that green light. Make sure you're hitting down on the ball. Don't make the mistake of trying to hit it as deep. Make sure you're hitting down on it. If you hit down on it, that will get you points more often than hitting it deep. Red light down here, yellow light here, green light here.