INSTRUCTION By Jeff Pepper
The Science of Spin
Spin can be a powerful weapon. It can complicate your
opponent’s decision-making, occasionally causing
confusion and even earning you some extra free points.
If a sport is played using a ball, there’s spin; baseball
pitchers throw curve balls, football quarterbacks
spin passes, and table tennis players put spin on
nearly every shot.
Spinning pickleballs can curve in the air, skid on
the ground, and fly off the opponent’s paddle in
unexpected directions, yet most recreational players
never intentionally add this element to their game.
Pickleball instructors tend to avoid talking about
spin entirely, treating it as a distraction from the
important fundamentals of the game. But spin can be
a powerful weapon, especially in serves and returns.
It can complicate your opponent’s decision-making,
occasionally causing confusion and even earning you
some extra free points.
What is spin, exactly? Most people think of it as
something simple—either a ball has spin or it doesn’t. But
there are three different types of spin, and each affects
the behavior of the ball differently:
1. Topspin and backspin – when the ball rotates
forward (topspin) or backward (backspin). The
most common topspin shots in pickleball are the
serve and the roll shot at the NVZ line. To add
topspin, brush the paddle upward against the ball.
It will sink more quickly than a no-spin ball. When
it hits the ground, it will skid forward. And when
the opponent hits it, the ball will go high and deep.
To add backspin, turn your body sideways, chop
diagonally downward, and hit the ball “on the
chin,” striking it just below the centerline. Give it
enough backspin and your opponent might return
it into the net. Be careful though. Backspin balls
tend to float, so if you hit one too hard, it will keep
going right past the baseline and out of bounds!
2. Sidespin – where the ball rotates around a vertical
axis running from the top of the ball to the bottom.
Drag the paddle across the ball from right to left,
and it will rotate clockwise and curve right. Drag
the paddle the other way and the ball will curve left.
Although sidespin affects the ball’s flight and how
it comes off the opponent’s paddle, it has no effect
whatsoever on how the ball bounces, because the
ball is spinning like a top and there is no rotation
at the point where it contacts the ground. If you’re
receiving a sidespin shot, watch which direction
your opponent’s paddle moves, because that’s the
direction that the ball will tend to go if you ignore
the spin. To compensate, either aim in the opposite
direction (easy), or put your own counter-spin on
the ball (tricky!).
3. Cork spin (or rifling) – Rare and often overlooked,
the axis of rotation for this spin runs directly
from you to your opponent. Think of a football
quarterback throwing a nice spiraling pass. In
football it doesn’t matter much which direction
the ball spins, but it matters a lot in pickleball
because even though cork spin doesn’t affect the
flight of the ball or its behavior coming off the
SPIN TYPE
Flight of Ball
EFFECT ON
Hitting Opponent’s Paddle
Hitting Ground on
Opponent’s Side
No Spin No Effect No Effect No Effect
Topspin Drops Faster Skids Up Skids Forward
Backspin Drops Slower (Floats) Skids Down Skids Backward
Right Sidespin Curves to Right Skids to Your Left No Effect
Left Sidespin Curves to Left Skids to Your Right No Effect
Cork Spin No Effect No Effect Skids Hard to Side
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