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RECEIVING TEAM
C
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RECEIVING TEAM
C
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RECEIVING TEAM |
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RECEIVING TEAM |
D C D C
D C D
ZONE 3
A A B
ZONE 3
ZONE 2
A B
ZONE 1
A B B
SERVING TEAM SERVING TEAM SERVING TEAM SERVING TEAM
Player B serves to Player C . The serving team waits in Zone 1 . |
Player C returns the serve deep down the middle of the court to Player B ’ s backhand and quickly runs up to the non‐volley line .
Player A observes the return going to Player B , and slowly creeps up to Zone 2 .
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Player A observes Player B hitting the 3rd shot drop . If the drop appears to be good , Player A will quickly move up to Zone 3 and Player B will quickly move to Zone 2 . If the drop is bad , Player A will move back with Player B to Zone 1 . |
If the serving team hits a good drop and moves up to Zone 3 , the receiving team should avoid the temptation to attack the 4th shot . Instead , the safest shot for Players C and D would be a soft crosscourt dink and then build the point from there . |
back with your partner to Zone 1 ; however , if the third shot ball trajectory seems low ( dipping over and below the height of the net ) and your opponent seems to defensively lower the paddle or back off the nonvolley line , this is an opportunity to quickly move in . Recognizing a good drop allows the person hitting the drop to quickly move into Zone 2 . The partner should also see the opportunity and move up to Zone 3 .
The partner making it up to Zone 3 first can help the teammate get in by covering balls hit to the middle of the court . This forces the receiving team to hit soft , wide balls back to the serving partner waiting in Zone 2 . This player will then proceed with a fifth shot drop or a reset volley from Zone 2 and then follow up by moving up to Zone 3 .
This is the style of play used by most advanced players and virtually every player on the pro tour . Get good at moving through the zones as a team . When you do this , you will gain an advantage over other intermediate players and your level of play will greatly increase .
Two-Person Movement Drill
A great drill to practice working your way up to the non-volley line is to have one person feed a ball from the non-volley line on one side of the court to a friend behind the baseline on the other side of the court . Next , have the partner hit a drop shot and advance to Zone 2 . The non-volley player should then cooperatively feed the ball back so that they can drop from Zone 2 into the kitchen . Have them hit , move in and play out the point . Next , do the same drill , but do so in a less-cooperative manner where the non-volley player more aggressively hits back at their partner in Zone 2 . Practice crosscourt and down the line with drop shots and blocking balls out of the air into the non-volley zone . •
Wayne Dollard is the publisher of Pickleball Magazine , a USA Pickleball National Champion and 5.0 US Open gold medalist .
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2023 | MAGAZINE 23