serve. How well and how consistently they arrive at the kitchen line.
The transition zone puts everything on display at once: footwork, decision-making, composure, shot selection. All under pressure. All with limited time to think. Here’ s what good kitchen arrival looks like...
Stop when the opponent hits.
Every time your opponent is about to contact the ball, stop moving and get into your balanced ready position. In transition this may mean a slightly lower and wider stance, because the ball is going to have to be hit lower to stay in. Then make your next decision from that stable base.
Take balls out of the air, with the right shot.
Moving through the transition zone, when a ball is takeable in the air, take it— a controlled reset volley or a neutralizing drop that lets you keep advancing a little more. Not every ball in transition is an attack; most of them are opportunities to advance safely. If the ball is below your waist in transition, you should reset it.
The skill is knowing which ball to take aggressively and which one to neutralize so you can keep moving forward.
Move as a unit, with a clear system.
After the serve, immediately identify where the return is going. If the return goes to your partner, your job as the non-ball player is to cheat forward— not all the way to the kitchen, but roughly halfway, into a support position.
You’ re applying pressure, supporting your partner’ s third shot, and staying connected. When your partner makes contact, you read the result together and both continue forward.
Good third shot: both of you close. High third shot: both of you prepare to defend. The point is that you’ re moving together, with clear roles, instead of one player charging and one player frozen at the baseline waiting to see what happens.
This one adjustment— the off-ball player cheating forward— eliminates more chaos from the serving team’ s game than almost anything else I teach. It gets both players to the kitchen consistently, it applies pressure before the rally even develops, and it turns the serving team from reactive to intentional.
Stay balanced forward.
Weight on the balls of your feet, keeping the ball in front of you. Players who come off their heels in transition, or who lift out of their shots reaching for the ball— they are in trouble before they arrive.
The goal of the transition zone isn’ t just getting there; it’ s arriving efficiently, under control, together, and ready to compete at the line where points are won.
AT THE KITCHEN: PATIENCE, PATTERNS AND KNOWING WHEN TO PULL THE TRIGGER
Competing well at the kitchen requires patience, precision and smart attack selection.
The mistake I see most: attacking when the ball is too low. Players attack balls below their knees that should never be attacked— not because the ball was in a good position, but because they wanted to be aggressive. Their opponents, positioned and ready, block it back easily.
The players are confused … they thought they had something. Attack selection has to be based on ball height and position, not desire.
Just like everywhere else on the court, footwork matters at the kitchen too. Staying on the balls of your feet, moving to keep the ball in front of you— all of it applies. A dink that pulls an opponent wide sets up the next ball to attack. The setup does most of the work while the footwork keeps you in position to execute it.
When you do attack, full-power attacks may go out, or if your opponent counters, you’ re not ready for it. I coach and play expecting the opponent to get the ball back. When I attack, I’ m already thinking about the next ball. If I win it outright, great. But the plan is always the follow-up.
A few reliable patterns are worth building into your game.
Open the forehand, attack the backhand.
Pull opponents wide to their forehand to move them out of position and open up their backhand. They’ re offbalance and moving the wrong direction— that’ s when you go behind them.
Attack the dominant side, hip to shoulder.
A ball targeted at the hip-to-shoulder zone on the paddle side forces a split-second decision with almost no time to make it— forehand or backhand, the player must commit instantly. Set it up by going wide first, then bring it back to the body.
Dink crosscourt, then attack the inside middle foot.
Keep your dinks crosscourt or toward the middle of the court— not down the line— and have the patience to wait for a good ball. A reliable sequence is a couple of crosscourt dinks followed by one to the inside middle foot.
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JULY 2026 | MAGAZINE 23