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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 Nationals Champion and 5.0 US Open gold medalist.
SPRING 2025 | MAGAZINE 39