Thinking Uncritically About Pickleball Orthodoxy: Two Pickleball Myths
I once ran a pickleball clinic in Chicago. A woman was up near the net when her partner sent up a high (and very short) lob. He yelled “watch out” but she stayed out – holding her position at the NVL. Her opponent, a great big guy and a hard-hitter, did exactly what he should: he smacked the ball with an overhead smash. Unfortunately (and to the surprise of the guy hitting the ball) since the woman refused to get off the line, the high-powered smash went right at her. It hit her in the throat. It was scary. She was hurt and the guy who hit the ball (and who did nothing wrong) felt horrible.
I later asked the woman why she didn’t back up when she was in such a vulnerable position: “I was told that you should never back up. That it’s dangerous. And that the team that controls the net wins the most points, so that ‘s what I tried to do.”
When new players are fed old tropes about how pickleball ought to be played, they are put in a precarious position. And while this bad advice may lead to losing more points or games than necessary, it can – as was the case for the woman in Chicago – also lead to injury. Let’s look at two other examples of pickleball orthodoxy that we’re better off doing away with.
Myth 1: Pickleball is all about the soft game. If you ever watch advanced players play pickleball you'll undoubtedly see them use slow and low shots. You’ll see extended dinking rallies and beautiful drops hit from all over the court. You’ll see players volley the ball so it lands gently, close to the net, forcing their opponents to hit up on the next shot, likely with another slow ball of their own.
The mistake we make, however, is to see these rallies taking place and to then assume that if the pros are using these shots a lot, it must be the ‘right’ way to play – that the soft game really is the essence of the sport and that we – merely mortals of the pickleball world – ought to adopt a similar style of play. This is a mistake and I’ll illustrate why with a story.
Patty and Penny were a 3.5 doubles team. They were in the gold medal final or a regional tournament. In this best 2-out-of-3 match, they were down a game a 9-4 – just two points from defeat. While they prided themselves on their soft game and had used it effectively all tournament long, they really struggled with their drops and their dinks in this championship. Their balls were sitting up and being attacked, or falling short and hitting the net. Whether it was nerves or fatigue, they had lost their touch and were about to lose the match.
Humiliated at her team's poor play, Patty said to Penny “Hey. We’re going to lose anyway. Why don’t we just smack the ball for the next couple points? I know I need to get some frustration out.” And that’s what they did. The next time her team served, instead of playing a third shot drop (she’d been trying that shot as her third all day), Patty took a great big swing and hammered the ball low and fast down the middle. Her opponents were so accustomed to Penny playing a drop, that the ball went right between them without even an attempt to return it. The crowd, sensing Patty and Penny’s frustration, offered an encouraging cheer.
“Maybe we should do it again?” Patty said to Penny. Now serving at 5-9, the return came to Penny who drove the ball hard at her opponent’s backhand volley. She popped it up and Patty put away the high ball easily. 6-9. Another drive from Penny, this time netted by the opponent. 7-9. Drive. Winner. 8-9. Drive. Volley goes wide. 9-9. Opponents call a timeout.
“This is going great!” said Patty. “I know!”, replied Penny. “Why didn’t we do this sooner?”. Patty and Penny resumed hitting hard and subsequently won the next two points to take the game. They continued using this approach in the decisive third game and while the opponents were at times able to neutralize the ball, it was clear that they were uncomfortable with the speed of Patty and Penny’s new approach. Patty and Penny won game three 11-5.
The point here is that we fall into a trap when we think pickleball is all about hitting soft shots. Dinks and drops are tools. And like any tool, they work best when they are used in the right way and at the right time, to solve a particular problem. Patty and Penny made the mistake of thinking that it was the only tool they had in their toolbox. Once they discovered they had another option (using power) and that in this particular case it worked better than the one they were using before, life was much easier.
When we see pros having long, extended dinking rallies, it isn’t because they are playing ‘properly’. It is because they are responding intelligently to a specific situation that they often find themselves in. If they receive a low ball that forces them to hit up to get the ball over the net, using speed is a risky choice. An astute opponent will just step out of the way and let the ball fly long if it is hit fast on an upward trajectory. And since the pros are so good at sending each other low balls, it is quite likely these dinks and drops will need to be used fairly frequently. Again, this is not because the players are beholden to some Platonic ideal of how pickleball ought to be played, but because it’s a smart response to low balls when playing against good volleyers.
We make a mistake when we think that since we see pros using slow balls often, we too must use them often. We are missing the context that leads to these tactics, and we do so at our peril.
Myth 2: The serve and return don’t really matter. When I first started playing pickleball someone told me: “Above all else, you should never miss your serve or return.” I asked them why that was the case and they answered “Well, they are really just about starting the point. The real game begins with the third shot.” This struck me as confusing.
I don’t know many sports where the team with the ball in their possession (like when serving or returning) is encouraged to do nothing productive with it. Baseball pitchers don’t just toss the ball toward the batter to ‘start the play’. They try to challenge the hitter, making it difficult for them to do what they want with the ball. Football teams don’t just let the opposing quarterback throw wherever and whenever they want, they apply pressure to make life more difficult. So where does this (misguided) advice come from in pickleball?
I think it is based on the all-or-nothing fallacy. That is, that if you aren’t going for a winning shot, you might as well do nothing with the ball. In the case of serving, you’re hitting from 45+ feet away from your opponent, underhand. It is tough – though not impossible which is why we have seen recent rule changes related to the serve – to hit an unreturnable first shot. The all-or-nothing fallacy would suggest that since you’re unlikely to hit a winner, you might as well just get it in play. The same goes for the return: you’re probably not going to hit an winning ball, so doing nothing with it is fine.
This, of course, is silly. The all-or-nothing fallacy deals only with the extremes of a spectrum, but doesn’t see anything in the middle. When serving, for example, I can make it tougher for the returner to do what they want with the ball. If they’d like to return deep, for example, hitting my serve to their weaker side (e.g. backhand) could be very effective. Sure, they might still get the ball back in play, but if it is short, perhaps I can pounce on it.
The same goes when returning serve. Perhaps my opponents are looking to hit drops and to come to the net. If I can send my return to make a good drop harder to hit (e.g. hit it with a lot of spin that helps the ball skid off the bounce), maybe their drop sits up a little too high and my team can attack it. Perhaps I can direct my return to the taller opponent, keeping them away from the net just a little longer. Maybe I can hit the return harder, giving less time to set up for the ball. There are many things you can do – besides hitting a winning shot – to make your first shot meaningful, not just a throwaway.
The point is, anytime you are hitting the ball you have a chance to apply pressure. And while sometimes the pressure is so great that it results in winning the rally, there are also more subtle versions of this too: a good serve or return can make it harder for the other team to do what they want with the ball. And the more often you can foil their plans, the more often good things happen for you.
There are many other myths in pickleball that we’ll address later. For now, I suggest you consider what people in the know have to say about pickleball tactics but also be open to thinking a little more critically about whether this advice makes sense to you.
