Return Strategies to STOP Your Opponents From Scoring

Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Coaching Newsletter!

The return of serve is one of the most important shots in pickleball. If you can’t hit a return, you can’t play a game!

The return also plays a pivotal role in the outcome of the rally; the quality of your return determines how easy it will be for the serving team to score a point.

If you hit a short and/or high return, you’re giving up your advantage in court positioning at best, or opening yourself up to losing the rally from a huge drive at worst.

But there’s more to returning than just hitting the ball deep.

Today we’re going to break down return placement so you can get the most out of your returns and stop your opponents from scoring on serve.

Let’s get started.

When it comes to hitting effective returns, you always hear “return high and deep” so you 1) have ample time to get to the kitchen and 2) push your opponents back off the baseline to make their third shot more difficult.

However, when it comes to high-level return strategy, getting the most out of your returns isn’t so black and white. If you want to give yourself the best chance at earning a side out and an opportunity to score, you should emphasize your return placement as well.

Every time you hit a return of serve, you have three basic options for where to hit it: down the line (straight ahead), to the middle of the court, or cross court (diagonal). Each option creates a different effect.

When deciding where you should hit your return, there are three questions you and your partner should answer:

1. Is one of our opponents significantly stronger or more aggressive than the other?

2. Is one of us significantly stronger than the other?

3. Are we stacking?

If the answer to all three of those questions is “no,” then returning to an opponent’s backhand is a great option. But let’s say you can answer yes to at least one of those questions. Here are the strategies that you can employ to give yourself the best shot at a side out.

When one of your opponents is significantly stronger or more aggressive:

Return to the stronger/more aggressive player.

This may seem counterintuitive, but the stronger player is much less of a threat from the baseline than from the transition zone or the kitchen. When the weaker player is hitting a drop or drive, the stronger player has free range to get aggressive and poach. If you force the better player to hit the third shot, they will have a much more neutral position behind the baseline, and the weaker player will be less likely to create offense.

When either you or your teammate is the significantly stronger player:

Hit the return in front of the weaker player on your team. I.e. if the weaker player is on the right, hit the return to the right side (from your perspective).

This limits the amount of court that the weaker player has to cover. When the ball is in front of you, you are only responsible for covering the sideline, the other player is responsible for everything that goes through the middle or cross court. Therefore, by returning in front of the weaker player, you can effectively make the stronger player responsible for two thirds of the court.

As a bonus, amateur players tend to be very intent on hitting to the weaker player. So this strategy makes their target smaller, increasing the chance of an error.

When you are stacking:

It’s usually best to return down the line when you are stacking. There’s a lot of moving parts when you’re unwinding a stack, and one player has to run from one side of the court to the other.

Therefore, it’s best to put the ball in a spot where both players have to move as little as possible to cover the court properly. When you return down the line, the player who is already at the kitchen can quickly slide over to cover the line, and the player running up to the kitchen will cover the middle, which is easier than having to run all the way to the opposite sideline.

See you on the courts!

- Matt Slowinski (Co-Founder, Pro Player & Coach)

If you want to stack so that you and your partner can play on your preferred sides, good return placement is imperative.

Notice in the video below how the team on the far side is stacking, so they returned down the line.👇

Returning down the line gives the player running up to the kitchen as little court to cover as possible!

Insights from World No. 3 Ranked Pro James Ignatowich

The most important aspect of the return of serve in Pickleball is its depth. While many players aim to direct their return to the opponent’s backhand, I believe that depth — and even pace — is far more critical.

In my opinion, the top priority for the return of serve is hitting it as deep as possible, with pace being a distant second. Once these two elements are in place, you can start considering which player to target. I usually aim for the player who poses less of a threat with their third shot. I also take into account the opponent’s ability to poach or crash off their partner’s third shots. Typically, you want to return to the stronger poacher or crasher since they are more dangerous at the kitchen line, and keeping them back is to your advantage.

See you all for my next bulletin!

-James

^{For more from James, check out his Instagram and YouTube!}

All the strategies mentioned above require a high degree of accuracy with your returns.

There’s only one way to build confidence in your return so you can hit your target every time… by drilling!

Here’s a drill that you can do with a partner to help you master each return target:

• There are 8 return combinations that you’re going to practice, 4 from each half of the court: Forehand return to the left side, forehand return to the right side, backhand return to the left side, and backhand return to the right side.

• Work on one combination at a time, starting with your partner serving to your forehand on the right side of the court. Once you hit 15 forehand returns to the left side and 15 forehand returns to the right side, have your partner serve to your backhand.

• Practice each combination until you hit 15 successful returns, then move to the next one.

• 15 may not seem like a lot, but by the end you’ll have hit 120 successful returns!

If you want to work on your return technique, check out this video from Coach Matt breaking down the keys to hitting a perfect return of serve.

Well, that’s a wrap… so let’s recap what we learned this week:

• Depth is important, but it shouldn’t be your only focus on your return of serve

• Placement is key and varying your placement will yield different effects

• You should determine your return placement based on your team’s strengths and weaknesses, and your opponents’ strengths and weaknesses

Thanks for reading! We hope you can put these tips to good use the next time you’re out on the courts.

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- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic