Welcome to The Pickleball Clinic Coaching Newsletter!
Have you ever heard the old sports saying “offense wins games, defense wins championships?”
It couldn’t be more true in pickleball!
Today we’re going to break down a defensive technique that will get you out of trouble when you’re getting slammed by your opponents so that you can work your way up to the kitchen and get to neutral.
This technique is a lot of fun, and may not be what you expect!
Let’s dive in 👇
One of the hallmarks of great players is their ability to play defense.
Great defense allows you to stay in rallies even when your opponents have a big advantage.
Your opponents usually have an advantage over you when they are hitting the ball from above the net. That means that they can hit down on the ball and keep it in.
Traditionally, we might think that hitting a reset is the best way to defend against an opponent hitting a slam. This makes sense in theory, since a well executed reset that bounces in the kitchen cannot (or at least should not) be attacked again.
But the problem with the reset is that it is very difficult to execute effectively every time. There is a very small window to hit a good reset so that it bounces in the kitchen, and if you hit it too high, your opponents will continue to slam you. It is especially difficult to hit the ball in the kitchen when it is coming at you fast.
Let’s say you’re back at the baseline when your opponents are getting ready to hit you an overhead—maybe you hit your third shot drop way too high, or decided to back up from the kitchen line to play defense.
You have another tool in your arsenal to play defense with: the drive!
When you are behind the baseline, trying to drive back your opponents’ slam can be an incredibly effective, and relatively easy way to get back to neutral compared to attempting a reset. Here’s a breakdown of the how and why:
Returning a slam with a drive is conceptually similar to the third shot drive, fifth shot drop pattern. You aren’t trying to get to the kitchen off the drive itself, rather you are trying to get an easier opportunity to hit a drop. When you drive the slam, you are accepting that your opponent will take it out of the air, but anticipating that they will volley it shorter and slower so that you can set yourself up for an easier drop to transition up.
Drives are easier to keep low than resets off slams. To hit a reset into the kitchen, the flight path needs to be an arc shape. If you hit the ball too hard, the ball will float up to create another overhead for your opponent. It’s tough to control the pace of the ball when you’re being slammed! The flight path of a drive is more linear, and it’s easier to keep it low when you’re aiming in a straight line. The lower, the better, because your opponents can’t hit down on a low volley.
You might catch your opponent off guard. Many opponents check out after a huge slam, expecting to win the point too soon! If your opponent wasn’t expecting a drive, they may give you an easy pop up, or at least an easy transition opportunity.
To drive a slam, make sure you keep your backswing super short. If you try to take a backswing, you’ll run out of time and be late. Use your opponent’s pace against them. Since the ball is coming at you fast, you don’t need to generate pace of your own.
Hit the ball flat rather than hitting with topspin. Topspin adds more moving parts, and will be harder to time. Just focus on hitting the ball back to your opponent straight and low.
Try this strategy next time you play, and I can practically guarantee immediate results. This is one of those things that clicks once you start to see it!
See you on the courts!
- Matt Slowinski (Co-Founder, Pro Player & Coach)
Pay close attention to the shots that the team on the far side chooses when they are at the baseline.
There was a good mix of drive attempts and reset attempts. Twice, they tried to drive off a slam, kept it low, then attempted a follow up reset. Notice how they popped up a reset after hitting a good drive, so they drove it again! The next reset was good, so they made it back up to the kitchen. They did an incredible job of keeping their drives low, which allowed them to stay in the point even after their opponents hit overheads at them.
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Insights from Pro Player James Ignatowich
One of the reasons that returning an overhead with a drive to get back to neutral works is overheads in pickleball don’t bounce as high as people think. In tennis, overheads pop way up because the ball is so pressurized. But in pickleball, overheads usually bounce lower and sometimes they even skid.
Because of all that pace coming into your paddle, you’re often contacting the ball pretty low. That makes it tough to hit a perfect drop off that shot. So instead of trying to finesse it, I like to drive the ball back and most of the time, I drive it to the middle.
Why the middle? When someone hits an overhead, you don’t always know how much pace they’ll put on it, and it’s easy to connect late. Aiming for the middle gives you margin for error even if you’re late, you’ll still keep the ball in play and reset the point back to neutral.
-James
If you truly want to improve your game, there’s only one way to do it… by DRILLING! Here’s a must-do game to add to your drilling routine that will put your defense to the test. 👇
Slam Return 7-11
This game is played on half the court with a partner.
One partner should start at the kitchen line and the other partner should start at the baseline.
The baseline player feeds an overhead to the kitchen player, who should slam it back and play it out. Keep track of score using rally scoring.
The player at the kitchen needs to score eleven points to win, while the baseline player only needs seven. This makes it fair because the kitchen player has a huge advantage.
Once one player wins, switch roles and do it again!
Well, that’s a wrap… so let’s recap what we learned this week about slam returns.
If you are at the baseline, returning a slam with a drive can be higher percentage than a reset
The key is to keep the ball low so you can earn an easier drop opportunity
Utilize a minimal backswing so that you can time the ball right without overhitting
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
