Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

It's a bird... It's a plane... It's a pickleball?! Today, we'll find out how fast a pickleball moves, take a look at a new turf war between pickleball and tennis, learn a really important pickleball strategy, and a whole lot more.

Let’s do this! 👇

Have you ever wondered how fast a pickleball can zip through the air?

In a recent exhibition event held in China, pro pickleballers including Ben Johns, Tyson McGuffin, Anna Bright, and Chao Yi Wang had a friendly competition to see who could hit the fastest serve.

On the women's side, Chao Yi Wang clocked the fastest serve at 59.03 mph, and on the men's side, Ben Johns registered the fastest serve at 68.35 mph.

While other pickleball pros may have slightly faster serves, this is approximately the high end of how fast a pickleball can move these days.

To put it in perspective, here are the highest-ever recorded speeds of balls in other sports:

• Football throw: 62 mph

• Baseball pitch: 105 mph

• Hockey slap shot: 109 mph

• Tennis serve: 163 mph

• Golf drive: 240mph

• Badminton smash: 351mph

So while a pickleball does move quickly, it doesn't move all that fast compared to balls in other sports. Part of that is because a pickleball is lighter than many of those other balls. Another reason is that it has HOLES in it! 

But that's definitely not to say that pickleball players don't require extremely fast reflexes. Because while tennis serves or baseball pitches may be traveling faster, they are also coming from significantly further distances away.

We're not going to calculate the exact fractions of seconds that pickleball players have to react to balls hit at them up at the kitchen, but trust us, it's not much time. So here's a pro tip: when you're at the kitchen, keep your paddle up! 🙂

Always Be Ready to Defend an Attack!

Always expect your opponents to attack, even if you hit an unattackable shot. That way you won’t ever be surprised if your opponents choose to speed up! If you’re always ready you’ll be able to counter or reset more effectively than if you aren’t ready.

Communication. Patience. Dinking. Defense. Yup, it’s all here — and more!

Size Isn’t Everything

Do you hit the ball in the sweet spot of your paddle every single time? If you do, then you may be a professional. For the rest of us mere mortals 😉, there's an amazing training paddle that will get you hitting the ball in the sweet spot more and more.

It's called the "Moonblade" carbon fiber training pickleball paddle from Exo Sports. This paddle has the same weight, thickness and feel of a high-performance paddle. The only real difference is that the paddle face is a lot smaller. In fact, the entire paddle aligns perfectly with your regular paddle's sweet spot, allowing you to train your muscle memory most effectively.

Every time you make solid contact with the “Moonblade,” you know that you'll be making perfect contact with your regular paddle. (Plus, when you get comfortable with it, you can use it to hustle your friends. 😄) Get yours today and use code “clinic10” for 10% off.

There is an island in Indonesia that some call a quiet alternative to Bali. It's called Sumba, and it's a place where wild horses run along beaches and you can often see more buffalos than cars. Plus, the indigenous Marapu people worship the spirits of their ancestors, whom they believe live all around them in nature. It seems like an absolutely pristine place, almost like heaven on earth.

Well, for us, heaven needs a pickleball court. 😄 And the good thing for Sumba is that it has one! It's at the Nihi Resort, tucked in among some of its picturesque villas. So if you ever get out there, try to play on that court!

The Gloves Are Off

The feud between pickleball players and tennis players has been going on at parks and clubs across America for years.

But it's not just here. It's also happening "down under."

In the town of Pottsville in New South Wales, Australia, there was a passionate pickleball community that played at the Pottsville Beach Tennis Club.

They played during two sessions a week, which worked out for a while, but then they started to play a little more often during "out-of-session" times.

The tennis members did not like this and in response decided to eliminate pickleball entirely, stating in a letter that it wants to maintain its focus as a tennis facility. 

There was no consultation with the pickleball community before this ruling, and when a vote was held about the issue, the tennis club ignored the results that were firmly in favor of allowing pickleball back on the courts.

A group of pickleball protesters (roughly 50 people strong 💪) showed up to the courts recently carrying signs that read "Save Pottsville Pickleball."

“We're going to take this the whole way guys," said one pro-pickleballer. "Shame on you... We're being bullied off the court."

As for our position on the matter, we hope it can be handled fairly and respectfully. (With that said, go Team Pickleball!) 😃

“Thou shalt not make it obvious that thou are interested in another pickleball partner in front of thou’s existing pickleball partner.” It’s like one of the 10 commandments from the Bible, right? 😆

It’s Official!

If you watch pickleball on TV or play in tournaments, chances are you will see Franklin X-40 pickleballs — like a ton of them. That’s not an accident. There’s a reason for that. It’s because the Franklin X-40 pickleball is the gold standard for pickleballs at every level of the sport.

It’s the most balanced, consistent, and durable ball out there, which is why it’s the Official Ball of The Pickleball Clinic. But don’t just take our word for it. The Franklin X-40 is also the official ball of USA Pickleball and the APP Tour. Get some for yourself today and use code “clinic15” for 15% off.

When you are the serving team, your goal is to get up to the kitchen line so you can neutralize your opponents’ advantage. One way to do that is to hit a drop. But if the return is deep, then it’s not so easy to hit a good drop. Enter the “3rd shot drive, 5th shot drop” combination. How do you implement this strategy? Matt will show you below. 👇

Key takeaways:

• To use this strategy, hit a 3rd shot drive, move forward and then hit a drop on your next shot, which is the 5th shot of the point — hence the name “3rd shot drive, 5th shot drop.”

• If you hit your drive fairly well, your opponent will usually block their volley back, but it won’t be hit very deep or hard. That will make your drop significantly easier because you won’t have to hit it from as far away.

• If your drive happens to induce a pop-up from your opponent, then sure, you can attack that ball. But if they don’t pop it up, then be sure to drop the 5th ball.

• Don’t keep driving and approaching and driving and approaching, as you will eventually run out of room, causing you to hit from well below your knees, which leads to hitting the ball in the net, out, or at the very least, at an upward angle.

The highly anticipated professional pickleball debut of Andre Agassi took place last week when he partnered with the best female pickleball player in the world, 18-year-old Anna Leigh Waters. What were the results? Well, neither extreme happened. They didn't win the tournament, but they also weren't destroyed in the first round either. It was kind of in the middle. They won their first round match in three close games. Later that day, they then lost in the second round, also in three games. Watch them warm up here!

As you might expect, Agassi was strong in tennis-like shots, like groundstrokes and volleys, but not as solid with his dinks and resets, which are unique to pickleball. Granted, many of the very best players in the world were not allowed to play in the U.S. Open (except for Anna Leigh Waters) because of contractual conflicts. Nonetheless, their opponents were still high-level pro pickleball players who were trying to beat them. All in all, Agassi's pickleball debut certainly brought new eyeballs to professional pickleball, and that's a really good thing. 💪

Thanks for the read. See you out on the courts!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

Join the conversation below! ⬇️