We’ve told you this before, and we’ll say it again: You don’t have to hug the line with your toes every time you’re up at the kitchen.
In fact, because the game has become so fast and aggressive, it can actually benefit you to take a few good steps back. As contradictory as it might sound, this can help set up better offense.
Pro Jilly B lays out a few scenarios where a bit of breathing room can go a long way.
✅ There’s a core problem with hitting a bounce speed-up from the pickleball kitchen line: your weight has nowhere to go. When you are pressed against the line and try to generate force, your body is already at the wall. No forward motion, no weight transfer, and the ball comes out flat and weak.
✅ Standing right up at the kitchen line makes you an easier target for a speed-up attack. Your reaction window is smaller, your counter options are limited, and you have no room to generate a clean response. You’re a sitting duck.
✅ Every successful lob defense begins with a quick, anticipatory step back. One nano-second too slow, and it’s already too late. But if you’re already a few steps off the line, you’re not just harder to lob to begin with, you’re that much closer to easily tracking it down.
✅ When you’re at the line, every deep dink against you requires a step back to defend. This puts you in defensive mode by default. If you start a few feet back, you can attack these balls with forward momentum instead. This applies to every point, but is probably most consequential when trying to capitalize on your fourth shot.
The through-line here is that a few extra feet of space at the kitchen gives you more time on defense and more momentum on offense. That’s a win-win no matter what level you’re playing at.
Before you knock it, give it a try. You might be surprised how advanced your game starts feeling.
