Most pickleball advice tells you how to attack or defend better. However, learning how to make yourself “unattackable” is just as important.
Here are a few ways.
Beginning players are taught to drop or dink the ball inside their opponent's kitchen. While this isn't wrong, it’s incomplete.
Aiming to get the ball to land inside the kitchen can lead to “dead dinks.”
Dead dinks bounce high and soft, typically allowing your opponent to attack in any direction.
A better place to drop or dink the ball is on the kitchen line.
The trajectory of a ball that will land on (or pretty close to) the kitchen line forces your opponent to make a tough decision: should they take it out of the air or take a step back and let it bounce?
While they could still attack you, it becomes riskier and more challenging.
Another way you can focus on becoming unattackable is by aiming your shots to the left or right of your opponent – never straight on.
By forcing your opponents to move, we allow them to be lazy or showcase their shoddy footwork.
This can cause them to be off-balanced or reach to hit the ball.
Reaching is one of the top ways to pop the ball up, which gives you a ball to easily attack.
However, even if they don’t pop it up or actually move to hit it, most players can’t (or at least shouldn’t) attack while moving.
Of course, some will still try, but you’ll be there to make them pay for that attempt.
The best way to practice is by placing targets inside the kitchen (see image below) and drilling with a partner. Each of you should aim every dink aggressively toward one of the targets.
If you or your partner miss, they should attack it.
Now that you can master the art of becoming unattackable, you’ll not only win more points but also frustrate any opponent unlucky enough to face you.
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