Third Shot Drop

The Safest Place to Hit a Pickleball

June 23 2024

In a recent podcast episode, James Ignatowich discusses his experience playing on the right side with Ben Johns at PPA Sacramento.

He says he learned a lot about playing that side – typically, he plays on the left in doubles – including how challenging it is for a right-side player to be aggressive on a ball that bounces in front of their inside (left) foot.


Why the left foot?

The left foot of a right-handed player in this position is their backhand. When you make a ball bounce there, the player only has a few options of where to hit the next ball.

A speedup down the middle, off the bounce, is a bad shot choice because you’re hitting directly into your opponent’s forehand.

A cross-court dink is also risky because leaving this ball high and attackable is easy to do.

The only good option is hitting a dink to – you may have guessed it – the right-side player’s inside (left) foot.

In the video clip below, you can see James Ignatowich making the wrong choice, giving Riley Newman an opportunity to attack.

After Ben is pulled out wide, Tardio does a great job of hitting a dink out of the air (taking time away from Ben to get back) to James’ inside foot – a spot Ben usually covers with his forehand.

As a side note, this is one reason the left-side player should be allowed to take up more of the court in doubles.

While on his back heels, James tries to dink to the middle but leaves it up, and Riley Newman attacks it. James and Ben end up winning the rally, but that’s not the point.

James made the mistake because he didn’t know what to do with this particular ball—he all but admits this in his podcast episode.

And, if someone as great as James Ignatowich doesn’t know, you can bet that most players you play against don’t know either.

How to use this strategy in your games

Hitting to this spot is almost always a positive choice. Not only is it a safe spot for you, it’s a troublesome spot for your opponent.

Also, it’s not just great for dinking. Hitting third- (or fifth-) shot drops and resets here is also a smart strategy.

If you spent the entire game aiming shots at the right-side player’s left foot, you would create fewer attacking opportunities for your opponents and more for you and your teammate.

However, there is one important caveat.

This strategy will not work against lefthanders (assuming they are playing on the right side) because instead of this being their backhand, it’s their forehand, and they can attack from there.

So, if you’re up against a lefty, find another safe spot to attack instead. Perhaps that’s an Up Your Game for another day.

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