A massive differentiator between 4.0s and 5.0+ players is how they play through the transition zone.
Lower-level players tend to be aggressive when they shouldn’t, while higher-level players understand to look for specific tells to know they have the green light to attack.
Fortunately, we have someone like top pro Catherine Parenteau to help us all learn these tells.
According to Catherine, the key to reading whether or not to attack is to first look at your opponent’s contact point.
If you hit a drop shot and it’s high, your opponent will raise their eyes and paddle in anticipation of hitting an aggressive shot down at your feet.
This is a signal to you that you should stop, split step, and get ready to block or reset the ball.
However, if after you hit a drop shot you see the top of their head:
Head down - contact point below knees
Head and eyes lowered
And their eyes lower:
Their contact point will be below their knees.
You should advance toward the kitchen and prepare to be aggressive on your next shot. If their return ball is high, you should position your body and paddle to hit down on the ball for a putaway.
If they concede the kitchen by hitting a dink, look for a speedup opportunity or hit an aggressive dink to their left or right foot.
These are a little trickier, but essentially instead of seeing all these signs, you’re just looking for one (top of their head, eyes down, knees bent, etc.) and a ball that’s at least waist high that you can drive.
Yellow light signals are also reserved for what you know about your opponent. For instance, if they handle aggressive shots well, consider this as a red light and be more patient.
However, if they struggle against aggressive shots, then treat these as green lights all day.
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