In a prior life I played a lot of bridge. One of the bridge learning mechanisms is an article where an expert explains what he is thinking about as he plays a hand. These are called "over my shoulder" pieces. While I'm no expert, I thought it might be fun to write such an article for pickleball.
It's probably more the things I should be thinking about rather than what I do think about. I hope it can add some insight to the game. I wrote about the two main scenarios, they being service returns and also third and fifth shot scenarios for servers. The article got pretty long, so I'm going to break it up. I'll start with the serve return.
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I'm returning a serve against a reasonable player. I set up well back from the baseline as I want to be able to handle a deep serve easily. Yes, it makes it harder to field a short serve, but there are indications of when that's going to happen, and it will be easier to move forward if it happens.
I'm expecting a serve to my backhand. I don't have a problem with that shot and prefer it to a ball hit straight at me. I don't like to run around backhand shots to hit a forehand as that will pull me out of position a bit and I'll have to move back.
My goal is to hit a low spinney shot to the middle of the court. That maximizes my ability to get to the kitchen line and a ball in the middle can be a problem to random partnerships. However the most important aspect of service returns is to get them back. I don't need a great shot here. The opponents must let the ball bounce and that is a huge advantage for me. While I want to hit a low ball back, I do not want to net it or hit it long. That costs a point and I want the opps to work for every point they get. If the serve is good, it may be that the best shot I can get back is somewhat high and mid court. So it wouldn't be ideal, but it may well be good enough. I'll follow any return to the kitchen line, the quality of my return is not a consideration for moving up.
I watch the server closely. If there is a big wind up or a long swing then it's more likely the ball will be deep. If there is a quick, short swing, then I'm looking for the short serve and I want to be moving forward quickly.
People who hit serves with their backhand usually don't hit them long or hard, but they will be spinney with cut spin. I'll have to lift that ball more than a top spin shot, but since the ball is usually not hit hard and short, I'll have time. If it's a backhand server, I'll move in a step, also if the wind is at my back and strong enough to be a factor, I'll move in too.
Someone collected pro data and realized that the average serve landed in the middle of the service box. In a rec game, should I expect something different? The more skilled the player, the more likely the serve will be difficult to return and deep. It's the deep ones that are the hardest for most of us. Again, starting well behind the baseline is important against good players. Know your opponents and position yourself accordingly.
OK, I get the average ball, it's in the middle of the service box and I can comfortably hit it. I would like to hit it on the run as that will make it quicker to get to the net. If the serve is not particularly low, then this is easily done. If I have to stop or slow down to hit the ball that's not critical. What is important is that I hit it and then move up. There is no time to admire the shot or cringe if it looks like it's out.
I want to return the ball deep. I like to use a "cut" spin on these. That spin will make the ball carry further into the court and not bounce as high as other spins. That spin is often netted by opps, as it requires more lift in the hit. All good from my perspective.
I also want to hit it to the middle of the court. If I hit it to the middle, it's more likely the shot coming back will not be angling off to a sideline. My side will be at the net and we should have no problems getting a paddle on the ball.
When I return the serve, I'll run up the middle of the court and as close as I can get to the kitchen line. (If I return to my side of their court, then I will run straight up my side and my partner will move into the middle and vice versa.) The important part here is that the middle of the court has to be covered and covered well. I don't want to have to stretch to hit a middle ball back. Either my partner or I should have a foot straddling the center line or be ready to step across the line to hit a shot. Have those feet ready to move. We'll share middle duty based on where the return ball goes, how much partner likes to poach, etc. But one of us should be there.
And... I think we are done here. We plan on hitting deep in the middle and will either keep the opps back or angle off the ball. What I want to happen is that the opps will feel under pressure, hit the ball too hard and long. I'd love to duck the next shot.
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