I've been watching a lot of bridge lately and there was one pro lesson that came up. The experienced pro talked to the young pro about a very important issue, that being how to play against non-experts.
The lesson was not to do miracle things. Do normal things and use your expertise to win by grinding down the other players a little here and little there. A silly mistake can create a situation where the pro's abilities can't save them. Basically don't try for hero moments.
This is useful advice for us PB players too. You will beat all the teams you are up against if you make very few errors. Sounds simple, but let's look at some common "miracle" shots that are a disaster if you don't get them correct.
First of all, don't serve out, ever. You will rarely win a point with a "big" serve and a missed serve loses an opportunity to score points. Sometimes those opportunities are hard to come by... Get the ball in and expect to out rally the opponents.
Hitting for a sideline is fraught with terror. If you miss, the point is over. If you like a line shot, keep it well within the lines. It is a good shot to keep a poacher honest, but you don't need to paint a line, nor hit it really hard. Just making a player lean over to his backhand is often enough to either win the point or create a situation where their odds of success diminish. "In two shots, my partner will end the point! Thanks for the setup, partner!"
Hitting the ball too long. Dumping the ball deepish into the court is great. Trying for the baseline, is silly. You want to let the opponents make the mistakes, so hit it in. Pro tip: the middle is a great place to allow both opponents to fight over the ball. If it's slow enough that they both can easily reach it, it's a bonus situation. They may collide and they don't have a angle to hit back to you. They also have too much time to think about it, rather than just hitting the ball.
The longer the rally, the better that is for the better team. Cutting the point shot with a "winning" shot that is not 90% to make is a losing shot. Keep the ball in play and expect to keep the ball lower and deeper than your opponents. Grind them down and beat them slowly.
The definition of a good pickleball player is consistency and not a killer serve or a great smash. It's moving efficiently around the court, it's being in the right place at the right time. Use those skills to make the opponents work for every point and stretch for every ball. Don't be generous! Don't beat yourself!
Most players are way to focused on wanting to hit a shot that ends the point, preferably a clean winner. Instead they should be focused on staying in control of the point by keeping an opponent at the baseline and always looking for opportunities to keep the ball low at their feet. You will win most games if your team makes less errors than your opponents. Winners aren’t as important to me.
ReplyDeleteYep! Rich
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