A Serving Side Technique, is it Good or Bad?

 TLDR: don't rush the net automatically when partner is about to hit the third shot.  

As people improve they realize the importance of getting to the kitchen line (KL).  What I want to talk about is how you want to get there if your side is serving.

Specifically, your partner is going to hit the third shot.  What should you be thinking about doing in this situation?

I see a number of people who will always rush the KL while partner hits the third ball.  This doesn't always work.  Let's look at some of the shots that partner will hit and what else we might want to do.

If partner is going to hit a good third shot drop, then you do want to rush to the KL and be ready to put away a weak return.  Keep your paddle up!

If partner is going to hit a bad drop, then you will be an easy target if you are at the KL.  It is better to be back then too close in this case.

If your partner drives the ball, you don't want to be at the KL, but you would like to have moved into the transition area.

There is one more case and that's where the service returner has not come to the KL.  In this case the third shot should be returned deep into the court to the returner and both players on the serving side will immediately move to the KL.  This is the best case as your side will own the net and the opponents are separated in depth.  The goal is to hit the fifth shot behind the player at the net.  If that is not possible then just keeping the opponents separated and look to exploit the net ownership.

Back to main topic.  So the rule is to move to the KL if partner is going to hit a good drop.  If partner drives we move a bit, otherwise we hang back.  So the best play is to move in a touch and watch partner's shot.  If it's a drop, keep moving in.  Otherwise, stay back a bit and see what the opponents will/can do.  If they look awkward or don't hit a good fourth shot, then seek to exploit that and keep moving in.

I'm assuming that your opponents are reasonable players.  If they are weak, then you can more aggressively move up.  If they are strong, then caution is a good idea.

The serving side should see a point as successful if they can manage to get to the net and start a dinking rally.  This requires that the third shot be done well.  A bad third probably will end the point.  This is not an unusual or bad occurrence, as even at the pro levels, there is  large percentage of the time that the servers never achieve parity in a point.  The advantage of controlling the KL is huge.

What does a point look like if the third shot is not a good drop?  The opponents are at the net and probably have hit a shot that lands somewhere into the middle of the court.  I think it's best to then hit a soft fifth shot and try to get your side to the net.

There are a lot of folks who feel that hitting the ball hard is what the game is all about.  So the fourth shot comes back and they will hit the fifth harder and typically the ball speed will keep increasing until someone thinks about ducking or the net gets in the way or an angled shot ends the point.  While that is exciting play, the points can be short and they lack the Zen of pickleball, which was designed to be all about the rally.    It is well known that the inventors of the game were deep into Zen as there was a Zen master on the island and they were all devoted students.  It is a disturbance in the force to fight the Zen undercurrents of PB or life itself.  One seeks to become one with the game and that is why the satisfaction of a good drop shot is so rewarding.

As the Master has said many times, "Why hit the ball hard, when softer works better?"  Be like the Master!  The balls and paddles will last longer too!

Serving Part Zero

 I've promised this post to my readers and also to myself.  It's one of those subjects that I had something to say and, from observations, it's useful to many a player.

There are a couple of things that you have to do to serve consistently.  However like a lot of PB play, you can get away with a lot of less efficient strokes.  If the paddles and ball were heavier, you couldn't, but we are happy to play with what we have.  So, strange play will work frequently.

OK, enough with over long introduction.  What we need is a stroke that is an upswing and therefore the ball must be hit from a fairly low position.

If you drop or bounce the serve, the ball must be hit at a level below the knee.  Did I say below the knee?  Good, because that's important.

The next vital point is that the ball must also be aligned with the center of the body.  The feet/toes should be on a line to the middle of the target service area.  You need to be bent a bit from the hips as your arm should be pretty close to vertical as you swing at the ball.

So we drop the ball, it's in line with the navel and below the knee and underneath your shoulders.  The swing comes from below and strikes the ball with an upward strike.  You have to hit it up to get it over the net.  A reasonable target in re height above the net is perhaps 6 or 7 feet above the ground.  

There is little need to skim the net as we seek not to win the point with the serve, but to start the rally.  If the serve is deep into the service area, fine, but in no case do you want to strive to hit the serve deep if in doing so, you serve long.  

A survey was done of a senior pros' game and the impact of all the serves were recorded.  The average impact point was the center of the service area, not deep or on the edges of the area, but dead in the middle.  Seek to play like a professional!  Seek the middle!

Now...  Let's say that you have mastered the simple stance and the ball drop and the upward strike and now you hit every serve in and you don't need to hit any warmup serves and all is well.  Yet, you seek more adventure!  More thrills and perhaps a hit of envy from your fellow players.  This is easily done.  We will now discuss the wrist.

I didn't mention it above and I assumed you were keeping the wrist joint fairly straight in relationship to the arm.  This is fine and the serve it produces will be gentle and not very spinny.  (BTW spinny is not a word.  It seems there is no word that describes something that spins.  You read it here first.)

How to create some useful spin...  This is all done with the wrist position at impact.  The more you increase the angle of the wrist to the forearm by bending the wrist back (extension), keep it in that position, and then strike the ball, you will create top spin with the ball.  You are brushing the ball and the angle of the paddle face does not match the swing path of the paddle.  This creates an imbalance in the universe and from this action, spin is created.  Ah, there is some heat there too, but not worth of discussion.

The more the wrist angle, the more the spin.  With this paddle position at the strike, you may have to hit the ball from a touch higher position and you have to hit the ball harder.  If you like the whack the ball, this is a tool you'll want.

With this, we have more pace, and with the spin, it is easier to keep the ball from going long.  You will also find the ball will be less affected by wind.  Again, height above the net is not a problem, in fact you can now hit the ball higher over the net as the top spin will cause the ball to arc more vertically into the court.

Alrighty, next variation and actually about the last one.  I've stated that the paddle has a straight path into the ball.  Well, maybe I just hinted at that, but it is the basic stroke.  Then we have wrist angle and now we mention not swinging straight through the ball, but we introduce a side angle.  Typically you will swing the paddle across the ball with the paddle moving towards your body.  If your feet and shoulders define a line to the service target, the paddle will now be from outside this line, across it, and finishes left of the line.  

How much of this deviation is another variable to play with.  Add in bending or not bending the wrist and you have many serves to choose from.  

And that's about all I know about serving...  Point your feet, drop the ball, cock your wrist, keep the wrist stationary, and hit the ball from below your knee.  

I had a group students in the PB 101 class and they were all tennis players.  They all liked to step with their lead foot as they hit the ball.  I like this as it is a useful motion and gets the entire body into the shot.  If you do this, you will create more speed with less effort.  I recommend it, but it's not critical.  To do this, your feet start pretty close together and then step towards the target.

Let me touch briefly and what errors I normally see.  The big error is that people drop the ball too far away from their body.  When that happens the ball is typically struck from too high a position and the moon ball is the result.  If it drops in, ok, but not what we want in the long run.  Drop it close and low and you can hardly go wrong.