Doubles Strategies and whether you should play the ball offensively or defensively.

Playing percentage pickleball starts off with your shot selection. What shot are you going to hit and where would you like your shot to land? Points are played with the four players trading shots, trying to keep the ball in play, and looking for opportunities to hit an offensive shot. The better players make sure to play most balls safely and are not hitting attacking shots on balls that are in a more difficult location. An analogy of a baseball batter is a good example to think about. The pitcher does not want to pitch the ball right over the middle of the plate, but wants to place the pitch on the edge of the strike zone, in order to get the batter to swing at or chase an outside pitch.

In pickleball, you want to place your shots low and wide to make your opponents stretch and also swing at the ball. When players swing at every ball, especially well placed balls, they become inconsistent players. Most shots in pickleball are not played offensively but played more defensively or safe to keep the ball in play. The placement of your shots to be at the feet of your opponents makes it a low percentage ball to attack. The idea is to learn the difference of hitting the ball offensively or defensively. Basically, high balls can be hit harder and offensively and lower balls should be hit softer so your shots land in front of your opponent’s feet.

Playing percentage pickleball involves knowing the odds of hitting an attacking shot. If your success rate is 50%, then why go for it? You will be even with any player. But when you work a point to eventually get a high ball to attack that you can win over 75% of these points, then go for it.

Defense versus Offense

First, let's get a good understanding of the two. You are on the defense until you are up at your NVZ line and hitting a high ball designed to force your opponents into an error, or perhaps win the point outright.

To get into this offensive position, you need to get up to your NVZ line. When you are receiving the serve, your team has the advantage. One partner is up while the other is hitting the return. The better way to insure your advantage is to hit your return deeper which keeps your opponents back and gives you more time to react to their shot. Balls that are higher than the level of the net can be viewed as balls that you can hit offensively.

In order for the team that served to have both partners up at their NVZ line, they want to hit specific shots. It is difficult to teach strategies that apply to all levels of play, so these are generalizations that give you the concepts.

1. Hit a ball that lands in your opponent’s kitchen that is called a drop shot. Drop shots land in front of your opponents and force them to hit up on the ball to clear the net. If you move in quickly on a well hit drop shot, you will have the advantage if your opponent hits the ball up too high. If you are slower in getting to your NVZ line or your opponent hits a defensive ball to land in front of your feet or very low, you again are in a defensive position. Your ability to control shots in front of your opponents is a skill and is one of the key factors in the skill level ratings.
   
   

2. At most levels of play, a well hit drive will often result in your opponent hitting a defensive volley. Hitting a strong drive is a good percentage shot because it will challenge your opponent’s volley and many players may hit your drive into the net or out. Your third shot drive has extended the point, challenged your opponent, and not made an unforced error. If your opponent volleys the ball short, you now can run forward and hit your next shot into your opponent’s kitchen to effectively neutralize the point. A good strategy, it’s named, “Third Shot Drive and 5th Shot Drop”.
   
   

3. Another common play situation is hitting a strong third shot drive and when the opponent volleys the ball short, you now move forward and hit another drive at them from close range. The percentage of this working depends on the volleying skills of the opponents. Since a drive from the baseline works against many players, hitting another drive from closer range will be effective as well. Against really good players with great volleys, you may very well lose the point by hitting a drive that they volley back to win the point. You then are probably second guessing your shot selection and thinking that you should have hit a good drop shot and made your opponents hit a low ball down by their feet.
   
   

4. Hit a shot that I have coined a dining room shot. This shot is a modified drive or drop shot. At most levels of play, hitting the ball below the level of the net will result in some mistakes from your opponents. Most players hit the ball too hard and when you place a ball below the level of the net, they hit up on it and it flies long or they hit it into the net. One of the advantages of the dining room shot is that it has a larger window or margin of error. This shot is not designed to land in the kitchen, but designed to land 2 to 3 feet past the NVZ line. If your opponents are a foot behind the NVZ line or even at the NVZ line, your shot hit with a medium pace will still be low to your opponents and force them to hit up on the ball to clear the net.

Your defense is determined by your ability to:

• Physically cover your side of the court.
  
  

• Develop “good hands”, which is the paddle skill of getting your paddle on the ball and keeping the ball in play.

Covering your side of the court, which is 10 feet wide and 15 feet from baseline to your NVZ line, requires some lateral movement as well as moving forward and backward. One of the reasons that pickleball is so popular is the size of the court is relatively easy to cover. A step or two sideways can cover the width and around 5 strides allows you to move forward to your NVZ line. Having some quickness is certainly an advantage, but moving a few steps will allow you to play against most opponents. All in all, you should be able to move and get your paddle on most balls hit to your side of the court. Your readiness to move to your opponent’s shots is very important. The idea of a crouching animal ready to run or pounce is a good illustration of how you should be as your opponent is hitting the ball.

How do you prepare when your opponent is hitting a serve to you? You rarely get aced. Also, after you or your partner hits a serve, your opponents rarely hit a winner on their return of serve. You should be ready to move and you almost always can get to the ball after one bounce and you have a legitimate chance to hit the ball and keep the ball in play. As we age, the court coverage can be more challenging against players with accurate placement.

A good drill is to have one player try to catch serves or return of serves with their hand. This drill proves that you can physically move to most balls and catch them, so with a paddle, you then would theoretically return them.

"Good hands'' is described as the ability to keep the ball in play, when you are able to hit the ball with your paddle. These players can control the paddle face so the ball is always hit back into play. These players are like human backboards. The next higher level of play is “nice touch” and “great feel”, which are terms that describe a player’s skill to return the ball with placement to keep the ball low to their opponents. Low balls must be hit up to clear the net and are therefore more difficult to hit forcefully. The skill to hit the ball specific distances is key to very good defensive pickleball. The target area for your shots is to have the ball land just in front of wherever your opponents are positioned which forces them into hitting up on the ball. The team that forces the other team into hitting more half volleys will generally win. The second important placement is to hit the ball so your opponent is hitting a low volley which is below the level of their knees.

Players who haven’t developed accurate placement by controlling the pace, height, and spin of their shots will inevitably resort to the power game. The power game works at most levels because the power breaks down the opponent’s shots. Power forces errors or causes hit reactionary shots that often are hit back high and can also be attacked.

In most pickleball games, it is the person who makes the least mistakes that ends up winning. So, we want to minimize our mistakes and play it safe on most shots. We want to build in a margin for error, because none of us are perfect. Hit the ball down the middle of the court as the net is lower and it gives you 10 feet on both sides. Slow the pace down so the ball doesn’t fly long. Hitting the ball crosscourt gives you longer distances. Work on your placement to keep your shots landing in front of their feet until you can get a higher ball to hit offensively. Offensive shots are winning shots that are achieved by both power and / or placement.