4 Advanced Pickleball Strategies Pros Use

These four strategies or concepts we're gonna go over are things all good players do, but I feel like nobody ever talks about them. Be sure to like and subscribe, and let's get into it. If you watch the higher-level pickleball players, you'll see that most of them get to the kitchen mine the same way every time, and it's through the drive-drop combo. And while I've seen a lot of people talk about the drive-drop combo, nobody really talks about where to aim that fifth ball, and nobody really talks about how to execute this and how this differs from just a normal third-shot drive. Now, what I mean by this is when I hit a drive-drop combo, I'm trying to hit about a 60, 70% drive that dips over the net so I can get an easier ball to drop on the fifth one and come in. So if you watch a high-level pickleball match, you'll often see they wind up, hit a drive, hit a drop, and they're in. So in order to hit this shot, what you should focus on is being very loose with the upper extremities and letting the power come from the lower extremities and just making this nice whipping motion. You should be very smooth and relaxed with the upper body because that whipping motion is what's going to get the ball to dip. So it could look something like this. So I'm hitting the drive to set up the drop. A mistake I often see when hitting this shot is that people will hit that drive, they'll set up an easier drop, and then they get a response in this area and they choose to drop it cross-court. I'm gonna tell you why I would advise you not to drop the ball cross-court when you're hitting a fifth. That's because you're putting your partner on this side in jeopardy. You're now putting the ball in front of them. If you watch Ben Johns, most of the time he hits a fifth, especially if he gets a response to the middle of the court. He either drops the ball to the middle, which A, the middle of the net is the lowest part of the net, so there's your most margin, or he takes the ball with a little scoop drop back over to his side of the court, keeping the ball in front of him. This is especially important in mix because as the man that's trying to apply pressure, if I keep the ball in front of me, I'm gonna be able to do that a lot better and I put a lot more pressure on my opponent as I'm moving forward. If I put the ball in front of my partner, now they can flick and they can get the ball over to this side of the court, which extends me. So when I hit this shot, again, what I wanna do, I want to hit that drive, and then I want to try to drop that next one straight in front of me instead of taking it cross court. Try that and I promise, you're gonna start winning way more points as you implement that strategy. The next strategy that a lot of players don't know about is on the return. And it's not just returning deep. Actually, that's not actually what we're gonna be talking about. It's having a discussion with your partner before the game about who you're going to return to. Now, there's a lot of reasons why this creates an advantage for you. So for example, if you guys pre-decide, like we're gonna return to their right side player. Now, my partner, who's up at the kitchen line, they are already prepared for that return to travel to their side of the court. So they might automatically start hugging the sideline, and I'm gonna automatically come middle because I already know where the ball's gonna go. Now, both of us are set and balanced for their higher percentage shot, and we're leaving this corner shot, which is probably one of the harder shots for them to make. So what this does is this kind of predetermines our positioning on the court, making our job easier for the fourth because we're already set and ready, and making your opponent's third shot harder because we're already taking away the easiest shots on the court. Now, a way that's really cool that you can start even changing your strategy is when you're staggered and your partner's up at the kitchen line, they can give signals. So the signals can look like, you know, pointing one direction on the court, pointing at the person, or pointing this way, or pointing middle. But that's another way where you guys can communicate that. And as a returner, I can either say yes, no, and have them change their signal. But what this does is it just already gives you guys areas to run to so that you're taking away the highest percentage shots, making their thirds harder, making your fourths easier. The other reason why this strategy is really good for your team is it helps dissipate confusion when it comes to the middle ball. So for example, if I tell my partner, I'm gonna return down my line and I'm gonna run to my line, my partner already knows, okay, well, they're gonna have to get that middle ball. Vice versa, if I hit my return down their line, they're gonna cover their line. I already know I'm covering middle. So it really helps automatically predetermine who has that middle ball. So the next strategy that we're gonna go over has to do with creating combos for yourself at the kitchen line. Now there's a lot of different ways you can do this and the higher level that you get to, people are thinking not just about the shot they're hitting, but the shot after that, and even the shot after that. So a lot of great players, when they speed up the ball, they slide to a particular location because they know that 80 to 90% of the time, if they speed the ball up this direction, it's gonna come back this direction. So one big area that this happens is in what we call the triangle theory. Now the triangle theory states that if I speed the ball up at an angle, it's likely gonna come back at a triangle motion. So if I were to take this ball and speed it up towards the middle, what I should do as a player is I should slide and anticipate the next ball coming back in that triangle motion. Now, if I were to take this ball straight down the line, often if I give a line, I get a line, and if I give an angle, I get an angle. So if I were to speed this down the line, a lot of times I'm gonna slide and get ready for the next ball to come in this region. It is gonna be very difficult unless she's way out front for her to take that ball to the middle on the counter. And if she does, my partner could be sliding because I'm already moving this way. So if they're a good partner, they're gonna crunch middle there. So here's kinda what I mean. If I were to take this ball in a triangle, if I pull this ball across her body, I'm gonna slide and anticipate that it's gonna come back in that motion. Again, if I take the ball down the line, maybe I'm sliding and anticipate it's coming back down the line. Yes, she might be early, but it's all about anticipating the next ball. The next strategy we're gonna talk about is one of my favorites, and actually, I feel like it gives you a ton of advantage in games, and it's cleaning up your mess. And there's two scenarios that I really like this. So basically the concept is, if I create some chaos on the court, I'm responsible for responding to it because I started it, I already know it's happening. My partner is less prepared for it, right? So for example, if I create a speed up on the court, I wanna be the one that's mentally prepared for the next ball because I pulled the trigger up. I'm the one that knew that was coming. So when I take ownership of that and I hit a speed up and I'm ready for that next ball, I'm just way more on it mentally and with my positioning because again, I was the one that owned that. Now, another way that I really like to do this, so let's say I know that I hit a bad dink, okay? And let's say I even put it in the middle of the court. What I don't wanna do is be like, oh shoot, I popped up a dead dink to the middle of the court. My partner's responsible for it. No, I already know that I messed up. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna slide and already know, okay, a speed up is probably coming. I'm gonna get there and get my paddle there because again, my partner's always the one caught off guard because I was the one that created it. So I always think if you create some chaos, you're the one responsible to clean it up. And you would be surprised how many points I feel like I get in a game because I know I messed something up and I'm already there to clean it up. So clean up your mess on the court. Selkirk Academy is not your typical pickleball camp. While other camps just scratch the surface, Selkirk Academy goes in depth, making you a better player. All camps are taught by PCI certified coaches at some of the country's best facilities. For more information, go to academy.selkirk.com today. Make sure that you guys like and subscribe to the playpickleball.com YouTube channel. And big shout out to St. Pete Athletic, the coolest pickleball club in the nation. If you're ever in St. Petersburg, Florida, make sure to check this place out and we'll see you on the next one.