Low Ball vs High Ball: Do You Strike the Ball the Same Way?
Low Balls : When both sides are at the kitchen line, the common shot is dinking, which is hitting the ball low, close to the net and short at the opponent’s feet in the kitchen line. Being able to play low ball consistently is very important in Pickleball. Professionals are skilled in their dinking and there is no room for error. Very often you have to make a decision in a split second and it requires a lot of practice to get it right all the time. If you dink the ball too high, your opponent will attack the ball right away. Any dinking errors in your game provide an opportunity for your opponent to score and potentially lose your game.
High Balls: When you are standing at the kitchen line and you get a slightly higher ball, likely above the net, you want to hit it in the air and attack it to your opponents feet usually aiming towards the middle of the two opponents in doubles or the weaker side of one opponent. Sometimes you can take off the pace and simply return a deeper shot to opponents feet if the opponent is backing off towards the back side of the court. Regardless, it is again a judgement call whether the ball should be taken in the air or wait for it to bounce and reset it with a dink.
There are generally 3 ways to dink in a pickleball game: underspin, topspin, no pace. Some players dink with no pace, simply hitting the ball back to your opponents softly without any spin. It's a safe way to play, but it won’t get you very far in a tournament. Dinking with a more aggressive underspin or topspin makes your opponent need to have better adjustment at their feet and racket which makes it more difficult to control/return back. Most professionals do apply spins in their games, so it's important for you to make the correct judgement in the hitting point and get used to returning underspin/topspin through constant practice.
Aggressive dinking is very effective, one that is done by targeting your dink to land on your opponent’s feet especially aiming towards your opponent’s weaker side. The ball landing on their feet requires them to move and reposition themselves before hitting the ball. It's harder for them to return a perfect ball and they might make an error by hitting the ball high in their return, and you can seize this opportunity to finish the game. Such aggressive play style is a great way to create chances for yourself in a tournament. Most importantly, you can mix up these types of dinks to set yourself up for a chance of looking for a higher ball to attack and a better shot to finish. Split second decision making as to which dinks to use to set up is the key to successful pro players.
