Who Needs Power in Pickleball?

If you read the article on the dink and the slow game, maybe you are wondering if being able to hit with power even matters in pickleball. I am here to tell you, it does. You will not likely find success at high levels with only hard fast shots exclusively, but having the ability to hit with power is an important tool. There is no player at the highest levels of the sport who does not have a soft game, but there is also no player at the highest levels of the sport who does not have the ability to hit with power and pace.

Players who come to pickleball with a background in other racket sports (or other sports in general) often have a strong power game. The trick in pickleball is knowing when and how to use it. Because the court is short, balls that are hit hard can easily sail long. Low balls that are hit hard often end up in the net. The closer you are to the net and the lower the ball is, the more important it becomes to take pace off the ball, and send an unattackable slow ball back to your opponents.

Conversely, the higher the ball (that you can reach) and the closer you are to the kitchen line, the more important it is for you to be able to hit down hard and fast. Why? Because hitting hard fast balls takes time away from your opponents to adjust, get a paddle on it, and send it back in your direction.

Let's break down the court into two zones (for simplicity) and discuss the use of power at each location.

At the baseline

Driving strokes hit near the baseline (as long as they are not too high) can easily drop into the court by the time they get near the baseline on the opposite end of the court. The same ball hit from mid court is likely going to go out. In order to keep your shot in the court when you are in the transition zone, you need to take pace off your shot. That means your shot will have to be slower. Which means your opponents may have slightly more time to react to them. You will see players try to surprise their opponents from this part of the court with a fast hard ball, but there is risk with this choice, and the risk increases as your level increases. Advanced players are ready for those balls and they will send them back fast. You are in a more vulnerable position, so if you miscalculate, you will pay the price. 

At the non-volley zone (NVZ)

The general rule "when it's low, keep it slow" holds true at the kitchen line, but the short distance between you and your opponents means they have less time to react. Quick flicks at their body can be an effective offensive shot. The danger with attacking a ball that is low is that some opponents have fast hands, and if you send a ball on a rising trajectory, and they get a paddle on it, your opponent has an opportunity to hit down and possibly hard. This is bad.

Slow, unattackable balls are the safer choice when the ball is low. Experienced players will be ready for your speed up shot. If you are not ready for the ball to come back at you just as fast or faster than you sent it, you are going to be in trouble. When it's low, keep it slow.

The location of your opponents on the court also makes a difference though. If they are at the net, transitioning to the NVZ, or back at the baseline, your shot selection may change. When your opponents are set at the NVZ, your best option is an unattackable dink. Patience pays dividends. Wait for a high ball that you can attack.

If your opponents are back, you have more margin for error. Speeding things up is to your advantage ...provided you are not hitting the ball out, into the net, or floating high balls that they can rush in to attack. Here is a great video that clearly explains the concept of how to know which balls you can attack.

Send high balls out and down toward your opponents' court and down into the dirt. Your opponent's feet are a great target.

"...okay David, but sometimes I find myself between the kitchen and the non-volley zone. Can I hit hard there, or should I always hit slow and soft?"

I'm glad you asked.

In the transition zone

The transition zone (the space between the baseline and the NVZ) can be a little tricky when it comes to power, but the closer you get to the net, and the lower the ball, the more important it is to keep it slow. If the ball is high, it is good to hit with power, but because you are not at the NVZ, the ball needs to be higher to hit down than it would be if you were right on the NVZ before it is a good idea to attack it. Think back to that video (did you watch it?). The caution and attach zones are still there, but they are higher when you are back away from the net than when you are at the NVZ.

One of the common mistakes I see players make is trying to hit balls that are not much higher then the net with power when they are not established at the kitchen. Unless your opponents are not at the kitchen line themselves, this is a strategic error (generally speaking). When your opponents are at the net and you and your partner are not there yet, they have a positional advantage. They will be able to hit down and/or at angles more easily because they are closer to the net. And if they hit the ball you sent with power down to your feet, that is bad for you.

Instead, take pace off the ball, slow it down, send it into their kitchen, and press forward until you get yourself to the kitchen line. To take pace off the ball, you need to loosen your grip pressure a bit and angle your paddle face so it is tilted up. Softening your hands and angling your paddle face up will put an arc on the ball and slow the pace of the ball. This will buy you time to move in to the kitchen. Once you are at the kitchen, you have neutralized your opponent's positional advantage and you can begin to work the point. Note: taking pace off balls in the NVZ takes practice. If you hit it too high, you will likely be picking the ball out of your shoelaces. If you hit it too low, it will go into the net. There is a goldilocks shot that clears the net, but descends into your opponents' kitchen. That's the one you want. 

If you have a high ball that allows you to hit down, you can hit with power in the transition zone, but to be an attackable ball from the transition zone, it needs to be higher than balls you can attack at the kitchen line. And the further back you are toward the baseline, the higher the ball would need to be to attack it. You are more likely better off letting the ball sail out of bounds if it is high enough to attack by the baseline.

Attackable balls in the transition zone happen most often after an excellent drop or drive that catches your opponents moving, forces them to make an awkward hit, or just surprises them. You have to be quick to pounce on those floaters. Part of that is recognizing the potential and the other part is just being quick and agile. Gnothi seauton. If you can get there in time to hit down and capitalize on your opponent's floating ball, swing away and hit down with power. If you can't get to it in time to punish them for their error, then get to the ball, position yourself to hit it with control, and get yourself to the kitchen until you get a ball that you can finish.

Use power with discretion in the transition zone.

How to generate power

Pickleball ground strokes are more compact than ground strokes in tennis. You don't need a big backswing because the court is so much shorter. When you are nearer to the baseline, you have more time to set up and swing through, so you can take a slightly bigger backswing in your stroke. Near the baseline, you can also set up with a more closed stance so you can rotate through your stroke if you are hitting a drive. Rotation through your stroke from your hips and up through your shoulders will help you to put pace on the ball. The closer you get to the kitchen line, the more compact your stroke should be.

To generate power at the NVZ on volleys, you want to make contact out in front of your body (not to the side or behind your body), push with your arm from your shoulder. As you become more proficient in receiving volleys at the net, you can begin to add torque from you waist and shoulders to impart more pace on the ball, and advanced players also use a rolling action with their wrists to add topspin to make things more difficult for their opponents. Balls with top spin will jump forward when they hit the ground, which adds pace and makes the path more difficult to predict.

If you do not have a background in a racket sport, these body mechanics may not feel natural to you. Get some balls and practice hitting hard. To start with, don't worry about placement. Don't even worry about hitting into the court. Position yourself either at the baseline or at the kitchen and feed yourself some balls (in the air or off a bounce) and blast them. See if you can hit the fence behind the court. Repeat the motion and get the feeling of hitting fast and hard through the ball and rotating your body with your swing. Practice backhands and forehands. If you can do that consistently, the next thing to work on is control. Set yourself some targets to aim for. At first, all you need to work on is one side of the court or the other, left or right of the center line. But as you progress, your targets can get smaller. Move yourself from one side of the court to the middle, then to the opposite side of the court and aim for the same set of targets on the other side of the court as you progress from position to position on your side of the court.

If you are still struggling, lessons with an instructor may help. Reading any written description of a body mechanic can be difficult to translate into the necessary movements of your own body. There are quality videos on YouTube where the drives and overhead smashes are demonstrated. Even when you see it, sometimes it is difficult to sense what your body is or is not doing as you try to practice a technique. If you are struggling to generate power, it might help to get some instruction from a qualified coach.

The key takeaways

The whole point of hitting hard is to cause trouble for your opponents by taking time away from them to react and put a good paddle on the ball you sent their way. Hard hit balls are faster balls. Knowing when to pull the trigger and be offensive is a huge part of pickleball. As a general rule, keeping the ball slow when it is low will take the opportunities for your opponents to hit hard at you. If your opponents hit a higher ball to you, those can be opportunities for you to attack depending on where you are located on the court.

I hope you found this helpful. Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave questions or comments below.

No Fun David