Dinking 101: Theory and Mechanics

So far, the majority of my articles have focused on the serve, the return, third shot, and getting to the kitchen line. If all goes according to plan, you should find yourself at the kitchen line with your partner. Now what? Assuming that your opponents send you a low soft unattackable ball, your best option will be a low soft unattackable ball; a dink.

Dinking can be tense

What makes a ball unattackable? A ball is unattackable if it is below the height of the net when the player makes contact with it. An unattackable ball forces the player to hit up, from below the top of the net, in order to clear the net. When players are hitting those soft, unattackable balls from near the NVZ, we call it dinking.

It may be obvious, but if you give an opponent at the net a ball they can volley above the net, that is an attackable ball. However, something else to consider is the bounce. A ball that bounces in your opponents' kitchen can still be an attackable ball if the ball rises above the net after the bounce. You want to avoid floating volleys as well as high bounces.

Hitting dinks can be a precarious enterprise. Here are a few basics.

Keep it low

Your first priority is to keep the ball low so your opponents cannot attack it. I will lay out some stroke techniques later that can help you execute consistent low dinks, but if you use a different technique and you can keep your dinks low, and send them with consistency, in my opinion, that's all that matters. Hitting unattackable balls to your opponents who are set at the NVZ is the first step in building a point.

Having said all that, no ball that goes into the net will help you. Better too high than too low.

Relax

This may be easier said than done, but remember to breathe.

You will make more mistakes if you feel tense and bound up.

Grip pressure

On a scale of 1-10 where 10 is a white knuckle death grip and 1, the paddle will fall out of your hand if anything hits it, you want somewhere between a 3-5. The ball will come off your paddle with more pop if you are gripping it more firmly. If the ball is coming faster, a looser grip will absorb pace from the ball. A firmer grip will send the ball back with more pop and speed. Any time you are forced to hit the ball from below the net, you want to control the pace of the ball that you send back. Adjusting your grip pressure will help you manage the height and pace of your shots.

Swing from your shoulder and lock your wrist

You will have more control of the direction and height of the ball if you use your larger muscle groups to execute your stroke. If you have trouble controlling your wrist and keeping it from rotating or moving while you swing, try cocking your wrist at 90°. Lock that wrist and swing from your shoulder to push through the ball.

Bend your knees and stay on your toes

Keeping your knees bent and the weight on the balls of your feet will help you to be ready to move when the ball comes your way. One way to keep on your toes is to move your feet between shots. For example, when your partner hits the ball, move while the ball goes over to your opponents. Move again as the ball comes back to your side (even if it's not going to you). You don't have to move a lot. Even bobbing from one foot to the other can help you keep engaged and ready, but it is also a good idea to make small lateral movements that track the ball laterally on the court. If the ball is on your partner's side, shift a bit to the center line to help cover the middle. If the ball is on your side, shift a little toward the outside lane (your partner should then be covering the middle). Tracking the ball will help you stay engaged in the point when you are not hitting the ball.

Move to receive the ball

As soon as the ball comes off your opponent's paddle, you want begin moving to receive it. This will be easier if your knees are bent and your weight is on the balls of your feet. Track the ball with your body. When it goes to your partner's side, you want to be a little closer to the middle to close the gap between you. When the ball goes to the outside lane on your side, you need to be ready to cover the outside lane.

Ideally, you should position your body so you do not have to stretch or reach, though this is not always possible. When you hit the ball, you want to be balanced, stable, and hitting the ball with a comfortable swing from your shoulder and waist.

Make contact in front of your body

To have the best control of the ball, you want to make contact in front of your body. Most of the work to make this happen is done by moving yourself in the path of the ball with your feet (as the previous section notes), but you still have to intercept the ball with your paddle and make contact out in front of your body. Depending on where you are relative to the flight of the ball, making contact in front of your body might be after the bounce, as a ground stroke, or it might be as a volley. Dink volleys are an important skill to learn. We will discuss them further in a future dinking article. Taking a ball as a volley takes time away from your opponents to reset. As a rule, it is preferable to hit a ball as a volley ...as long as you can control your shot. If you are off balance because you are reaching or stretched, or you just haven't fully recovered from the previous shot, let it bounce so you can get your feet under you and hit the ball with control.

Push through your stroke from shoulders and waist

The best way to maintain control of your strokes is by using your large muscle groups to push through the ball in the direction you want the ball to travel. Quiet wrist and elbow. Most of the movement should be from your shoulder, waist, and knees. Lift the ball with a fluid motion.

Don't overdo spin

Spin can be useful, but the biggest difference a ball with spin makes is if it hits the ground. A ball with spin will not bounce as high and sometimes it will skid or kick out a little, which can throw your opponent's stroke off. Those things are great, but if the ball you imparted spin to goes high enough that your opponent can volley it, the ball won't hit the ground, and if it is high enough for them to attack, your efforts to put spin on the ball did more harm than good.

Control is more important than spin.

Reset your position

It is just as important to reset your position as it is to move to receive the ball. Being in the right place after you send the ball back to your opponents will put you in a better position to receive the next ball and it can help close gaps between you and your partner. If you send the ball to the outside lane on your side, you will need to guard the outside lane and your partner should slide over to cover the middle. If the ball is near the outside lane on your partner's side of the court, your partner covers the outside lane and you need to cover the middle. When the ball is in the middle of the court, you should both be somewhat centered in your respective lanes in order to cover the greatest amount of court.

Note: Recovering to a strategic position is much easier when you send slow balls. Slow balls sent cross court, have a longer path as they travel through the air, so that also adds to the time you have to reset. Give yourself time to get back.

Paddle up and track the ball with your shoulders

Even if you send your dink is perfect and you have successfully forced your opponents to make contact with the ball below the net, your opponents may want to speed things up. Expect the speed up. Relish the speed up. If your paddle is ready and you are tuned in, any ball your opponents send from below the net should have one of two results.

• If it's fast, dodge it and let is sail out.
• If it's rising, but slow, now you can attack and hit down. This is bad for your opponents 

Learning the difference between the balls you need to attack and the ones you can let go comes with experience and it is a skill you can work to improve on.

Resist the urge to speed it up

I will add one caveat to this general statement. Unless you think you can win 70% of the fast hand battles with your opponents, keep it slow until you get an attackable ball. And even if you start off winning a percentage of speed ups like that, your opponents will quickly learn that you want to do that and they will adjust their strategy. Your percentages will go down. It's fun to go fast, but anytime you are hitting balls from low (below the net) to high (to clear the net), you are at a disadvantage.

As always, thanks for stopping by. Next week we will go deeper into dinking and discuss drills you can to help you hone your skills and become a more comfortable, confident, and effective when you are at the kitchen line! With a little work, you can reduce the feeling that you are hanging on by a thread when you are dinking.

Cheers,

No Fun David