Tip 1
The dink is arguably the most fundamental shot in pickleball, which plays on pickleball’s defining characteristic: the inability to run right up to the net and smash the ball because of the non-volley zone rules.
A dink is a shot that is hit from the kitchen line that bounces in the opposing kitchen. Because your opponent has to let it come to them rather than running into the kitchen and hitting it before it bounces, dinks usually are unattackable shots.
The most important thing to remember when hitting a dink is that less is more. Our swing should be small and compact. Your biggest focuses should be:
- Keeping your paddle face angled up to lift the ball over the net.
- Keeping your grip loose so that you don’t over hit the ball. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being holding the paddle as tight as you can and 1 being holding the paddle so loose that it would nearly fall out of your hand, you should be at about a 2.
- Keeping your arm straight through the swing.
- Keeping your paddle in front of your body at all times.
Just remember, the lighter you hit your dinks, the more that will land in the kitchen, the less likely it’ll be that your opponents will be able to attack you with more powerful shots!
Tip 2
Vary the placement of your dinks within the kitchen! Advanced players rarely, if ever, dink to the same spot more than 2-3 times in a row. If you find yourself getting into a dink rally with the same opponent, you can target different spots while keeping the ball on their side. For instance, switch between aiming for their forehand and backhand, or hitting towards the middle and wide. Hitting different locations will disrupt your opponent’s rhythm, keep them guessing, and make them more uncomfortable with your shots. By varying your spots effectively, you can force your opponent off the kitchen line or elicit a high dink that you can then attack. Repeatedly dinking to the same spot will likely help your opponents develop a rhythm, and make them comfortable enough to speedup, putting you at a disadvantage. One of the keys to winning in pickleball is keeping your opponents on edge, and varying your dinks is one of the most effective ways to achieve this.
The post How to Dink and Why Its Important For Your Success in Pickleball first appeared on USA Pickleball.