Where to hit your drops
Tip 1
When in doubt, hit your third shot drops to the middle of the court. There are a couple reasons why dropping to the middle is beneficial.
- It generates confusion, especially between opponents who aren’t used to playing with each other. Who takes the ball in the middle can be a hotly debated topic between pickleball partners–use it to your advantage! If there is confusion around who takes the shot in the middle, the opponent who chooses to take it is far less likely to hit an aggressive shot.
- It eliminates the angles for an attack. If you’re going to hit a high drop, hit it through the middle–that will give you the best shot at recovering. When you try to hit a hard shot from the middle of the court, you are limited in the angles that you have access to. Therefore, hard attacks from the middle usually come back through the middle, which means that the ball is most likely to come within arms reach of you or your partner. If you miss high and cross court, your opponent can easily angle the ball off the court, which means you’ll have much more ground to cover.
Tip 2
When you’re hitting a third shot drop, you usually have three options for where you can hit the ball: down the line, middle, or cross court. Each location has a different strategy behind it.
- Down the line drops are typically the highest risk because you’re hitting over the high part of the net and have the shortest kitchen length, however, they can also be high reward if you use the right strategy. If your opponent hits a short return, and you hit an aggressive down the line drop, you can put pressure on the opponent in front of you and yourself up for an Erne! Down the line drops are great for your partner to poach off of, because they can crash towards the middle knowing that it will be hard to hit behind them cross court.
- Middle drops are typically your safest option because you’re hitting over the lowest part of the net, and have a longer kitchen than down the line. Hitting through the middle also reduces the angles that your opponents can attack on and may cause confusion between the two partners, meaning you can get away with a lower quality drop. Middle drops are also great for your partner to poach on, because they can follow it right to the middle of the court, taking advantage of the lack of angles.
- Cross court drops are also generally safe, because you’re hitting between the lowest and highest part of the net, and you have the longest kitchen to work with. Cross court drops are most effective when used with topspin, and/or if your opponent is shifted all the way into the middle of the court. Just be aware that cross court drops are harder to poach, because your partner will have to guard their sideline.
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