When your opponent is back in the court behind the baseline, the best thing you can do with the ball is to keep it deep.
Since all points start with at least one opponent back you will always have a chance to keep them back and prevent them from establishing a wall at the net.
This is why it is extremely important to be able to hit deep serves and deep returns on demand.
In today’s blog we’re going to cover how to work on hitting deep serves and deep returns.
We’re going to go over a certain drill that’s going to help with this.
In the game of pickleball, serving and returning deep is key to win easier points.
I have these cones set up on the court about five feet from the base line. You can use tape or whatever you have access to.
These cones are set up as an indicator for when we are serving and returning. We want to try to get past that area near the base line so that your opponent will have a harder time with their return.
These cones will also be useful to you as an indicator so you can make sure that you’re getting your serves deep.
As we play this fun game we’ll go to ten points.
I have my partner Danny on the other side. We will rotate serving from the even side and the odd side.
Basically I’m trying to get my serves as deep as I can.
If it’s past the area with the cones then that’s a point for me. If his return is past the cones on my side that’s a point for him.
Remember, serving deep is going to help you get an easier third shot and returning deep is going to make sure that the serving team is going to have a more difficult third shot.
That’s the whole purpose of this drill. Consistently serving and returning deep.
I’ll start on the even side of the court. I want to focus on depth for now and I also want to put pace on it. But depth is key and most important for this drill.
I’m serving a topspin serve but you could try some lob serves, some hard serves, some flat serves etc. Mix it up!
Once you’ve both practiced on the even side you can switch to the odd side and practice some more.
As I return, I’m mostly putting some slice on the ball and trying to keep it low, making it a little bit more difficult for my opponent to hit their third shot.
I also try backing off the baseline a little bit more to make sure I’m stepping in on my return because as you know I’m going to be moving forward to the non-volley zone after this return.
The serve and return are really key parts of pickleball. They’re going to make scoring a lot easier for you and your teammates.
I hope you guys enjoy this drill.
Go out there and practice! Don’t forget to have fun while you’re at it!
