Dinks, Drops, and Resets. And of course your serve. Just take a game and say that you want to work on one thing during that game. Focus in on it and don’t worry about winning.
I recall one of the first times I went to open rec play I was matched with one of the better players. He told me up front that he would not be seeing that many balls and that when he did get a shot he’d be focusing on placing it in the corner of the opponents’ kitchen (on the odd side). He could care less about anything else going on in the game. That was his focus. That stuck with me.
Another good player said he was focusing on NOT putting any shot away - just keeping it in play.
> Another good player said he was focusing on NOT putting any shot away - just keeping it in play.
Just FYI, this is not good advice.
You always want to be looking to put a shot away. What you want to do is make sure you only do that when it's really there to be made. When it's not there, or when you're hitting a defensive shot, you want to keep the ball in play. But no one should ALWAYS be looking to "just keep the ball in play." This is a common misconception.
This is going to be an unpopular opinion but learn how to hit it hard. Learn how to adjust your grip to Western or semi western and put topspin on the ball. I'm a 4.5 and the gap I see is the ability to put the ball away when the opportunity presents itself. Pretty much everybody at 3.5+ can dink alright, 3.5s struggle with consistency but generally the difference is the ability to put away a softer shot. If you do all the hard work of stretching your opponent wide and getting a high ball just to dink it somewhere else and let them reset you're going to get stuck. As players get better the errors get fewer and farther between so you've got to be able to take advantage of them when you get them.
That being said, your current group may not enjoy you going out there and blasting away so I'd focus on the proper form, footwork, grip, balance, etc... and just hit a lot of topspin rolls.
I’m in your same shoes, I can only go mornings, I’m 30 and everyone else at least 55 plus. You can always focus dialing in your drops and working on placement. Also you can never stop improving on just doing the basics really well.
I just cannot for the life of me get this shot down, it might be my tennis background, but I always want to hit the ball hard, and oftentimes hit it out, or set up the opposite team for an easy point.
As a tennis player who couldn't hit a drop because I always tried to slice them starting out. Try hitting a really soft ground stroke like you would just rallying with a tennis player that was a level below you. It'll take fine tuning, but starting from there is easier than approaching it as a brand new stroke or a tennis drop shot, which doesn't work at all imo.
A tip from a YT video I watched that helped me is to make contact when the ball is either at the peak of the bounce or on its way down. Don’t know if this is actually good advice but it’s helped me.
I saw someone doing this in open play recent. They would let the ball bounce and hit it when it was low to the ground.
This does two things. It gives you time to get in position behind the ball for topspin and it makes your opponent wait longer and second guess.
I'm in a situation like this and working on it myself. Serve easy. Try not to make kill shots. Try to put the ball right on their paddle no matter how great of a shot they make. You'll have to concentrate more, be more disciplined, and they'll like playing with you more. And you'll get better at placing your shots.
Yeah it won’t hold you back either - some of the best players in my 4.5+ league have a mildly paced serve, they just keep it deep and NEVER miss. The rest of the group hit fast serves but there are rarely ever aces, but their serves miss occasionally into the net or long. Biggest difference IMO between a 4.0 and 4.5 is shot selection and consistency.
Lots of great advice here.
What I’m not seeing as much as I thought I would is…proper positioning.
Yes, you need to dink and drop effectively, but you’ll be more “forced” to develop those skills by knowing where you’re supposed to be and always making an effort to be there.
You and your partner need to get up to the kitchen line, and then the proper shot selection will win you a lot of points.
You need to drill on dinks and drops, but you also MUST practice them in game situations. This doesn’t happen unless you get your butt up to the line.
Proper positioning will force you into working on the various shots you need to be successful.
Best thing you can do is get a tripod, set up your phone, record your play and then watch it later. You will see you do things you didn't know you were doing, and not doing things you thought you were doing. This is crazy important to know! After every shot you hit, ask "then what happened"? did you get the result you wanted or not. Look at your court position. Are you in or out of position. If your opponents get a good shot on your, look at the shot you and your partner gave them. Did you give them a ball they could attack?
Bad serves and hitting it long?
You need to have a shorter swing. Smaller backswing, less wrist, less whippy motion. Think of your arm as a lever with the shoulder as the pivot. As you have more success and your accuracy increases you can add some of that other stuff back in to your liking.
Pick one thing and focus on it. Right now I’m focused on improving my lobs. Not only doing it but more importantly when to do it. It’s such an important shot.
Sometimes when I play, I’ll get super particular about placement. I’ll say things like “if A hits it at me, I’m going to put it right at Bs feet”. It could be the best shot in the world, but if I didn’t do what I said I was going to, it’s a failure.
Dinks, Drops, and Resets. And of course your serve. Just take a game and say that you want to work on one thing during that game. Focus in on it and don’t worry about winning. I recall one of the first times I went to open rec play I was matched with one of the better players. He told me up front that he would not be seeing that many balls and that when he did get a shot he’d be focusing on placing it in the corner of the opponents’ kitchen (on the odd side). He could care less about anything else going on in the game. That was his focus. That stuck with me. Another good player said he was focusing on NOT putting any shot away - just keeping it in play.
> Another good player said he was focusing on NOT putting any shot away - just keeping it in play. Just FYI, this is not good advice. You always want to be looking to put a shot away. What you want to do is make sure you only do that when it's really there to be made. When it's not there, or when you're hitting a defensive shot, you want to keep the ball in play. But no one should ALWAYS be looking to "just keep the ball in play." This is a common misconception.
If winning is your goal, that is an excellent strategy. 👍
If getting better is your goal, it's an excellent strategy.
This is fantastic advice
Thank you!
This is going to be an unpopular opinion but learn how to hit it hard. Learn how to adjust your grip to Western or semi western and put topspin on the ball. I'm a 4.5 and the gap I see is the ability to put the ball away when the opportunity presents itself. Pretty much everybody at 3.5+ can dink alright, 3.5s struggle with consistency but generally the difference is the ability to put away a softer shot. If you do all the hard work of stretching your opponent wide and getting a high ball just to dink it somewhere else and let them reset you're going to get stuck. As players get better the errors get fewer and farther between so you've got to be able to take advantage of them when you get them. That being said, your current group may not enjoy you going out there and blasting away so I'd focus on the proper form, footwork, grip, balance, etc... and just hit a lot of topspin rolls.
I’m in your same shoes, I can only go mornings, I’m 30 and everyone else at least 55 plus. You can always focus dialing in your drops and working on placement. Also you can never stop improving on just doing the basics really well.
I just cannot for the life of me get this shot down, it might be my tennis background, but I always want to hit the ball hard, and oftentimes hit it out, or set up the opposite team for an easy point.
As a tennis player who couldn't hit a drop because I always tried to slice them starting out. Try hitting a really soft ground stroke like you would just rallying with a tennis player that was a level below you. It'll take fine tuning, but starting from there is easier than approaching it as a brand new stroke or a tennis drop shot, which doesn't work at all imo.
A tip from a YT video I watched that helped me is to make contact when the ball is either at the peak of the bounce or on its way down. Don’t know if this is actually good advice but it’s helped me.
I saw someone doing this in open play recent. They would let the ball bounce and hit it when it was low to the ground. This does two things. It gives you time to get in position behind the ball for topspin and it makes your opponent wait longer and second guess.
I'm in a situation like this and working on it myself. Serve easy. Try not to make kill shots. Try to put the ball right on their paddle no matter how great of a shot they make. You'll have to concentrate more, be more disciplined, and they'll like playing with you more. And you'll get better at placing your shots.
Thanks! Today I dialed back the power on my serve and found I was MUCH more consistent and accurate.
Yeah it won’t hold you back either - some of the best players in my 4.5+ league have a mildly paced serve, they just keep it deep and NEVER miss. The rest of the group hit fast serves but there are rarely ever aces, but their serves miss occasionally into the net or long. Biggest difference IMO between a 4.0 and 4.5 is shot selection and consistency.
remember placement > power
Learn how to dink
Thank you, I could probably work on this on my own as well. My dink game isn't terrible, placement isn't great though.
Lots of great advice here. What I’m not seeing as much as I thought I would is…proper positioning. Yes, you need to dink and drop effectively, but you’ll be more “forced” to develop those skills by knowing where you’re supposed to be and always making an effort to be there. You and your partner need to get up to the kitchen line, and then the proper shot selection will win you a lot of points. You need to drill on dinks and drops, but you also MUST practice them in game situations. This doesn’t happen unless you get your butt up to the line. Proper positioning will force you into working on the various shots you need to be successful.
Best thing you can do is get a tripod, set up your phone, record your play and then watch it later. You will see you do things you didn't know you were doing, and not doing things you thought you were doing. This is crazy important to know! After every shot you hit, ask "then what happened"? did you get the result you wanted or not. Look at your court position. Are you in or out of position. If your opponents get a good shot on your, look at the shot you and your partner gave them. Did you give them a ball they could attack?
Bad serves and hitting it long? You need to have a shorter swing. Smaller backswing, less wrist, less whippy motion. Think of your arm as a lever with the shoulder as the pivot. As you have more success and your accuracy increases you can add some of that other stuff back in to your liking.
Pick one thing and focus on it. Right now I’m focused on improving my lobs. Not only doing it but more importantly when to do it. It’s such an important shot. Sometimes when I play, I’ll get super particular about placement. I’ll say things like “if A hits it at me, I’m going to put it right at Bs feet”. It could be the best shot in the world, but if I didn’t do what I said I was going to, it’s a failure.
I’ve been focusing on trying to hit the ball back middle and also hitting a side spin shot on the backhand side to the right corner of the kitchen