Ever found yourself on the pickleball court, feeling like you’re doing everything right, yet the ball just isn’t cooperating? Perhaps you’re missing shots you feel you should make, or getting caught out of position more often than you’d like. It’s a common experience for many players, regardless of skill level. The difference between a good player and a great player often lies in mastering fundamental techniques that seem simple but have a profound impact on your game. That’s exactly what you’ll discover in the insightful video above, featuring Kenadi, a D1 tennis player and PPA tour competitor who has coached over a thousand pickleball lessons.
Kenadi brings a wealth of knowledge to the table, sharing her best pickleball tips that can truly elevate your performance. This article expands on her key insights, providing practical advice and detailed explanations to help you understand and implement these essential strategies. Whether you’re looking to improve your consistency, enhance your shot accuracy, or simply play smarter, these foundational techniques are crucial for anyone aiming to beat a higher percentage of players on the court.
1. Master Your Ready Position: Always Be Prepared
One of the most foundational yet often overlooked aspects of an effective pickleball game is your ready position. Kenadi emphasizes the crucial importance of having urgency getting back to this position after every single shot. It’s not enough to just hit the ball; your immediate follow-up action determines your readiness for the next exchange, especially when playing at the kitchen line where things move incredibly fast.
A proper ready position means your paddle is out in front of you, centered, allowing you to react quickly to shots coming from either side. Many players make the mistake of watching their shot’s trajectory or waiting too long before returning to a neutral stance. This hesitation can cost you precious milliseconds, leaving you scrambling when your opponent fires the ball back. Furthermore, your ready position should dynamically follow the ball, meaning your body and paddle should be oriented towards where your opponent is hitting from, giving you the best angle to anticipate and return their shot.
2. Achieve a Consistent Contact Point for Every Shot
Consistency is king in pickleball, and achieving it starts with a reliable contact point. Kenadi highlights that aiming for the same contact point every time you hit the ball significantly boosts your accuracy and control. While this is critical for all shots, it’s particularly noticeable in baseline drives, where a consistent contact point can turn a wild shot into a powerful, reliable weapon.
For drives, the ideal contact point is typically between your shoulders and your hips, with the ball struck out in front of your body. You want to get low, positioning yourself slightly beneath the ball to generate upward trajectory and topspin. Conversely, for a drop shot, your paddle should be a little lower under the ball, still out in front, allowing for a softer, controlled placement. This subtle adjustment in contact point ensures that each type of shot is executed with optimal technique, leading to far greater shot consistency.
Footwork: The Key to Consistent Contact
It’s easy to think of a consistent contact point as purely an arm or wrist action, but Kenadi stresses that the real secret lies in your feet. Moving your feet constantly to adjust your body to the ball is paramount. You can’t just stand still and expect to hit every shot perfectly; active footwork allows you to get into the best position, whether the ball is shorter or deeper.
Effective footwork enables you to move through the ball, generating power and control without falling backward or feeling off-balance. This disciplined movement, often ingrained through extensive practice like Kenadi’s D1 tennis background, allows you to consistently strike the ball slightly to the side and out in front of you. Even when facing challenging shots, your goal should always be to adjust your feet to create that perfect setup, ensuring a uniform contact point that breeds consistency.
3. Defend Hard Shots with a Compact Swing
When an opponent hits a powerful drive or speed-up, your instinct might be to take a big swing to match their power. However, Kenadi reveals a more effective strategy: utilizing a compact swing. This technique involves keeping your paddle largely in front of your body, minimizing any large backswing. By doing so, you can effectively use your opponent’s pace against them, redirecting the ball with control rather than trying to generate all the power yourself.
A compact swing significantly reduces the chance of mis-timing the ball, especially when it’s coming at you quickly. This principle applies most often when you’re at the net, defending against drives, or even during your return of serve against a powerful serve. By keeping things compact and in front, you maintain better control and consistency, making you far more difficult to beat. The only exception is on slower balls where you might need a slightly larger backswing to generate your own power; otherwise, defending power means keeping it tight and controlled.
4. Command the Kitchen Line by Staying Square
The kitchen line is a dynamic battleground in pickleball, and how you move here is critical. Kenadi points out that many players make the mistake of turning their shoulders excessively when moving side-to-side for a shot. This rotation not only takes you off balance but also slows down your recovery back to a ready position, leaving you vulnerable to follow-up attacks.
Instead, the goal is to stay square to the net and your opponent as much as possible. This means keeping your chest facing forward, even as you move laterally. Staying square ensures you’re always in a strong, balanced position, ready to engage in quick “hands battles” or defend against aggressive shots. It’s a core component of effective net play, helping you maintain control and quickly reset for the next shot.
Efficient Movement at the Kitchen
To stay square, focus on specific footwork patterns. Kenadi recommends emphasizing side-lunging steps rather than extensive crossover steps, particularly when making your initial movement. The first step should ideally be with your outside foot, leading your movement across the kitchen. This is a crucial distinction from tennis footwork and is specifically adapted for the tight confines and quick exchanges of the kitchen line in pickleball.
Even if a ball is hit so far that you must eventually use a crossover step, make sure it’s your second step, and prioritize getting back to that square, balanced position immediately afterward. This disciplined footwork keeps your shoulders from turning excessively, maintains your court coverage, and ensures you’re always in a prime position to react effectively to the rapid-fire exchanges at the net, fundamentally improving your pickleball game.
5. Seize Opportunities: Take Balls Out of the Air
One of the most effective strategies to gain an advantage in pickleball is to take the ball out of the air whenever possible. This applies primarily to volleys and dinks when your opponent hits a drop shot. By intercepting the ball before it bounces, you accomplish two critical things: you take away your opponent’s time to recover, and you shorten the court, allowing you to attack or maintain pressure more effectively.
Kenadi highlights that approximately 75% of the time, you should aim to volley a drop shot rather than letting it bounce. This is especially true as you face higher-level players who hit precise, low drops. Volleying these shots prevents your opponent from settling into the kitchen or transitioning forward. The main exception is a “super high drop” that lands short, which you might let bounce to set up a powerful attack, driving it downwards. Otherwise, being aggressive and stepping in to volley dinks and drops gives you a significant tactical edge, making it harder for opponents to move forward and dictate the pace of the point.
6. Play Smart: “When the Ball is Low, Keep it Slow”
This simple yet profound principle is a cornerstone of intelligent pickleball strategy. When you receive a low ball—one that is below your hips or knees—your immediate instinct might be to try and hit it hard. However, Kenadi advises against this. Attempting to generate power from a low contact point often results in popping the ball up, giving your opponent an easy opportunity to smash it down at your feet.
Instead, when the ball is low, you should keep it slow. This means staying patient and disciplined, opting for a soft, controlled dink or drop that aims for your opponent’s feet. This strategy denies them a high ball to attack and forces them to generate their own power from a difficult low position. By consistently hitting slow, low shots, you patiently wait for your opponent to make a mistake, forcing them to pop a ball up. Only then, when you get a high ball, do you seize the opportunity to speed it up and attack. This approach reduces unforced errors and keeps you in more points, enhancing your overall pickleball strategy.
7. Unlock Shot Variety with Proper Spin Techniques
Adding spin to your shots can significantly increase your control, make your shots more unpredictable, and open up new offensive opportunities. Kenadi breaks down the fundamentals for both topspin and slice, two essential pickleball techniques.
For topspin, you want to slightly angle your paddle face downward. The motion involves brushing up and over the back of the ball, imparting a forward rotation that causes the ball to dip quickly and bounce with greater energy. Conversely, for a slice, you angle your paddle slightly upward, carving down and under the ball. This generates backspin, making the ball float, slow down, and bounce with less energy, often staying low. Achieving these spins requires not only the correct paddle angle but also a subtle adjustment with your wrist to control the brush or carve motion. Mastering spin provides incredible control over shot trajectory and depth, making you a much more versatile and challenging opponent to face.
8. Elevate Accuracy: Watch the Ball Make Contact
Kenadi’s final tip might seem incredibly basic, yet it’s a mistake even advanced players make: always watch the ball make contact with your paddle. It sounds intuitive, but many players, in their eagerness to see where their shot is going or what their opponent is doing, lift their head too early. This premature glance away from the point of impact is a primary culprit behind mis-hits, shanks, and a general lack of accuracy.
By keeping your head down for just a split second longer after contact, you ensure your eyes are focused precisely on the moment the ball meets your paddle. This simple habit drastically improves your hand-eye coordination and, by extension, your shot accuracy. It’s a foundational discipline that underpins consistency in every shot, from a gentle dink to a powerful drive. Integrating this into your practice and game play will lead to fewer unforced errors and a significantly more reliable pickleball game.
Serving Up Answers: Your Questions for the Pickleball Champion
What is the ‘ready position’ in pickleball?
The ready position means holding your paddle out in front of you, centered, and returning to this stance after every shot. It helps you quickly react to your opponent’s next shot from either side.
Why is it important to have a consistent contact point when hitting the ball?
A consistent contact point helps you achieve better accuracy and control over your shots. It means hitting the ball at the same optimal spot in front of your body every time.
What does the saying ‘When the ball is low, keep it slow’ mean in pickleball?
This means if the ball is below your hips, you should hit a soft, controlled dink or drop shot instead of trying to hit it hard. This prevents you from popping the ball up and giving your opponent an easy attack.
How can I improve my shot accuracy?
A simple but effective tip is to always watch the ball make contact with your paddle. Keeping your eyes focused on the ball at the moment of impact improves your hand-eye coordination and reduces mis-hits.
