Rethinking the Ready Position

I have written a couple of articles regarding the ready position including The Ready Position at the Kitchen Line and The Ready Position from Mid-Court. Those articles discussed that positioning on the court required different ready positions, specifically that the paddle position was different. When at mid-court and back, a neutral paddle position was recommended because there is sufficient time to move the paddle to the side or even switch grips if necessary.

However, the time to react is significantly reduced when at the kitchen line. I preferred a strong backhand grip because the paddle face is already in a position to take a shot.

I recently received some advice from Paul Coletta, a multi-time national champion who plays at my home club that got me thinking about my preference. My article discussed the coverage area that a backhand grip with a flat paddle face as shown below.

The weak spot is the area from the right armpit up along the right side of the head. The correct way to hit a ball in that area is to turn the body and hit it with a forehand volley. My problem is that my grip was so severely backhand that even a proper position resulted in the paddle facing across my body. My only realistic option to return these shots is to either contort my wrist or hit the ball nearly straight up. Neither is effective.

Paul's advice followed an article from Mark Renneson called The Great Volleying Debate in which he recommends a neutral position.

When people talk about being in a “good ready position” for forehand and backhand groundstrokes, what they typically mean is “put your body in a position so it is prepared to receive a ball hit anywhere (short, far, left or right)”. Usually, they envision something like this…

There are very good reasons to be in this position: my body is balanced and not biased toward one side or the other. This neutral position means that I have to move roughly the same distance to move the paddle whether the ball is hit to my forehand or backhand. I’m not more vulnerable on one particular side. Basically, in this position I’m ready for

anything.

So, why is it that some people(1) have advocated that when standing up at the net, where you have even less time to react, you ought to be in this position?

Their rationale is something to the effect of: “look, from this backhand­ biased ready position you can play balls on your backhand or at your body. You’ve essentially covered ⅔ of the possibilities”. I understand the reasoning but I don’t think we need to be this extreme in our approach. 

If you knew without a doubt that the ball was coming to your backhand or at your body, this backhand orientation would certainly help. But the reality is you don’t know where the ball will be hit. If the ball is hit to your forehand side, it’s an incredibly long distance that the paddle has to travel and will be difficult to make a good volley (especially if the ball is hit with

speed). By standing in this heavily biased position at the net, you are putting all of your eggs in one basket. You are betting everything that your opponent will hit to your backhand. Guess where a good opponent will hit it if they see you standing like this?

Instead, why not use the same rationale as during groundstrokes? Take a balanced approach that isn’t so risky and that gives you a better chance at playing the volley no matter what side it comes to. When you stand comfortably with the paddle out front, you will notice that the paddle tends to lean slightly toward your backhand side. 

I believe that this moderate backhand bias is sufficient to cover most balls hit to your backhand or at your body while still giving you a reasonable chance to receive a ball to the forehand. In fact, when you watch top pickleball players (2) (and their close cousins, tennis players) volley, they typically take this balanced approach.

Will you get every volley? No. But by being moderate in your ready position at the net you will have a better chance to play a quality shot no matter what side the ball comes to.

(1) Alan Christensen, Deb Harrison

(2) Bryan Brothers, Roger Federer, 2014 Nationals

My plan is to incorporate this technique into my game. But a word of warning is necessary. I already tried it for one day...with disastrous results. This is a MAJOR change that will only be successful with repetitive drilling. I'm waiting until after the fall tournament season to try again.