Knowledge - a secret to success...
As we have learned, dinking is a major part of the advanced game. Dinking presents an unattackable ball to your opponent and provides one more opportunity for him to hit a ball that you can attack. There are 3 secrets that make this outcome more likely. These are discussed in the Pickleball Channel video 3 Secrets to Improve Your Dinking Strategy with Steve Dawson.
The first secret is...take the ball out of the air. In other words, do not let it bounce if possible. Returning the ball before it bounces gives your opponent less time to get ready for his next shot. This shot is uncomfortable for many - including me. Steve suggests that this strategy should be the first option on your mind. That gets you ready to hit it. If the ball does bounce, the adjustment to hit it is relatively easy. Note the low position Steve takes in order to wait for ball to travel as close as possible to get within his reach.
The second secret is...move up to the bounce. If your opponent hits a successful dink that will obviously bounce out of your reach from the NVZ line, then move to the ball and take it on a short-hop. This strategy varies from the traditional dink that has players waiting for the ball to descend from its bounce. The traditional strategy makes some sense from the perspective that it enables a soft shot as the energy is dissipated. Steve's rationale for the short-hop dink is the same as the first secret - it reduces the time for the opponent to get ready.
The third secret is...move your dink around. Moving opponents around the court takes them out of their comfort zone and improves the probability of them hitting an attackable ball and reduces the probability of them hitting an offensive shot.
The video is shown below.
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