Good pickleball dinking is key for you to advance to the 3.5+ level in Pickleball. To be good at the net you need to hit a consistently good dink shot. Dinking is where higher level pickleball games are won and lost.
Good players will use drop shots to advance to the net and are looking to level the playing field by getting into a dinking rally. As you advance and use drop shots you will be doing the same thing, you’ll be focused on getting to the net and into a dinking rally.
Dinking usually ends with a mistake, either popping up a dink that is attacked by your opponent, dinking it into the net or losing patience and trying to attack an unattackable dink (one that is below the net height).
Dinking Setup
You have successfully hit a good third shot drop and you and your partner have advanced to the net.
1 – Good Drop Shot
Your third shot drop is not attackable, and your opponent dinks your shot back over the net. This is often their best play if the drop shot is not attackable.
Otherwise, they risk popping it up or volleying it with an upward swing motion.
This will make their volley attackable by you as you have moved in.
2 – Dink Return
You respond with a dink. You are now in a dinking rally.
Dinking Rally and Patience
A pickleball dinking rally is a patience game. Whichever team makes a mistake first will generally lose the point.
Stay focused and let your opponent make the mistake.
If an opportunity presents itself during the dinking rally, take a shot to end the point, otherwise dink it back into the toughest spot you can for your opponent to handle. Taking a shot should happen when you have a dink coming at you that is above net height that you can volley. Hit it hard to an open spot or down at your opponent’s feet.
When dinking, keep in mind that you can enter the kitchen to hit the ball if it bounces there. Just make sure to get back out quickly. In these cases, you should step in with one foot as needed and then step back out quickly.
Regular practice of dinking is crucial to develop the soft hands and smooth stroke needed to consistently drop the ball over the net with precision. Any stiffness when dinking results in mistakes like hitting the dink into the net or popping it up.
Getting time and court space to practice dinking can be challenging. When you go somewhere to play, you often start with a bit of dinking during warm-up and before you know it, you’re playing a game.
It’s difficult to dedicate court time to practice dinking when sharing the space with others.
However, if you can have a court to yourself or with just a few people, it’s beneficial to spend time working on your dink shots.
Summary
Playing at an advanced level, it is inevitable that you will get into many dinking rallies. You and your opponents are using drop shots with success, and this slows things down.
Advanced players would rather fight it out in a dinking rally than attempt risky attack shots when responding to a good drop shot.
Great Dinking Rally
Courtesy of Selkirk TV
Watch this Dinking Rally on Youtube.