When you watch pros play, you’ll notice that the players are taking as many balls out of the air as they can, especially in men’s doubles.
When we are up at the kitchen we will often take these balls and simply dink them back. A lot of people don’t understand the advantages of taking the ball out of the air, even if to just dink it.
There are a two main reasons for why pro players take dinks out of the air rather than let them bounce, if we are able.
Reason #1 - Dinking out of the air takes time away from your opponent.
When you let a high dink from your opponent bounce, you are allowing them to get back into a ready position. They will have more time to get set and prepare for your next shot. If this continues to happen, you will often find yourself getting behind in the dink rally.
On the other hand, if you take dinks out of the air, you are able to take time AWAY from your opponent. Now, instead of always moving backwards and taking dinks off the bounce, you are in charge of the point.
This will allow you to get into a more offensive position within the kitchen game. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed leaning in like this against an aggressive dinker, but I promise they would prefer you to back up then to confidently volley it back.
Reason #2 - Possible speedup opportunity
MLP ran statistics on different types of attacks. The data shows that attacks from out of the air are the most effective in pickleball - NOT attacks off of the bounce.
If we are always taking dinks off of the bounce, then we are not giving our opponents much to fear. The best players feel comfortable countering from this position. BUT, if we are taking dinks out of the air, they have to fear the possibility of a speedup out of the air.
This might cause them to step off the line, or lean back when you are hitting. That will put you in an offensive position, and create other opportunities for you to attack.
As you get better and better, you should be looking to take more and more dinks out of the air. When you are drilling, practice taking as many dinks as possible out of the air.
When I practice, I am hugging the kitchen line and reaching as far out as I can in order to not let these dinks bounce. Practicing this shot will help your overall feel of the ball as well.
It is definitely a different feeling taking a dink out of the air, because the ball has not lost energy from the bounce yet.
"If we are taking dinks out of the air, they have to FEAR the possibility of a speedup out of the air." – James Ignatowich
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