If You Aren't Missing 1 out of 10 Serves, You Aren't Taking Enough Risk.
There is a risk reward trade-off for anything in life, and the pickleball serve is no exception. Long gone are the days of the top pros just “laying in” their serves with no intention of creating any offense, or earning “free” points off of missed returns.
Watch the video below and take your serve to the next level in 1 minute.
Power, Depth, & Topspin
Advancements in paddle technology have changed pickleball for good, and the top pros can regularly be seen hitting the serve with power, depth and topspin. Taking “risk” on the serve, by virtue of hitting the serve with depth and pace, requires some courage. I would know - I used to be terrified of missing a serve. After all, if you miss a serve your chances of winning that point immediately go to 0. You might lose your scoring momentum and your partner may even get mad at you for it - I play mixed doubles exclusively with my girlfriend, so that last factor was very concerning.
Drive & Crash
So, to make things easier on myself, I would just lay the serve in and get ready to hit a third shot. Fun fact, I went 9 straight tournaments without missing a serve in 2022. I was congratulated for the streak back then, and I suppose I felt proud of my consistency on the serve.
Looking back, it’s nothing to be proud of. Hitting a hard, deep and aggressive serve has proven to be the superior strategy on the professional circuit. The most powerful servers earn themselves a big advantage - through missed returns, easier third shot drops and an ideal set up for the “drive and crash.”
The 9 Out of 10 Rule
This is why I recommend hitting the serve as hard as you can, as long as you make 9/10 of them. If you can hit the serve very hard and earn some missed returns, I’d argue that making “only” 80% of your serves is your target. After going over all of my professional doubles matches in 2024, I’ve actually earned MORE missed returns than serves that I’ve missed. That math alone tells me I’m doing something right. If we consider the easier third shots I receive as a result of short returns, it’s a clear home run.
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