In doubles pickleball, the left-side player is traditionally viewed as the stronger partner, tasked with covering more of the middle with their forehand and taking charge of a larger portion of the court.

From the pro ranks to recreational play, that role comes with a certain prestige. Players take pride in owning the left side, and in men’s doubles especially, plenty of guys are reluctant to give it up. But that attachment could actually be holding their game back.

Just ask Gabe Tardio. The World No. 2 men’s doubles player isn’t just comfortable on the right side, he embraces it. In fact, Tardio credits his willingness to own that role as a key factor in his rise to the top.

“The turning point for my career was when I started focusing on playing the right. It was a numbers game. Everyone who came from tennis wanted to play the left and they were all so much better than me at the time, so if I wanted to get better partners, I needed to master the side that no one wanted to play,” explained Tardio, on the Pickleballers podcast. “There were about 20 people that are better than me who are playing the left, but there’s not that many who are playing the right. So, I shifted my focus to playing on the right side. When I started playing the right, I started getting better partners and better results.”

Tardio became so effective on the right side that he eventually earned the opportunity to partner with World No. 1 Ben Johns. Clearly, embracing the right side paid off.

But he knew that simply switching sides wasn’t enough. To become an elite right-side player, he needed to develop a different skill set. He spent hours studying film, identifying the key shots to master to thrive in that role.

So, which shots made all the difference?

“You need a lot of backhand counters, so I would do a lot of wall drills for backhand counters and practice with JW Johnson, who has one of the best backhand flicks. I would drill with him, he would flick at me a thousand times, and I would just counter, counter, counter,” explained Tardio. “To be a good right-side player, you need to get to the net as much as possible. If you’re getting to the net, you’re already complementing your left side by getting your team to the net. The second thing I would work on is countering and defense. You don’t need to do anything big or special, just make counters. And you need to learn how to add pressure like speed-ups, cover speed-ups, and deception.”

But playing the right side isn’t just about dinking and covering a fraction of the court. As Roscoe Bellamy explained, Tardio has redefined the role, bringing a more aggressive, attack-minded approach to that side.

“Before, everyone thought the right-side player was the beta player,” said Bellamy. “Yes, they take less court. But, [Tardio] came in by playing this aggressive, creative right style where you were speeding up your forehand, flicking from the middle, and really keeping the opponent’s left side guy on edge so that they couldn’t attack.”

So if you’re always claiming the left side in men’s or women’s doubles, it might be time to switch things up.

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