Tanner Tomassi left his job as a real estate agent, relocated to Florida, and spent two years relentlessly drilling to master pickleball. 

Today, he’s one of the top online coaches in the sport, known for sharing high-level tips, drills, and strategy, and he recently revealed the training routine that helped elevate his game to the 5.0 level.

1.     Dink game straight ahead

“Start every session with a straight-ahead dink game with speedups,” he explained. “This drill is important because it’s how you control the kitchen line, by taking balls out of the air and leaning into the kitchen.”

Tomassi and his partner line up across from each other at the kitchen line, exchanging controlled dinks and accelerating the pace whenever an opening presents itself.

“Mastering this specific game is the key to getting better,” he emphasized. “This drill gets you so comfortable at the net with good hands, good dinks, and good IQ.”

2.     Cross-court control

“This is really important because 99% of pickleball is cross-court dinking,” he noted. “You want to be able to hang comfortably dinking cross-court for long.”  

3.     Cover the middle with confidence 

The third drill is also cooperative rather than competitive. Tomassi and his partner stand cross-court; his partner starts with a wide dink, which Tomassi returns, then his partner moves the ball to the middle, and Tomassi responds again.

“Get into the routine of your opponent pulling you out wide,” he mentioned. “Then you step back and cover that middle.”

4.     Neutralize bangers

“This was vital in taking my game to the next level,” he said. “It’s how to deal with bangers.”

Tomassi positions himself at the kitchen line, while his partner takes a spot just inside the baseline.

“I’m going to feed him a ball and he’s going to drive it and crash himself,” he explained. “I have to handle the speed and the chaos.”

5.     Master your defense in uncomfortable situations

In the next drill, one player lobs an overhead shot to put their partner on the defensive, helping them practice moving up to the kitchen line.

“This is a great drill to work on getting in when you’re uncomfortable,” insisted Tomassi. 

This drill is designed to mimic real game and tournament situations. The more you train your mind and body to handle the speed, intensity, and unpredictability of competitive play, the better prepared you’ll be when facing those conditions in an actual match.

6.     10x faster hands

“This last drill is my personal favorite,” said Tomassi. “This is how I got fast hands, and the more you do this drill, the better your hands will get, especially with reacting and reading the ball.”

Tomassi and his partner start at the kitchen line. Tomassi plays a dink, his partner returns it, then Tomassi hits a soft, dead dink. At that point, his partner accelerates the pace, and they play out the point.

“We’re basically just inducing a hands battle and getting it started,” he demonstrated.

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