What is the worst shot to hit in pickleball? What shot has the lowest chance of success, the least chance to help win the point?

 

The answer is the drop volley. For those unsure of pickleball terms, a drop volley is a ball played out of the air, where you try to drop it just over the net, hoping it bounces twice before the opponent can reach it.

 

The drop volley has a relatively low chance of success. To execute it correctly, you want to bend your knees (helpful on just about any shot), take the ball well out front of your body, and slightly cup the ball when hitting it, almost as if you are using a baseball mitt to catch a baseball. The problem is that most players execute a drop volley incorrectly. They relax because it is a soft shot, causing them to not bend their knees. They have the paddle too close to their body. They just hit with a flat stroke, the paddle perpendicular to the ground.  All those errors cause the ball to either flop into the net, or go far enough into the opponent’s court that the opponent has an easy shot.

 

 

The pros and cons of the drop volley came up a lot during men’s doubles matches at the CIBC Atlanta Slam. Players were trying the drop volley and Dave Fleming doing commentary correctly and repeatedly pointed out the lack of success players were having with the shot. It became something of a joke, as players kept doing it, and Fleming kept accurately saying it was not a smart shot.

 

Another problem with the drop volley is that there is always a good alternative choice for the shot. A drop volley should never be tried on a volley where you are hitting the ball below the level of the net. Thus, because the ball is as high or higher than the net, the player has the simple option of hitting a topspin drive volley. A topspin drive volley keeps the opponents back, is a simple shot to hit, and rarely is missed.

 

I see amateur players all the time trying the drop volley. It isn’t that it is never successful; it does work, sometimes, but it is a low percentage shot. It gets overused, even by players with excellent touch. We see this in the pros, with an excellent example being provided by comparing the singles games of Noe Khlif and Federico Staksrud. Both are great players, and both have superb touch. But Khlif overuses the drop volley. He misses some and the opponents are quick enough to get to many of the successful ones. Staksrud, on the other hand, chooses to hit a drive volley with topspin off the exact same shot and position. Khlif will often try to hit a cut, drop volley, crosscourt. He is very skilled, but still misses the shot too often. Staksrud, off the same shot, will most often hit a topspin drive volley down the line. Staksrud’s shot does not typically win the point outright, but it keeps the opponent back, setting Staskrud up to win the point on the next shot.

 

 

Khlif is a great player. I believe he will be a top 15-20 player very soon. But, he overuses the drop volley and it hurts his overall game. He needs to emulate Staksrud, one of the very best players, and hit the safer topspin drive volley, and discard the drop volley.

 

Learn from the pros, and listen to Dave Fleming. Cut down on your use of the drop volley, or eliminate it entirely. Go with the high percentage play and the topspin drive volley.

 

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