Body bags are quickly becoming one of pickleball’s most talked-about trends, with more players unleashing full-speed shots at their opponent’s body—and racking up viral clips across social media in the process.

Jay Devilliers has delivered his fair share of headline-grabbing body bags over the years, and in a recent appearance on the Pickleballers Podcast, he weighed in on the increasingly controversial tactic.

“I’m not necessarily pro body bag. I feel like there are bags that are more okay than others. I feel like if you’re playing a nice match and everything is fine, I wouldn’t hit a body bag then,” said Devilliers. “But if we are having a match that’s intense and we’re chirping at each other, then I feel it’s free game. That’s how I see things all the time.”

For Devilliers, it all comes down to context.

A body bag isn’t usually his go-to shot, but in the heat of a tight, competitive match, it can sometimes be unavoidable.

“The first time I actually did it, I got a lot of controversy on it. It was against James Ignatowich in MLP, and he literally bagged me maybe six times. Tyler Loong was my partner on the Utah Black Diamonds at the time, and he bagged him the same,” recapped Devilliers. “I was just tired of getting hit every time. He was not trying to put the ball in, he was just tagging us, and I just sent it as hard as I could. I’m like, 'If you want to play like that, I can too.'”

“Did you get him?” asked Jared Paul, co-host of Pickleballers. 

Devilliers missed him by mere centimeters.

“I was close, but that was not the point. It was to send a message like, 'Hey dude, stop hitting me!' I don’t think I’ve made it like a normal thing, but if it gets intense against certain players and they’re chirping, at that point it’s part of the game,” he insisted. “You’re here to play, and if you want to play a hard ball, let’s play a hard ball.”

One of Devilliers’ most viral body bag moments came when he was on the receiving end—tagged by Anna Leigh Waters during MLP action.

“I didn’t know how to react to that because I go a lot to the guys but I’ve never body bagged any girls. When she did it, I didn’t expect it at all. I remember doing my drop shot, and I was so passive after that. I went back to the baseline after that thinking what do I do? I don’t want to retaliate,” he said. “I was in a really weird position where if a guy would have done that, I would have. And with Anna Leigh, I’ve never had any bad beef or anything like that.  I didn’t expect it. That was probably the best bag I’ve ever gotten.”

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