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Brush up on Singles Rules, Tips, and Scoring— From Kyle Koszuta

The Basics of Pickleball Singles

Hey guys, it’s Kyle from ThatPickleballGuy. To start, singles is played first to 11, win by two. Just like doubles, there are three fundamental rules to follow.

Serve Rules

Number one: the serve rules. Here’s the gist: both your feet must be behind the baseline. One foot can be hovering over the line, but one foot must always be on the ground when you make contact. So, you can’t jump in the air to serve. You must serve underhand. A couple of nuance points to this: the paddle face must make contact with the ball below your wrist and below your waist. But the gist is, you just have to serve underhand.

You can also hit a drop serve, and all those nuanced rules go out the window. Just know you can only drop the ball; you can’t throw it down to make it bounce higher. Now, on the serve, the ball must go diagonally across the net (Figure 1).

Also, the ball must land beyond the kitchen line. If it lands on the kitchen line, it’s a fault. If it hits any other line beyond the kitchen, you’re good. Continue reading.

Quick Tip on Overheads— From James Ignatowich

Hey guys, this is James Ignatowich, and today I’m going to cover how to avoid making contact with the ball behind your shoulder. The key to getting the ball to go down is meeting it out in front. This is similar to executing a counter shot—when you reach out in front for a counter, the ball naturally goes down. But the closer you make contact to your body, the more likely the ball is to pop up.

If you think back to when you were really on top of a counter shot and making contact out in front, you might recall times where you ended up hitting it into the net. The same concept applies to an overhead shot. If you’re making contact behind your shoulder, the ball is likely to go up (Figure 1), and you’ll often hit it long unless you take a lot of pace off the shot.

The key is to meet the ball in front of your shoulder, which allows you to direct it downward. The natural motion of an overhead swing tends to lift the ball if you make contact too far back, but the further out in front you hit, the more control you’ll have in bringing the ball down. At the end of the day, the most important thing in pickleball is getting the ball down. More tips.

When and How to Use The Pickleball Lob— From Mike Branon

The lob, when used offensively and at the right time and place, can provide a strategic change of pace. It moves the other team back in the court and causes them to lose positional advantage. A defensive lob can buy you time from deep in the court when you’re being attacked, especially if you can’t play an effective drop shot. But the offensive lob is really the fun shot. You’re up at the kitchen line, you get a ball you can handle, loft it over their head, and watch them scurry back for it. It can change the momentum of a point and earn you many winners that wouldn’t be possible by just playing the ball softly in the kitchen.

The Risks and Rewards of Lobbing

The lob is a simple stroke but requires practice to develop the right touch. When it goes wrong, a flubbed lob—sometimes called a “flob”—can result in you getting whacked from close range and might earn you a stink eye from your partner, who rubs his new pickleball tattoo. Despite the risks, lobbing is definitely a weapon you want in your arsenal. Let’s explore when, how, and where to hit this shot.

How to Perfect the Offensive Lob

Remember, lobbing from the kitchen is often your best bet. First, you need to wait for the right ball—a ball that sits up in front of you, allowing you to get underneath and take it over your opponents’ heads (Figure 1).

Second, make it look like a dink until the last moment. As you approach the ball, everything about your body should say “dink” until you decide it’s a lob. Follow through high to get the ball over their backhand shoulder (Figure 2). Once you get comfortable with this, you can add a little topspin to make the ball hit and spin away from your opponent.

Wind Considerations and Lob Placement

Don’t forget about the wind. Lobbing into the wind is easier than downwind since the wind holds the ball up, allowing it to drop into the court at the last second. When you find the right opportunity, lift the ball over your opponent’s head—preferably over the backhand shoulder, since most players struggle with a powerful backhand overhead.

You can even lob off a volley for an extra element of surprise. Keep your backswing short like a dink, get below the ball with your paddle, then sweep upward and follow through to a smooth, high finish.

Defending Against the Lob

Lobbing can be a lot of fun, but what happens when your opponents lob you? Here’s how to defend the shot. When your partner scrambles to return a lob, you should retreat to the opposite side of the court, about 10 feet inside the baseline. If your partner drops the ball into the kitchen, you can move forward. If the ball is lobbed high again, you can move back with your partner to take a defensive position.

Final Thoughts

To wrap things up, my lobbing consultant, Cabo, wanted to remind you that lobbing is an important part of the game.

It adds unpredictability and variety, especially when used sparingly to maintain the element of surprise. For senior players, it’s a crafty weapon that doesn’t require much power, just practiced touch, to send the other team into scramble mode. Disguise the lob as a dink until the last second, sweep upward from under the ball to a high finish, and aim for your opponent’s backhand shoulder whenever possible. When mastered, the lob can become another great arrow in your quiver.

Have fun with it! See you on the court!