A well-hit pickleball will contact the paddle at its “sweet spot” and the paddle face will be properly positioned so that it is perpendicular to the intended direction of travel of the ball. This is especially true for volleys at the net, and is applicable to ground strokes, dinks, overheads, and serves.
Throughout the course of a game, it is difficult to avoid situations where your paddle is not in the proper position or orientation. Pickleball players must therefore understand the source of these misorientation errors so that they can adjust their shots in real time to avoid mis-hitting the ball.
Pickleball mis-hits come in three varieties: (1) you are holding your paddle in the wrong orientation (Paddle Orientation Errors), (2) you are not in the proper position to swing at the ball effectively (Positioning Errors), and (3) the ball strikes your paddle at the wrong location, causing a misorientation error (Paddle Contact Errors). These errors are discussed in detail below.
Paddle Orientation Errors
The orientation of the pickleball paddle is described in terms of rotations about three axes as shown in Figure 1.
The errors associated with paddle orientation about these axes are described below.
- Roll Axis – The roll axis extends along the length of the paddle down the handle to the end of the paddle, where rotation errors about this axis are called “roll”. If you were to hit a sidearm shot (like a ground stroke) and the paddle was not properly positioned in the roll axis, the shot would either go too high or it will go into the net. Similarly, for overhead or underhand shots, errors in the roll axis will cause the ball to go to the left or right of the intended location. Roll axis errors are commonly caused by the paddle rotating in your hand before or during a hit.
- Pitch Axis – The pitch axis extends from the end of the handle perpendicular to the roll axis and parallel to the paddle face, where rotation errors about this axis are called “pitch”. The reason why the pitch axis originates near the handle is discussed in our series of posts entitled “What is the Sweet Spot?”. If you were to hit a sidearm shot and the paddle was not properly positioned in the pitch axis, the shot would go either left or right of the intended location. Similarly, for overhead or underhand shots, errors in the pitch axis will cause the ball to go too high or into the net.
- Yaw Axis – The yaw axis extends from the end of the handle perpendicular to the paddle face where rotations about this axis will be called “yaw”. We will normally not be too concerned about yaw rotation, as a pure yaw will result in the paddle face still being perpendicular to the intended direction of travel. However, yaw rotation of the paddle is important when applying topspin or backspin onto your shots.
Players can reduce paddle orientation errors by gaining racquet awareness and knowing the orientation of their paddle faces at all times. There are several drills that a player can practice to improve their paddle awareness, improve paddle orientation, and increase the accuracy of their shots.
Positioning Errors
In this case, you are not properly positioned on the court, and you strike the ball when it is too far or close to your body, or you strike the ball too early or too late, or you cannot properly follow through on your swing. As a result, you might hit the ball back too high or into the net, or it may go wide or beyond the baseline, or it may lack speed or depth.
The ideal location to hit a pickleball (forehand, backhand, overhead or underhand) is to contact the ball with your arm fully extended, where the contact point is in front of you so that on follow-through, you can properly shift your weight from your rear foot to your front foot and rotate your arm and shoulder through the shot. (There are plenty of videos on the internet that show the ideal contact point for pickleball and tennis.)
The ideal contact point will be different for different players, depending on your height, arm length, wrist strength, biomechanics, etc. Players should therefore practice returning the ball at different speeds, directions, and spin to determine their ideal location for contacting the ball. It would be useful for you to understand Pickleball Kinematics to understand pickleball acceleration, velocity, displacement, and time of travel so that you can better anticipate where the ball is going to be and properly position yourself and your racquet for a good return.
Paddle Contact Errors
Paddle contact errors occur when you contact the ball on the wrong part of the paddle face. These are a special case of Paddle Orientation Errors, with the exception that the force of the ball contacting the paddle will actually cause an orientation error of your paddle.
For example, on a sidearm shot, contacting the ball above or below the roll axis (see Figure 1) may cause your wrist to rotate about the roll axis, making your return go high or into the net. Similarly, on an overhead smash, if you swing too early, you will contact the ball above the sweet spot causing the paddle to pitch backward, making the ball go long. If you swing too late, you will contact the ball below the sweet spot causing your return to go into the net. We discuss the sweet spot in another series of articles, beginning with “Where is the Sweet Spot?”
It is very difficult to react or correct your paddle orientation if the force of the ball causes the paddle misorientation. More likely than not, the ball has already bounced off your paddle face before you have a chance to correct your paddle for the misorientation. The best solution for paddle contact errors is to ensure that you always contact the ball with the sweet spot of your paddle.
How to Avoid Mis-Hits
There are several things a pickleball player can do to avoid mis-hits and place your serves and returns with greater velocity and higher accuracy. These include:
- Reduce paddle roll axis errors by developing sufficient grip strength or wear a glove to make sure that the paddle handle does not roll, slip, or rotate in your hand when hitting the ball.
- Increase paddle pitch stability by placing your index finger on the paddle face while gripping your paddle.
- Practice alternately volleying or dinking the ball when you are at the net with forehand and backhand shots until you can consistently rotate and position your paddle so that it is perpendicular to the intended direction of travel.
- Learn to consistently contact the ball at the so-called “Sweet Spot” of the paddle, where contact with the ball cannot cause rotation of the paddle. We discuss the Sweet Spot in depth in a different series of articles.
- Gain a better understanding of Pickleball Kinematics, so that you can better anticipate where the ball is going be so that you can properly position yourself and your paddle for a good return.
