In many matches we give up easy points that often make the difference between winning and losing. Here are 2 examples of the points we shouldn't give up.
1) Serving out of bounds. Serving inbounds is one of the easiest things we do in playing pickleball. A nice easy serve should be good 100% of the time. Depending on the experience of your opponents they will not return your easy serve 5% to 10% of the time. Just that can mean the difference in a close match. If you think learning to hit a hard serve or a tricky serve will help you win more matches just watch how easy the serves are from the professional players. Plus many hard serves are illegal serves. If you serve into the net there is a high probability that your serve was illegal.
2) Hitting a ball that was going out of bounds. It is not uncommon that 2 or 3 points in a match are lost by returning a ball that was going out of bounds. Letting a ball go out of bounds is an easy point if you have the ability to judge when balls are heading out of bounds. So what are the mistakes that players make in not letting a ball go out of bounds? Not realizing where you are on the court, not judging how hard the ball is coming at you and having a mentality that you have to hit every return ball. As soon as your opponent hits a ball you should be determining if you should return the ball or let it go out. This early recognition, that comes with experience, is key to being able to judge that a ball is going out.
Duane
