Controlling Court
Real Estate
Tricks to improve your court positioning
BY BRIAN STAUB
hen talking about where to stand
and controlling court space,
I often compare pickleball to
the game of Monopoly. In this
popular board game, the goal is
to own as much “property” as possible and ultimately
win the game by taking away all real estate from your
opponents. Pickleball is similar where we create
situations that penalize our opponents every time
they land on our “property.”
So how does this work? By taking court space away
from your opponents, you are adding pressure to
them and increasing your odds of winning each point.
THE SERVE
The first opportunity you have to take real estate
away from your opponents is on the serve. As you
hit a serve, what you’re looking to do is draw a weak
response. Many people want to hit hard serves, but
depth is by far more important. If you hit a deep
serve, regardless of pace, you will most likely get a
short return.
To practice deep returns, place a layer of masking
or painter’s tape about 8 feet from your opponents’
baseline. Make an effort to return every serve past
this point. By lengthening their court, you will shorten
yours when they return your serve short.
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THE RETURN OF SERVE
The next opportunity to take real estate away from
your opponents is on the return of serve. Whether the
serve is short or deep, hit the return as early as you
comfortably can. Don’t wait for the ball to apex and
then come down before you hit it. Strike the return
of serve as it is ascending after the service bounce.
Taking the return early moves you two or three steps
into the court—closer to the net.
The second way to gain real estate off the return is
to lift the ball with an open face, rather than driving a
hard shot. The harder we hit the return, the less time
we have to get ourselves up to the kitchen line. Lift
the ball softly and continue moving toward the net.
The early return, lifted with an open-faced paddle,
allows you to get up to the kitchen line faster—putting
pressure on your opponents to hit a better third shot.
Remember next time you’re on the court to think
about pickleball as a life-size Monopoly game. Focus
on taking real estate from your opponents and you
will become a better player. •
A member of Team Engage,
Brian Staub is a USAPA
National Champion in doubles
and singles, a US Open Pro
Champion, and has medaled in
many other top tournaments,
including the Tournament of
Champions. He is one of the
most well-known professional
players and commentators in
the sport of pickleball. Brian has
taught and competed in tennis
at the national level and has
competed in Europe—Belgium,
England, Spain and France.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019 |
MAGAZINE
25