The zone of transition is often referred to as no man’s land for a reason. It can be very dangerous! It’s an area of the court you pass through on your way to the kitchen line or the baseline. While you are in no man’s land you are vulnerable to attack by the opposition. You need to get out as soon as possible. However, inevitably there will be times when you will have to play shots from there, particularly drop shots, passing shots down the middle or down the line, and occasionally lobs. But these often have to be played round your feet or as a reaction shot, both of which can be difficult to control.  Play it as best you can and, depending on what shot it is, move either to the NVZ line or back to the baseline. If it is a good drop shot (the usual shot to play when trying to move up the transition area), or a good lob, move up. If it’s a high shot that can be attacked, more often than not you are better off dropping back keeping your paddle low  anticipating a shot around your feet. If the ball comes rocketing at you at chest height, it’s going out so get out of the way! Be sure you and your partner advance or drop back together (see playing doubles as a unit) or you are giving your opponents some inviting targets to hit into.

Quite often you won’t be able to get from the back of the court to the NVZ line in one move and have to play 2 or more shots to advance to the kitchen. While moving in the transition zone, just before your opponent hits the ball, stop moving, stabilize in the ready position. Have your feet shoulder width apart with one foot slightly forward of the other to help push off forwards or backwards as necessary, and raise a little on to your toes. Hold your paddle in the ready position and you are giving yourself the best chance to deal with anything that comes your way. If you play a good drop from there you can continue forward to the NVZ line.

The serve is the only stroke you have the ball in your hand and complete control (?!). Ideally you want to make the serve as long as possible. The reason for this is that the receiving side will want to get to the NVZ line as fast as possible in order to dominate the rally. The receiver’s partner should already be at the NVZ line and the receiver wants to join them immediately if possible. The deeper your serve the longer it will take the receiver to move up the court to the NVZ. If they are a bit slow getting there they will be in no man’s land so you can play the ball back to their feet as they are on the move. This can be an easy point or at least provoke a weak shot and allow you and your partner to move up and take the initiative. So practise hitting long serves. In a friendly game you could agree to allow a second serve if the first serve goes out to help practise the long serve. The serve can be, more than just getting the rally going!

Unlike tennis, it is an advantage to receive serve. This is because the serving team have to stay at or behind the baseline in order to wait for your return to bounce (the two-bounce rule) before they can play the ball, It is because the serving team has to allow this second bounce that the receiver’s partner can stand at the NVQ line, the dominant court position. The service receiver would normally return the serve as deep as possible so as to be able to advance to join their partner at the kitchen. So after the first two strokes of a rally, the serve and the return of serve, ideally the receiving pair will both be at the NVZ line and the serving pair pinned to their baseline. That’s the theory.

To receive the serve you should be standing in the ready position and alert with a stance that allows you to push of if you get a short or wide serve. The serve will normally be a deep one to keep you as far back from the net as possible. An ideal serve will land on or just inside your baseline. Beware of standing in the court area. Bear in mind it is easier to move forward to a shortish serve than have to skip backwards for a very deep one. Also moving forward on to the serve gives you the momentum to get up to the kitchen quickly. Having to step back to return the serve can force your return to be short and slow down your advance to the kitchen. Potentially this can keep you at the back of the court or in no man’s land (the zone of transition) as you try to get forward. So, return deep and quickly move up the court to join your partner who should already be there of course.

A doubles pair should aim to play as a unit. This means two things – communication and coordination. You should to move as one. Most of the time this means moving sideways when your partner does. Advance up to the NVZ line when they do and move back down the court when they do. There are some situations when this basic rule cannot be kept, for instance when your partner has been lobbed and you run behind them to return it. If this happens your partner should switch i.e. move over to cover your side of the court which you have had to vacate. This also means you get out of the way of their shot as, if you don’t move, you would be standing in front of them. Your partner may call out ‘switch’ to alert you that they are going back to cover you.

When you’re at or near the NVZ line keep your padel in front of you above waist height, slightly inclined towards your backhand side It’s here you will have to volley balls coming at you above net height. When you’re near the back of the court the ready position should be fairly low and be prepared to bend your knees to play low balls after the bounce. You are unlikely to volley from there as if it hasn’t bounced by the time it’s reached you the ball is on its way out! If you are halfway up the court (variously called the zone of transition and, more often, no man’s land) it is not so clear cut where you should hold your padel. Sometimes you will need to volley above waist height. Quite often you will need to get low to play the ball off your toes, a very hard shot to control. This is why if you see an opponent in no man’s land it is good to hit the ball at their feet. In the mid court area hold you padel at about waist height and be prepared for anything!

To begin with, we are just happy to be able to hit the ball and get it over the net. That’s the main thing. But after a while we are able to think about our shots and try to hit them into specific areas. Pickleball is all about hitting your targets – to move your opponents out of position and then playing into the gaps they leave. Basically, hit the ball to where they are not. Short, long, down the middle, cross court, lobs… Look for targets and try to hit them. One classic example – you push one of the opposing pair wide with a shot deep into a rear corner or a wide mid court angle. Their partner doesn’t move to cover the middle of the court leaving you a massive target down the middle. The first target is where you want to push your opponent. The second target is down the middle to win the rally.