Fast Hands
Without a doubt reflexes is a great thing to have if you want to have fast hands.
But here's what I have learned, and I FULLY BELIEVE THIS. You ready? Here it comes:
For most people "reflexes" is not the foremost problem!
Why am I convinced of that? Because most of my life I have been terrible at things normally associated with reflexes. And when I started playing pickleball, I was an easy/obvious target for bangers.
Today, I feel VERY confident that if you bang... or speed up against me, you're probably going to lose the battle.
Here's what helped me
Paddle Position
The foremost cause of "slow hands" that I see in > 4.0 play is sorta lazily having the paddle droop down rather than having it UP.
Think about it... if someone is banging at you the ball is NOT likely to be low (unless they're smaashing a pop-up). So if you have your paddle low, you need time to get the paddle into position height-wise. If the paddle is UP, that means your overall reaction time is REDUCED by the amount of time it takes you to get the paddle up.
Second, it's not MERELY an issue of height but also momentum. If you are moving your paddle UP to get it to the right height, it's probably STILL moving UP when you make contact. That makes it more likely you will pop the ball UP than if you didn't have that upward momentum.
Paddle out in Front
There's a similar problem where people keep the paddle too close to their body. Your normally ideal contact point is not a few inches in front of your body where your paddle might normally be if you're kinda being lazy about it. Think about how where you want to contact the ball and you'll find it's at least 12 inches in front of your body line. Almost an entire arms length (less than that because you want your elbows bent a little).
So why not have the paddle THERE already rather than have to move it?
Another issue you will find is that if your paddle is high and out in front, your vision of the incoming ball AND THE PADDLE is better. You will find that you can SEE the ball coming into your paddle much better and in my experience that peripheral of the paddle helps you make a better contact (more on the sweet spot).
Block, Don’t Swing
Think about it... the HARDER YOUR OPPONENT swings... the less YOU have to swing to generate power. So mostly you just want to block the ball. You may not HAVE the time to pull the paddle back and swing. But you probably also don't have... ANY NEED to do it. Just use your opponents power to send it back.
Reloading the Paddle
You know that expression - "the bigger they are, the harder they fall?"
If you think about it, if you take a big swing, you will likely have both body momentum and the paddle has a follow thru. That means it takes LONGER for you to get back into a ready position. Which means that if the ball comes back, you are less likely to be able to return it.
This brings out two points: 1) Blocking (instead of swinging) means you are ready for the "next" ball a lot sooner and 2) you should always be thinking of "reloading": getting your paddle (and body) back to the ideal ready position ASAP after a shot. Always EXPECT that "it's coming back".
Shading the Paddle Face
If you think about it... balls to your right you take with your forehand, balls to your left with your backhand. But... but... but.... balls to your BODY you ALSO want to take with your backhand.
This means that you need to think about whether your want your paddle pointing to opponents court, or whether you want one FACE of the paddle (or the other) facing it. Which you want is really based on the situation. If you're on the left and defending against someone banging from transition zone, or baseline (or even the kitchen) you probably want your backhand paddle face facing them because your partner is going to take most halls to your right.
Reading the Opponent
I think very few players below 4.0 do much "reading" (anticipation) of the shot direction. But often (particularly when you've applied some pressure) the opponents body and paddle position are such that there is ONLY one direction which they can make with the highest percentage.
For example, if the opponent is taking a (right-handed) forehand at their body line, it's really quite hard for them to PULL that shot cross court. You might want to "anticipate" a line shot... and that might mean adjusting your position on the court, and where you have your paddle (and paddle face) in your ready position.
Court Position - Tethering and Pinching the Middle
You could look at each tip we’ve presented so far as "time saving tips”: things you can do ahead of time so as to reduce the amount of time you need to volley the ball back: keep the paddle at contact height, don’t tuck your elbow, shade the paddle ahead of time, etc.
One other thing you may have to do to make a good play is be in the right place. And if you optimize your position ahead of time, that’s another place you can save time and thus improve your chances.
Tethering and Pinching Middle at the Kitchen
If you and your partner are at the kitchen line, and your opponent is hitting the ball from close to the one of the sidelines, they have only two real options for a hard hit ball: down the line, and slightly cross-court down the middle. But not sharp cross-court. Why? Because line and middle have long length of court for a hard-driven ball to drop in, but a sharp cross court does not. Thus a sharp cross court has to be hit with less speed (unless your Anna Leigh Waters who somehow manages to be able to do that.)
So you and your partner want to take a step or two towards that sideline. Watch the pros on TV in gender (not “mixed”) doubles. You will see them move together towards the side of the court the ball is on when the opponents are hitting it. This is called “tethering” because it’s as if you and your partner were tethered together with a rope: when one moves to the side, so does the other.
What about a ball coming from the middle. In that case, the opponent can’t really drive a ball sharp to the sideline because the ball has less runway to land. In this circumstance you and your partner both take a step towards the middle. This is called “pinching middle”.
The idea beind both of these is to already be in the best position for part of the court where the opponent has the highest percentage options for speeding up the ball.
Note: Both partners might also want to “shade” the paddle a little towards the area (line or middle) they are covering.
Expect the Ball Is Coming To You
This was a tip I initially dismissed but I now think it's key.
My experience is that I'm more "on guard" if I tell myself "THIS BALL IS COMING TO ME" than I am if I'm sorta wondering "is this ball coming to me or my partner".
Just try it and see.
Summary
If you think about what's behind ALL these tips... I think of all of them as "shaving off" reaction time. In short, your "ready" much sooner.
And THAT... is why I say that "reflexes" are great, but not typically the best avenue to get "fast hands".
Dave Blickstein - IPTPA Certified Pickleball Coach
