Are you a tennis player? Here are some tips on how to play pickleball

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One of the greatest things about pickleball is how it attracts players from all sorts of different sports. Tennis, of course, is one of the biggest ones! Recently, we've seen quite a few tennis players coming over to pickleball. In this video, I'd like to help you transition or just give you some tips if you're a tennis player and you're going to be playing pickleball for the first time.

Tennis players! Here are some more guides that will help you out with pickleball!

Links to more Pickleball Kitchen content:

[gottaplaytennis]

I recently decided to try Pickleball after both playing and teaching tennis for over 40 years. It’s definitely interesting, and I can see why it’s fun for many people. I will continue playing it and work at getting better. However, I really don’t like it when Pickleball players say that you can’t play pickleball like tennis successfully. After having seen the likes of people like Bjorn, Borg and Rafael Nadal in tennis, who burst onto the scene and totally changed the way Tennis could be played with their unique styles, I find it shortsighted to think that there is only one way to play successfully. I love approaching the net, Although I hate the non-volley zone. Constructing a point is very important to a tennis player, and that includes both rallies from the baseline and making an approach to the net. Every time I see pickleball online, except for the pros, I see terrible and sloppy foot work. I fully intend to keep rotating my shoulders, taking a full stroke, moving my feet, and following appropriately to the net with the right approach. Just remember that everything is cookie-cutter until it’s not, and the biggest success stories in sports many times come from those who chose to lead instead of follow. Thanks, keep up the good content.

[btreese]

The biggest change for me from tennis (college player in the 80's and 5.0+ for years after) is to lose the huge western grip on groundstrokes since trying to put that much top spin on a pickleball is a recipe for disaster. Getting used to a semi-western or even less was a challenge. But the PB ball dies so fast that you don't need crazy top to bring it back down in the court. Also, in PB shot depth is even more important so a deep soft return is more of a weapon than a hard flat shot that doesn't keep your opponent back. Finally...that damn NVZ was hard to get used to...it's hard to lose the instinct to close out volleys.

On the other hand, volleying at the kitchen when the play speeds up really benefits me and my reaction time. Half-volleying and keeping the ball low over the net is also a great shot that translates from tennis. Returning serve with a "chip and charge" mentality is great as well for pickleball since the opponent has to stay back and can't poach the return. It's about 60/40 as far as what translates from tennis to PB. The key is how fast you drop the 40% from your pickleball game.

[CaveWyatt]

The worst advice I followed when I first started playing was “You have to stop playing tennis. Forget that game. You have to start over with pickleball. I wasted my first year playing tennis on the pickleball court.” It made sense but I wasted my first year following it.

As tennis players, if you had a coach or took lessons, you were drilled over and over again on certain shots and when to use them. If the ball landed in a certain place you were supposed to use a certain response. And coach would hit that shot to you over and over (Damn, overheads are tiring!). Like Vic Braden said, “It takes 2, 000 reps to LEARN a shot and 2-3, 000 more to ingrain it.” Unless you’re talking about warmup dinking, that thinking would make the average pickleball player...well, it would surprise them.

Anyway, I went back to using my tennis shots and then working in the new shots to match the situations. Wife and I even got a little practice time as “The Break” caused the crowd to dwindle (not that we would EVER thumb our noses at power mad local politicians...but I digress). We got a terrific chance to develop her serve and overhead using the same tried and true approaches my tennis coach used - footwork and LOTS of reps!

So, that was my path to being about as successful as a 68yo tennis player who had to retire after his second carpal tunnel surgery (about two years ago, too much scar tissue and too much Call of Duty). Play tennis (within the rules) and work in pickleball and you’ll have a bunch of fun. And Barrett is absolutely correct, the ball bounce will kill you for a couple of months. That’s the bad side of years of conditioned response. Have fun!

Please note: We came to a new state and used pickleball as a way to meet local people in our new, rural area. I was never going to play tournaments. And, Barrett, I became a tennis doubles specialist and the name of the game on hard courts is attack. So my game already looked like what you’re talking about, just without waiting for the second bounce. For a long time, in tight situations, I would revert and serve and volley, automatically losing the point. That ingrained thing, again.

[c_m_b_]

Also, when I tried pickleball, I felt pressured to switch my two-handed backhand from tennis because I watched a lot of the pros (most of them use one-handed backhands). When I switched back to a two-handed backhand, I felt much more comfortable. Do not be afraid to use a two-handed backhand, as long as you are brushing up on the ball instead of the usual sideways tennis stroke.

[miguelestrada]

If I may also add from personal experience that strokes need to be shortened substantially. Tennis strokes are long, pickle ball’s are short.

[tomsd]

Now that would be tragic, switching from tennis to Pickleball.

[yalex]

I played on indoor wood courts for much of my time in pickleball, and that surface really accentuates the skidding bounce of the wiffle ball. Underspin worked well for me in forcing opponents to hit up, and slice makes the ball float left or right dramatically on slow shots that the opponents have to take at the rear. But topspin is important in my experience to get good angles.
Long strokes have their place in my view, especially while generating good spin. The paddle and ball are slick, and it takes a considerable amount of racquet speed to generate spin. I could not do it without a long stroke. But this could also be because I play with a wooden paddle. I was advised by nearly everyone I played with to switch to a graphite, but I couldn’t live with it. Graphite paddles feel dead and unresponsive; they don’t provide me the suppleness that I crave in a paddle. I can’t feel whether I’m doing a flat or slice shot on a graphite, but on wood the difference is crystal clear. Plus, the mass of the paddle compensates for what the material lacks in generating power.

[morganst.pierre]

singles is radically different! Honestly, former tennis player here too, doubles while fun I players point It being dull, don’t really come close to breaking a sweat, but a game of singles with another good player is legit more intense cardiovascularly than tennis. More akin to basketball run and gun wise.
Less hard skills” maybe but longer quicker volleys make it very fun. I’ve known many athletes who’ve scoffed at doubles but grown to love singles. Also indoors more intense&spin

[PaulR]

Biggest thing I've had to adjust to is not blocking and punching volleys. In pickleball you really have to swing upwards and anticipate the balls tendency to dive downwards, instead of up like a tennis ball

[eddietaylor]

Honestly a great video, only thing like this I've seen as a tennis player trying to learn pickleball

[kbotelho]

I found not crossing over with my footwork and not closing out on my volleys to be a challenge.

[AnnMitt]

You'll exhaust yourself if you stay in the tennis mode while playing pickleball

[pickleballreviews]

Great topic, much appreciated Barrett!

[R-abl]

My old school tennis flat swing with continental grip from the 1980’s works better for pickle ball vs modern tennis

[AKCrazyRussian]

Hello from Cincinnati! Can you please tell me the what is the lower outside temperature is good for ball to properly bounce?

[shankland]

I'm 71 and a 5.0 singles tennis player and I can still hustle around the court. The pb players at the courts kept inviting us tennis players to play. So I watched this video about a week or so ago and went out and gave it a try. I played for a few days with the regulars at the courts and had no trouble at all transitioning. Adjust to the low bounce and that's pretty much it. Not to brag but I was immediately 1 of the 3 or 4 best players out there. Maybe pickleball singles is more demanding but doubles was pretty boring. I kind of felt like a bully out there. Bottom line, not enough fun for me to return to it. Maybe when I get older.

[arjo]

It looks like there’s not much movement (running) in pickle ball. Is that the case?

[shelkatz]

Tennis players hit the ball with a vertical head too. I also play table tennis and in that game you hit with a closed face.

[punk]

Any help for racquetball players? I just can’t seem to get my wrist out of my shots, especially my forehand at the net.

[bilizard]

I’m afraid my wife and I have finally aged out of tennis. We are children of the 70’s, Tennis players in the 80’s (the heyday of the sport. In the US) Agassi, Mcenroe, Sampras etc. We are putting down the tennis rackets for good and are finally going to embrace Pickleball. Our old bodies can’t handle the demands of Tennis like we use to leading to persistent nagging injuries. Hate to see Tennis die like this, but I’m afraid it’s going to. The mass appeal of Pickleball for both the young and the old is far to great for Tennis to compete. The barrier to entry is far greater for Tennis on multiple levels. Ordered first set of Pickle ball paddles today.