Chapter 5 - How to Dink
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Dink is the most common confrontation technology of pickleball and it's also the premise of the Drop technology. If you don't master the Dink, you can't play pickleball well.
Dink refers to the action of placing the ball to the opponent's NVZ area. Usually the trajectory is flat, which goes over the net in a low position (within a ball height is good), and it falls into the front half of the opponent's NVZ area or near the NVZ line.
Dink is often used in doubles events. According to the target area, it can be roughly divided into the following three types:
Straight Dink: Straight Dink is to put the ball into the opponent's area that you are facing. For example, stand on your left half court and place the ball in your opponent's right half court. Straight Dink is usually easier to hit, but tend to have a higher or farther trajectory, making it easier for the opponent to attack;
Cross-court (Diagonal) Dink: A cross-court Dink is when the ball is dropped into the opposing opponent's area diagonally. For example, stand on the left half court and place the ball into the opponent's left half court. The cross-court ball has a longer trajectory. It is not easy to intercept because it passes through the middle of the net, and it has a side angle after landing, which makes it more difficult for the opponent to deal with. If the ball bounces off the ground and goes beyond the sideline of the court, be prepared that the opponent is possibly to use an Around-The-Post (ATP) hit.
Middle Dink: The middle dink refers to placing the ball in the space between the two opponents, which is often used in double games. Since both players can handle the ball, it will cause some trouble to make the decision immediately.
Usually, diagonal dink is preferred because they are less likely to make mistakes and are more difficult for the opponent to volley. For example, if you want to hit a dink after bouncing from the ground, and want to prevent the opponent from volleying directly, it can be deduced that 1) For straight dink, the speed of the return ball should be between 5.0 m/s and 6.8 m/s (so difficult), and the angle range is 3045°; while 2) for cross-court dink, the speed of the return ball is 6.49.2 m/s, and the angle range is 20~45°, which has a larger tolerant range.
When the ball from the opponent falls into the NVZ and the opponents are ready to stay near the net, usually use the Dink ball to return to avoid giving a good attack opportunity to the opponents. When the opponent returns the ball long but not easy to attack, Dink can be used before the ball hits the ground.
The first purpose of Dink is to prevent the opponents from having a good attack opportunity. Dink is for defending safely when there is no good opportunity. At the same time try to mobilize the opponent to find an attack opportunity in the rally.
A good Dink will not return the ball too far and too high, otherwise the opponent can volley the ball or hit it down to attack.
Before hitting the ball, you should stand close to the NVZ line, lower the body and hit the ball softly to let it pass the net and drop downward in a low position.
There are several ways to hit the Dink, the easiest and most efficient way is to push the ball.
When pushing the ball, it's important to keep the wrist firm and control the paddle angle to ensure it's stable and pointing towards the space above the net. There is no need to draw back the paddle before hitting; instead, use your shoulder as the pivot and your arm to directly apply force forward, hitting the ball to the intended spot. To ensure a stable trajectory of the ball, continue to push the paddle forward for about 30 cm after the hit. Focus on the hitting action when pushing the ball and avoid deliberately creating spin. After the shot, quickly return to the ready position with the paddle in front of your chest.
After mastering the basic push Dink, you can appropriately add spin to make it more difficult for a high-quality return, including:
Top Spin: The ball's trajectory will drop sharply before landing, and will move forward quickly after landing, which causes the opponent to return the ball too long and too high. The trajectory of the topspin ball is relatively high, so generally use it in the diagonal direction;
Back Spin: The ball's trajectory will be longer than expected to squeeze the return space. And the bounce is low with backspin, which make it more difficult to return the ball perfectly;
Side Spin: The trajectory will have a side angle, which makes it more difficult to control the route when returning the ball.
After mastering spins, the player should practice how to Dink with different spins using the same motion.
When dinking defensively, aim to place the ball in the front half of the non-volley zone to prevent your opponent's attack. When proactively moving your opponent around, you can hit the ball to areas far from them (such as the outer corners of the non-volley zone line, or area between the two players in doubles) or at their feet, forcing them to move. Additionally, you can try delivering a half-long ball, making it difficult for the opponent to decide whether to volley the ball directly or wait for it to bounce before hitting.
When the opponent’s dink is too high or too long, you can try to speedup to attack the opponent.
The key to a successful speedup attack is to choose the right time. If a wrong attack is made, it is often easy for the opponent to counterattack. So, here are the three good timings for starting a speedup attack:
The opponent's return is too high or too long: At this time, you can attack from top to bottom, forcing the opponent to make a mistake or retreat;
The opponent's position is unbalanced: At this time, you can force the opponent to have no time to return the ball or further lose position, creating a better attack opportunity;
Confidently to counterattack the opponent's return: At this time, you can actively induce the opponent's volley return and then counterattack.
With targeting to various positions, the defense challenge will be different, as shown in the figure below.
Red Area: Positions where the opponent is easy to defend or even counterattack, including most of the forehand position and the overhead area. Always avoid this area;
Green Area: Positions where it is difficult for the opponent to defend or form a high-quality return, including positions below the net, around the shoulder on the forehand, and farther area on the backhand. Try to target this area;
Yellow Area: Between the previous two areas, the opponent may form an effective defense. Prepare for the defense when attacking to this area.
The first principle of attack is to keep the ball going down after passing the net, so you should try to choose the green target area and follow up immediately to form a continuous attack.
When the opponent suddenly speedup to attack during the dink in front of the net, there are two main ways to deal with it: counterattack and reset, which are suitable for different scenarios.
Counterattack: When the opponent's attack ball is slow, has a high trajectory, or moves upward after passing the net, you can easily counterattack downward;
Reset: When the opponent's speed ball is of high quality and moves downward after passing the net, reset is usually used, that is, using the opponent’s force to return the ball into the non-volley zone to interrupt the opponent's continuous offensive rhythm
Dink has high requirements on hand’s control. To adapt to different rhythms, you can improve Dink through the following training.
Bouncing practice: Use the paddle to continuously flip the ball, you can control the height of the ball, control the ball to rotate or not, and you can use the forehand and backhand to flip the ball alternately. There should be no less than 100 consecutive strokes at a time, and no less than 5 sets of exercises should be carried out every day.
Multi-ball practice: The assistant staff hits the ball into the NVZ, and the player Dinks the ball into the designated target area, and the ball does not go too high over the net. There should be no less than 50 consecutive Dinks each time, and no less than 10 sets of exercises per day. Practice the straight ball first, and then practice the cross-court ball after that.
Dynamic practice: The assistant staff and players move horizontally along the net while dinking the ball.
Dink and Attack practice: Try to attack during Dink when there’s an opportunity, and reset the opponent’s attack into Dink.
When doing Dink training, keep in mind:
Keep patient when there's no good attack opportunity, keep watching the opponents position and movement;
The body can move and sway with the ball, move ahead of the ball's direction. And the center of body should remain stable when hitting the ball;
Hit the ball in front of you, hit ball from the front of the ball, and hit the ball when exhale;
The wrist should be fixed. Use the body and shoulder to drive the arm to exert force.
