Pickleball strategy for doubles doesn’t have to be complicated – here are the 5 best tips.
Whether you are new to pickleball or the best players around, you always want to win every point and every game.
And in order to increase your chances of winning, your team needs to know the best pickleball doubles strategy.
There are five main pickleball doubles strategies that you should learn and implement in your next doubles game:
- Get to the non-volley line after the return of serve
- Keep your opponent back
- Serve deep
- Aim for the feet
- Move in unison
These strategies will not only help your team play better in the next game.
They will also teach you the foundations of building a powerful team and becoming a better pickleball player.
This article will cover all five of these pickleball strategies for doubles in detail to help you become a better player.
You’ll be able to put your new doubles pickleball strategy into practice instantly and, in return, be in a better position to win than ever before.
Ready to learn a better pickleball doubles strategy and see the improvement in your next game of pickleball? Let’s go!
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What Are The Five Main Strategies Used In Doubles Pickleball?
Although a team can use an infinite number of strategies in doubles pickleball, there are five main strategies that everyone should follow.
Some of the pickleball strategies for doubles also work for pickleball singles strategy, so take extra note if you plan on playing pickleball singles too.
These pickleball doubles strategies will teach you the fundamentals of gaining every advantage possible while playing.
Whether you’re mostly playing fun games or competitive games, these strategies will help you and your pickleball partner progress and get to higher levels.
1. Get To The Non-Volley Line After Returning The Serve
As you know, when the serving team serves the ball to you, it must be hit back.
Once you have returned the serve, your next goal should be to get to the non-volley line as quickly as possible before the next shot.
Not on it – but right behind it.
By positioning yourself right behind the kitchen line, you can now play on the offensive and also limit the options of the opposing team.
This also makes it easier to hit down, which is often a winning shot – especially when the other team are stuck at the back or side of the court.
This winning strategy is one that is used by all the top pickleball players, so take a leaf out of their book and use it for your pickleball doubles strategy too!
2. Keep Your Opponents Back
This advanced pickleball doubles strategy relates directly to the strategy explained above.
As well as wanting to set up for your ideal court positioning, you also want to try to prevent your opponents from doing the same.
Since you have a significant advantage by being at the non-volley line, your opponents will have the same advantage if they manage to get to the non-volley line too.
This is why you must attempt to keep your opponents pinned at the back of the court for as long as possible.
If you can do this, you will have the ultimate advantage.
Your doubles team has an easier chance to hit great shots, while your opponents are forced to hit tough shots for the entire rally.
This can be achieved by hitting shots towards the back of the court rather than shorter shots.
3. Serve Deep
Another one of the main pickleball strategies for doubles is to serve deep. It is as simple as that.
This pickleball doubles strategy is once again closely related to the concepts above.
That is, of keeping the opposing team as far back as possible and trying to get yourself as close as possible.
You have the advantage when it is your team’s turn to serve, as you can control how the receiving team needs to react to your serve.
By serving deep on the court, they do not have the opportunity to run forward before and after they hit the ball.
Therefore, they will be forced to stay where they are or move backwards, which will keep them pinned to the baseline.
This smart pickleball strategy will definitely help you keep your opponents pinned back, but it does require more accuracy.
4. Aim For The Feet
As mentioned above, sometimes the only way to win in pickleball is to ruin your opponent’s opportunities rather than try just hit better shots than them.
This is achieved by making them uncomfortable for as long as possible and making all their shots hard to hit.
When making them hit from the baseline the whole rally because you have pinned them there, they will have tough shots to hit.
If you want to make it even harder for them to hit the ball and make all their shots feel uncomfortable, aim for their feet when you hit.
This method makes them have to move both their bodies and arms, giving them less time to get a good return shot.
5. Move In Unison
While all the other strategies have been centered on giving yourself the advantage while ensuring your opponents have a disadvantage, this pickleball doubles strategy is purely focused on your own team.
Simply, this pickleball doubles strategy is just to move in unison.
Unlike tennis doubles with one player in front and one in the back, you want to move together in pickleball.
Therefore, you must always be in line with your partner, parallel to the baseline/net.
You also want to ensure that neither of you is too far from one another, and you can fix this by pretending you are tied together with a rope.
This strategy is way more important to a team playing well together than any other strategy.
If you are new to a team, this should be the first thing you do. Communicating plays a big part in this strategy being successful.
How Do You Dominate In Pickleball?
The five main pickleball strategies for doubles mentioned above all focus on dominating the pickleball court every time you play.
To dominate the pickleball court, you want to give yourself a positional advantage while forcing your opponent to have a positional disadvantage and making them uncomfortable on each shot.
The best way to do this is by getting close to the kitchen line as quickly as possible – ideally while keeping your opponents away from it.
In addition to the five pickleball strategies for doubles that we’ve detailed in this article, working on your own skills will only help your doubles game.
There are plenty of pickleball drills that you can do – many of them at home! – to accelerate your pickleball journey.
Or, if you truly want to level up, joining a pickleball camp is a great way to quickly improve your play.
However, it is important to remember that none of these strategies will work if you do not communicate.
For this reason, communication is the best and most advanced pickleball doubles strategy.
And remember: even if you don’t win, every new partner will teach you something new. And we think that’s a great reason to simply get out there and give these strategies a try!
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