Breaking down the most exciting pickleball point of all time — 5 lessons you can use
Was this the best pickleball point of all time? You can certainly make the case given the situation and the players involved.
It’s 10-10 in mixed doubles at the Major League Pickleball regular season finale in Orlando. Anna Leigh Waters/Noe Khlif for the New Jersey 5s against Jade Kawamoto/Ben Johns for the Los Angeles Mad Drops.
Rallies like this one are fun to watch. They’re also useful to study. So we run the rally in full first, then we go to the lessons.
Read next: The Kitchen’s Top 13 paddles on the market + in-depth reviews for each one
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Lesson 1: The staggered formation. Both players at the kitchen line is generally better, but it isn’t a rule. Watch how one player up and one player back lets a team defend and apply pressure at the same time.
Lesson 2: Defensive mechanics. Watch how calm the players’ bodies stay when under duress. Paddle out in front, face open, moving only as much as necessary. Good defense isn’t about doing more with your paddle. It’s about doing less.
Lesson 3: Backing off the kitchen line. Anna Leigh ends up almost in the bleachers, and it’s the right call. When you’re under attack, the question is simple: where is the best place for me to be right now?
Lesson 4: How the attack gets built. The rally didn’t end on one big shot. It ended on a sequence. Attack to the forehand side, a reaction, a ball that floats, then a ball at the feet. Nothing to defend at that point.
Lesson 5: This rally ended. Four of the best players in the world played about as well as it can be played, and the rally still came to an end. Yours will too. Sometimes you’ll be on the winning side of it, sometimes you won’t. The better you are at expecting the end before the rally starts, the less that end carries into the next one.
PLAY WITH THE PADDLE BEN JOHNS USES
The JOOLA Pro V is one of the highest-performing paddles on the market right now.
