I have a bunch of great pickleball return serve drills for you today. Just one of our popular Pickleball Drills we have begun to create for all of you!! I am 50 (I know, I can’t believe it either) and I don’t know about you but I like to have a physical paper to look at when I am trying to learn something new.
If you are anything like me then this free pickleball printable will be helpful for y’all too. I have diagrams on it as well as step by step explanations so you can follow along and drill with friends soon. Practicing is even more important than the fun games you play and if you want to improve your DUPR it is vital you do skills over and over again in order to improve. Here’s where you should start.
How to Improve Return of Serve in Pickleball
Ok so I have 10 drills to improve your pickleball return serve here as you can see. What I would do is find a partner who also wants to work on this skill and book a court. Start with #1 and spend at least 15 minutes just on that one. I mean really 30 minutes is better, or until you do it really well 10 times in a row, both of you. That is the best way to improve, to do the same shot over and over and over and yes over again until it becomes second nature and you aren’t really thinking about it anymore – you just do it instinctively. 😉
Pickleball Return Serve Drills PDF
What I like to do is print out my return serve drill printable and take it to the court. It is way easier to read this way vs. pulling it up on your phone. I don’t know about you but I need my glasses to read things that small and don’t have those on the court. 😉
Where is the best place to hit a service return?
Typically your best bet is to return the serve to you, to the server. Their partner is likely moving forward a bit so if you can return the serve to the person who is a bit less ready, and to their feet it will be harder for them to hit it back really well. Their partner has more time to watch and analyze what is going on and the speed/spin on the ball so it is best to hit it back to the player who is a bit less prepared if that makes sense.
How do you return a pickleball serve with a spin?
I play in a round robin where there is a player who used to play at Wimbledon!! No joke, her serve has so much spin that she always wins at least a few points just because the person on the other side can’t return it back without hitting it out. The key to succeeding at this is to catch it early before it has time to really spin off to the side. As soon as it bounces try to catch it with your paddle and without a lot of effort allow it to bounce off your paddle straight.
You can have even more control over it if you use a “twoey” (holding the paddle with two hands when hitting a backhand). It usually will spin to the left so you will have to hit with a backhand. Get ready, hold your paddle low and catch it right when it bounces, just allowing it to use it’s own power to bounce back on their side. Don’t use much effort at all, let the ball’s power itself to propel back over the net.
Other Pickleball Drills You’ll Love
Once you have mastered these you should move on to others. I would continue on with Pickleball Footwork Drills next because that can make or break your game. For sure if your footwork is off you can not only miss the ball but worse than that you can trip and injure yourself and be out for months. From there a more advanced thing to practice in order to improve your hand speed would be to do our Pickleball Volley Drills too.
