Two-Handed Crosscourt Dink: Don’t Flip the Paddle With Your Wrist — Get Topspin From Your Legs
Summary
All Things Pickleball flags one of the biggest mistakes on the two-handed (“twoey”) crosscourt dink: flipping the paddle over with the wrist. Players think that close of the face will keep them from popping the ball up, but they often dump it in the net or pop it up anyway.
Good crosscourt twoey players are not using the wrist to flip the paddle over. You start from your ready spot and come up almost to the opposite shoulder. Topspin comes from the legs — coming down, then up around the side of the ball — not from a wrist flip. The paddle itself never turns over sideways; it just travels down to up.
Key takeaways
- Flipping the paddle over with the wrist on a two-handed crosscourt dink often nets the ball or pops it up
- Don’t use the wrist to close the face — start and come up toward the opposite shoulder
- Topspin comes from the legs dropping, then coming up around the side of the ball; the paddle path is down to up, not a sideways flip
Action items
- Shadow 10 two-handed crosscourt dinks and watch the paddle: it should travel down to up toward the opposite shoulder, not flip over
- Hit 15 crosscourt twoeys focusing on using the legs for topspin and keeping the wrist from rolling the face over