How to Defend Heavy Drives in Pickleball
Summary
Shea Underwood’s drill for defending heavy topspin drives: you stand at the kitchen, your partner drives from the baseline, and you block with a soft slice that lands in the kitchen and kicks back toward the net. Don’t hit the ball hard; just stop the momentum. Add a quick downward brush on the back of the ball for backspin, since the opponent’s topspin already supplies most of it. Progress to the baseline player feeding drive after drive like a ball machine.
Key takeaways
- Soft slice block turns heavy topspin drives into kitchen drops
- Kill the momentum; don’t add pace
- A short downward brush adds backspin so the ball kicks back to the net
- Done right, it’s often an outright winner
Action items
- Partner drives from the baseline with heavy topspin; you block-slice into the kitchen
- Progress to continuous ‘ball machine’ drives
- Cue: ‘soft, brush down’
- Count blocks that bounce back toward the net