Keep Popping Up Your Dinks or Hitting Them Into the Net? Watch This

Summary

Universal Rackets says that if your dinks go into the net or pop up, the problem usually isn’t your paddle face or your body. It’s your swing speed. Players decelerate because they’re scared of popping it up, or accelerate because they want to be aggressive.

The fix is to keep the same continuous swing speed from start to finish, with no slowing down and no speeding up. Think of tossing a ball underhand: decelerate and it falls short, accelerate and it flies up. Toss it forward smoothly, just like your dink.

Key takeaways

• Decelerating through the dink sends it into the net
• Accelerating through the dink pops it up
• Keep one continuous swing speed through contact
• Picture an underhand toss to feel the right tempo

Action items

• Hit 30 cross-court dinks focusing only on even swing speed
• Toss a ball underhand a few times, then copy that feel with your paddle
• Notice whether your misses are net or pop-up and adjust the speed you change