{"id":1349,"date":"2026-11-09T11:24:40","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1349"},"modified":"2026-11-09T11:24:40","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:24:40","slug":"paddle-up-means-slice-move-in-paddle-down-means-topspin-get-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1349","title":{"rendered":"Paddle Up Means Slice (Move In); Paddle Down Means Topspin (Get Set)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"Is Your Opponent Hitting Topspin or Slice? (How To Tell)\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UPl7ZiDxmJQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>Universal Rackets shows how to tell whether an opponent is about to hit slice or topspin from their swing path \u2014 the read that keeps heavy-spin players from burying the ball at your feet.<\/p>\n<p>If they take the paddle up before contact, they are coming down on the ball and hitting slice. A slice stays low and dies, so you need to move up to it. If the paddle is below the ball before contact \u2014 common when they are at the kitchen \u2014 they are hitting topspin. Topspin makes the ball jump and kick up, often as they try to pull you off the court, so you need to be set. Quick test: paddle started up = slice; paddle started down = topspin.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Paddle up \/ coming down on the ball = slice; the ball stays low and dies \u2014 move up to it<\/li>\n<li>Paddle below the ball before contact = topspin; the ball jumps and kicks up \u2014 get set<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019ll often use topspin to try to pull you off the court; read the swing path before the bounce<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Next session, call \u201cslice\u201d or \u201ctopspin\u201d out loud as soon as you see the paddle start up or down<\/li>\n<li>On recognized slice, take a step in; on recognized topspin, set your feet and expect the ball to jump<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"tdd-newsletter\">\n<p><strong>Get the 5 best pickleball tips every week<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com\/v3\/loader.js\" data-beehiiv-form=\"0e5f3fe0-e4d3-4036-8d7f-c33b311980b2\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thedropdrive.beehiiv.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe free<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Universal Rackets shows how to tell whether an opponent is about to hit slice or topspin from their swing path \u2014 the read that keeps heavy-spin players from burying the ball at your feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[440,441,381,605],"tags":[687,647,163,288,73,76],"class_list":["post-1349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-returns","category-spin","category-technique","category-topspin","tag-reading-spin","tag-returns","tag-slice","tag-swing-path","tag-topspin","tag-universal-rackets"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/01-doubles-at-the-net-over-shoulder-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}