How to properly drill dinking patterns

There’s no substitute for intentional reps 👊

⬆️ Click The Video Above ⬆️

Hot Takes are Back 🔥

Why it’s important to drill with players better than you

Last week I made a case for why it’s actually beneficial to sometimes practice with players below your level. I’m here to tell you that you should also be practicing above your weight class as well. First of all, the consistency, power, and deception of a skilled player will take awhile for anyone to get used to - so get out there and take your butt whooping! It’s important for you to experience the speed and decision making up close and personal. Take note of how you feel dinking against them (Are they taking your time away? Are you less impressed than you expected? Is it harder getting to the kitchen?). Take note of how the points are ending - your takeaway from the practice will be very circumstantial. Maybe your hand speed and firefight abilities held up against this player, and the soft stuff needs work. Maybe you need to spend a couple months in the transition zone. One thing is for sure, when you’re drilling with a partner better than you, there’s no hiding! Take it in stride and maintain curiosity about your own development. 

Red Alert 🚨

Why training specific dinking patterns is a must

As you get better and start getting involved in longer dinking rallies, you’ll start getting more intentional with your dinks. Each team has an idea of where they want to put the majority of shots, shots to mix in, and shots to avoid. What ends up happening is you get involved in a sort of a point within a point, where one team is trying to assert one strategy, while the other team attempts to neutralize and assert their own. 

For example, take the first drill from the above video. My forehand topspin out wide to Max’s backhand would be a spot to pepper early on in a match (mainly because he’s lefty - he has to consider that I might speed it up through the middle, and then could be off balance running towards his backhand side). It’s Max’s responsibility to neutralize with a good dead dink first - it would be a little crazy to try to be aggressive on this shot out wide. If Max can neutralize (if this was a real point), he would then look to engage in a pattern more beneficial to him. These type of back and forth patterns happen all the time at the pro level. So go out there and drill patterns that play to your strengths, and also your weaknesses.