Introduction:

If you are a regular pickleball player, you must have heard of the word ‘Dink’ often. I started playing pickleball when I was a little young boy. Initially I played just for recreational purposes with my family and friends. I was quite well versed with this game as I grew up and initiated competing in local competitions in local areas. I soon realized the importance of mastering the Dink shot as I started competing with other players and it increased my level significantly from 3.0 to 4.0. As a beginner, it was one of my most favorable shots for leading the game as it helped me to stay in the rallies longer.

 I still remember I won a few competitions in the 2018 Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championship with the help of strategic dinks and rallies. In this article, I’ll explain everything about dinks in this game, including how and when to hit them. Also, I will cover types of dinks and tips to improve dink shots. 

What Is A Dink In Pickleball?

Basic Information And Facts About Dinks: 

A ‘Dink’ in pickleball is a controlled soft shot hit on a bounce or out of the air (dink volley) in your opponent’s non-volley zone (NVZ or Kitchen). Volleying in the NVZ area is not allowed for players. The main aim behind serving Dinks is to keep them low after the bounce to force a low contact. Serving accurate and soft Dinks in the kitchen needs practice. This shot is good to learn for beginners and intermediate players to level up their competency for tough rallies.

Dinking rallies happen when both opponents are at the kitchen line. For a perfect dink, players wait for the ball to bounce or volley before it bounces. This dinking depends on the depth of the upcoming serve. A well-served dink protects you from the opponent’s hard serves. It gives them stretched or jammed contacts, defensive mistakes, etc. Dinks can make them off-balance in the return of serve.

How To Perform A Dink Shot?

Players must stay closer to the kitchen line for Dink shots. Dinks need low body position. You will have to slightly bend your knees and hold your paddle in front of you with an open face. The main magic behind dinking is to create a swoopy, gentle, soft, yet controlled shot with a soft grip. 

To give you a sense of magnitude, think of a scale from 1-10. 1 being you are holding the paddle very loosely just so that it doesn’t fall from your hand. Whereas 10 would be a very firm tightened hold of your hand over the paddle. For dinking you need to be somewhere around 2-3ish scale.

Use your finesse to control the power of the contact for the ball and lift your legs while serving the ball for more accuracy. The ball should go over the net without any hard hit and fall into the opponent’s NVZ. To guess your opponent’s reaction on a served dink and determine your next serve, always come a few steps backward in the middle side of the court after each Dink shot.

Tips for a Improve Dink Shot in Pickleball:

I have been practicing dinking for many years. I was 15 when I successfully performed my first ever dink. With so much practice and matches, when was 16, I defensively played with dinks and helped me to win in a competition at our local pickleball court of our area. Here are some secret tips to knock off your opponent easily with impressive dinks: 

1. Practice and Drills:

   Good dink shots need long practice and a rational mind. One good dill I highly recommend to beginners is to put the paddles down yours as well as your partner at opponent end. Now try to move your hand like trunk of elephant tossing up the ball over the net and target to hit the paddle on the opposite side on kitchen. Ask your partner to repeat the same. Practice this several times.
   Next step perform the same motion but now with the paddle in the hands try to toss the ball over the net and aim it to bounce softly in the opposite kitchen area. Continue this drill with your partner.
   Pro tip : Do not serve dink in one direction every time. Each dink should be in a different direction or at a varying angle so your opponent will not guess your next move.

2. Foot Work :

   You must return to the neutral position (middle side of the court). You should not stand in the same place after serving a dink.  Keep the footwork variable and moving. Otherwise, it creates an opportunity for your opponent to play competitively in a dinking rally.

3. Offensive Dinks:

   Identify the weakest area of serving for your opponent and hit the dinking shot in that direction’s NVZ of the opponent’s court.  It is a kind of offensive dink to put pressure on the opponent. It might make the opponent make a mistake to serve back a dink shot.

4. Defensive Dinks :
   

   You can turn the match around with soft-placed dinks if you are in a tough spot during a match. Some defensive dinks can lessen the intensity of hard-drilled shots of your opponent. It can slow down the fast-paced competitive rally.

5. Soft vs Deeper :

   Control your pace and momentum of serving the ball with a soft grip. Well-served soft dinks forces your opponents to serve at low-contact points. Deeper dinks increase the hardness of the return of the serve for your opponent.

6. Grip :

    Opt for continental grip for dink shots. It allows your hand to move forward and backward with ease. I suggest adding a slice with a dink using this grip to land the ball lower over the net. Use forward swing for an effective dink.

7. Hand Motion:

   Serving from your wrists may add unnecessary force to the ball. Your whole arm should be moving instead of just a flicky wrist place, a perfect and controlled dink.

I suggest considering these three main factors to serve a Dink for a competitive play:

• Placement Position:

you can serve the dink in the cross-court, down the line, and middle of the court. You can mix up these positions one at a time. Doing this will confuse your opponent in a rally and he may commit a fault while attempting to serve back these various positioned dinks.

• Between Spin Shots:

You can apply dinking shots between spin shots. Spins are slow, hard-hit, but powerful. However, dinks are soft and slow. You can enhance the competition with Dink shots between the top and the back spins.

• Speed Of The Serves

: You can serve dink between fast, slow, or medium-paced shots. It breaks the rhythm of the opponent. He can commit fault for serving a return to dink and you can score a point.

When Should You Perform Dinks?

A good dink should be performed within a determinate time and practice. I have shared a list of better intervals when you can serve a dinking shot in order to gain leadership during a pickleball match:

1. Dink On The Third Shot:
   

   The serve after a return of serve is a Third drop shot.  If you want to set up a dink rally, you can serve a third shot for a return of serve. A dink rally can create an opportunity to score points if your opponent makes a mistake. Additionally, a relevant third shot dink can give more time to the serving team to the kitchen line.

2. Dink For Returning A Dink:
   

   The best way to tackle an upcoming dink is to serve back with a dink! Patiently, generate a dink rally to find an opening to score. A well-served returned dink can benefit to relieve the attack from your opponent. If there is a tough rally and you want to gain control over it, you can dink back to get an opportunity to compete a step higher with your opponent.

3. If You Have a Lower Serving Position:
   

   If you want to serve the ball at a lower position with an upward arc direction of your paddle, Dink is the right shot for such a situation. You can avoid a loss of serve for an upcoming low-positioned dinks. Such low serves also allow the ball to bounce in the non-volley zone before it gets hit. Doing this, also sometimes gives more time to the opponent to return the served dink.

4. Dink To Slow Down The Rally:
   

   Some rallies are fast-paced and competitive. When your player simultaneously serves hard hits for a tough rally, you can slow down the rally with soft hit dinks. It will break the rhythm of the opposite player and give you more time to settle and move around the court for different shots without missing a point.

Types of Dink Shots:

Many dink shots are performed in the pickleball match. I suggest you mix up the different types of dink shots to give tough competition to your opponent and score more points. Here’s a brief description of various types of dinks, as follows:

1. Normal Dink Shot:
   

   The normal dink shot is skillfully used to slow the rally and compete with your opponent at a lower serving position. It is a soft-served shot with a strategic placement at the kitchen line in the same direction on the opponent’s court. Dinks allow you to challenge your opposite player with difficult shots, and give you spare time to settle in the court while the opponent serves back.

2. Cross Court Dink Shot:
   

   The cross-court dink is performed on the diagonally opposite side of the court towards the NVZ line. I like cross-court dinks the most. Because it allows me to serve underhanded or backhanded. I can pay attention to the net, the opposite player, and the ball in the opposite direction in a cross-court dink. Cross-court dinks need practice to master them.But, what if your opponent also serves a cross-court dink? Not to worry! In such situations, I perform a regular straight directional Dink or a blind serve to confuse the opponent. It conserves time for me to settle.

3. Middle court Dinks:
   

   These soft-served dinks are served in the middle of the opponent court at a low position. It may make the opponent move more and he may change his steady position to return the middle-court dink. You can mix up the middle-line dinks with the cross-court dink, fake dink, or down-the-line dink to challenge your opponent.

4. Down The Line Dinks:
   

   This dink is served parallel to the sideline as a lateral movement. These dinks work best when they are used alternatively with cross-court dinks.  The ball will land in bounds and you might get an opening to score in a rally.

5. Dink Fake:
   

   This shot looks like a soft dink, but it is a hard and fast shot. Many call it a deceptive Dink serve as it is used to ace up the tough competition. This sneaky serve is performed for a semi-high ball.You can use it when your opponent serves you a straight or cross-court dink, for a third shot, or a return of the serve. I used to perform fake dinks in the matches with my brothers where they felt like I was going to Dink the serve. But, it used to end in a hard shot or fast serve. If you want to end the fast-paced rally, you can use a fake dink. You can deceive your opponent with a drive instead of a soft serve! 

6. Dead Dink:
   

   Normal dink shots land in the NVZ area of the court with a low flight over the net. But dead dinks are the opposite of that. Dead dinks land higher than normal dinks. These shots do not have a spin and your opponent may serve it back more easily than a straight dink. It is advised not to perform a dead dink in a rally. You can use a direct volley serve or a spinner serve if a dink is impossible in these situations.

Conclusion:

I loved dink shots more than anything else in pickleball due to their diverse placement options, soft grips, lower-hand arc positions, open-faced paddle forward serves, and tactics! Dinks are strategic shots to gain control over a fast rally and to settle in the court when your opponent serves it back. I hope this guide on ‘What is dink in pickleball?’ has helped you gain knowledgeable insights about types of dinks, positions to dink, etc. What kind of dink shots do you like to perform and why? Do let us know in the comment section below!

Till then, see you in court!