- Dinking Basics
- Definition of a dink - a soft shot hit into the kitchen from the kitchen line.
- Minimize backswing to ensure solid contact out in front and to keep the ball softly in the kitchen.
- Drop underneath the ball to lift it from low to high in order to clear the net consistently.
- Dinks can also be hit as volleys.
- Dinks are the universal way to warm up.
- The purpose of a dink is to neutralize your opponents ability to attack by keeping the ball low and to set yourself up to take the offensive.
- Bend your knees to get down low for the ball without collapsing your chest.
- Give yourself margin for error over the net if you are often making net errors. Lifting the ball higher is fine as long as your shot is short in the kitchen.
- Keep your footwork under control so you can set your feet for your dinks and maintain your court position up at the kitchen line.
- Contacting the ball in the center of your paddle is the key to consistent control.
- Cross court is the highest percentage shot since you are going over the lowest part of the net and hitting to the longest area of the court.
- Return the ball in the direction it came from to make the shot as simple as possible.
- Keep your wrist locked throughout your swing.
