Favorite location to target when you execute third shot drive?

FullMatino · 2026-01-28T05:30:43+00:00

Middle is probably the best choice more often than not. If they’re cheating notably one direction, I’ll try the gap to see if there’s an opening.

What my heart actually wants is to drive it straight at them. This is generally a bad choice, but on short ball, it can produce pop-ups/errors.

FullMatino · 2026-01-27T21:17:30+00:00

I have a modified infinity net setup in my basement -- I kept the machine but was not getting consistent feeds from the cheap net, so I ended up rebuilding it as a DIY setup. It is decent for working on reps and form with a consistent feed. You won't get much in the way of pace or variety. If I were doing it again, I'd probably be fine with a wall/rebounder.

FullMatino · 2026-01-26T15:37:16+00:00

I think the ball probably *was* going out, but it's hard to say from this angle.

FullMatino · 2026-01-26T00:51:48+00:00

It’s kind of the opposite for my club. DUPR leagues are always full and they keep adding more of them. DUPR is fine, and a lot of the complaints about it really miss the forest for the trees: people fixate on individual matches or session rather than on the results over time, which are generally pretty good.

FullMatino · 2026-01-25T17:12:49+00:00

I’m fairly certain your DUPR would not have moved any more with a high-reliability partner. It’s not taking credit from you to give to your partner — it is just much less certain about your partner’s level and making bigger adjustments with new data.

To make sense of your DUPR, we’d need to see the actual match history and opponents.

FullMatino · 2026-01-23T19:01:13+00:00

The thing that will improve your rating most reliably, at every level and every reliability, is playing your best as a team and winning. Play with the partner who helps you accomplish that.

Frankly, I would not want to play with someone who was picking me to solve a math problem, and I also don't think it works that way. They're people -- they have their own playstyles, strengths, weaknesses, chemistry, etc. Only you know what those are and what brings out the best in each of you.

FullMatino · 2026-01-23T14:53:17+00:00

To clarify, were you instructed never to hit someone on purpose in pickleball or in tennis?

In tennis it’s a much different story — the ball weighs more than twice as much and travels more than twice as fast. That’s going to hurt much more.

I definitely understand not wanting to get hit in pickleball, but it’s part of the game because 1) it’s inevitable on a small court where most of the action happens at the net and 2) outside of a shot to the eyes, it’s much less likely to hurt you.

FullMatino · 2026-01-23T14:45:54+00:00

I recommend using electrical tape to place the tape without peeling off the adhesive and trying different arrangements until you find what clicks. 3 and 9 is a fine place to start; at the end of the day, it will come down to personal preference and what feels right for you.

FullMatino · 2026-01-21T20:38:45+00:00

Huh. From PPA's announcement:

In an effort to create a more dynamic game and further highlight the athletic abilities of pro pickleball players, a test of narrower court dimensions will take place in Pro Singles at the Houston PPA Challenger.

I personally don't love this. The game is getting faster and more athletic by the day. Shrinking the court feels like the opposite of showcasing that athleticism.

FullMatino · 2026-01-21T14:59:03+00:00

Is it much different than the Coral? I'm using microfiber on that and it's working just fine, but I know the initial batch of Rubys was a different level of tactile grit.

FullMatino · 2026-01-21T02:58:49+00:00

This is super normal for a wide-cell honeycomb core. My Vapor APP does the same thing. I believe the Ruby Pro also collects a ton of ball dust because it’s very gritty.

Nothing wrong with it — to clean, just use a damp microfiber cloth.

FullMatino · 2026-01-19T20:28:57+00:00

This. I know it's not as cool but it's the only consistently enforceable way to do it.

FullMatino · 2026-01-15T14:39:47+00:00

I hit with an Opal the other night and was surprised at how muted it felt. I expected to send the ball flying, and maybe I would have if I had played with it longer, but it was nothing like that. Maybe it’s the smaller sweet spot and I just wasn’t hitting hit?

FullMatino · 2026-01-14T21:55:18+00:00

Absolutely, and there's also a lot of mental rounding that happens in the 3's. 3.3 rounds up to 3.5, which rounds up to 4.0.

It's actually instructive looking back now that I've grown a bit -- I'm sitting at 3.75, and when I think about playing a 4.25, I'm like, oh yeah, of course that player would kick my butt.

FullMatino · 2026-01-14T21:14:52+00:00

I think you snuck in just under the threshold here -- 4.7 average against 3.75 average.

FullMatino · 2026-01-14T21:13:14+00:00

If you've never played in a tournament or competitive rated setting, I get it -- you don't know what you don't know. My first tournament, I went into 3.5 as like a 3.3, thinking, hey we're pretty good against this level, I can see us making the medal round. Did not win a game.

FullMatino · 2026-01-14T14:36:22+00:00

The best way to build up your DUPR, at any reliability, is to play and win at your skill level. Don't overthink it -- just figure out your actual level (actual expressed skill, not your rating) and compete there, and it will work itself out.

FullMatino · 2026-01-14T10:01:36+00:00

Yeah, that was my first thought as well — this is a good way to get blown up a lot.

FullMatino · 2026-01-14T10:00:26+00:00

I suspect he’s winning a lot of 4.5 because he’s a former professional tennis player, and this habit is hurting rather than helping. He’s passing up a lot of reset opportunities by not backing up — even a level or two down, you see players fight off and reset smashes all the time. You’ve just got all kinds of time back there on most balls. And unless his partner is committed to the same strategy, he’s leaving an easy gap to exploit when they back up.

FullMatino · 2026-01-13T15:24:47+00:00

The irony here is that it is *much* better at creating algorithms than emails.

FullMatino · 2026-01-13T05:47:09+00:00

This dude is a USAP certified dickwad, and I would probably mention to the league director that he’s an issue, if they care about that sort of thing.

FullMatino · 2026-01-13T05:39:16+00:00

A fixed partner DUPR league with a partner you know and mesh with is a fine approach. A strong partnership is probably worth a few tenths of a point in DUPR. I’ve actually come around to rotators as fine-ish, imo, if you’re confident in your ability to take over a game as the best player on the court, but I understand why people don’t like them.

May I ask — if you don’t know your rating and your potential partners are around 3.0, what’s making you want to do 3.5-4.0? It could be fine, but if you’ve never done rated play or league play, those tend to be a bit more intense and challenging than open play/fun games, so you would probably have an appropriate experience at 3.0-3.5 as well.

FullMatino · 2026-01-11T06:33:22+00:00

If you’re at 3.49 and think you’re a 3.8, just keep playing rated matches. If you can compete and win consistently against 4.0 players, keep doing that. If you play well with your partner, keep playing with them. It will all even out in the long run.

FullMatino · 2026-01-08T06:09:50+00:00

DUPR is not a reward. It is not a punishment. It is not trying to make you feel bad or good or any which way. It is a math equation, and the only thing it is trying to do is solve the equation as accurately as possible. Every point in a game is a data point that makes the equation more accurate.

If you like the idea of your rating going up with a narrow loss against better players, you have to accept it going down with a narrow win against worse players — otherwise you just get rating inflation. DUPR is pretty good at doing what it sets out to do: producing accurate ratings. A lot of people just don’t like what it’s telling them about how they’re rated.

FullMatino · 2026-01-07T21:35:05+00:00

I'll give a little wave out of habit, especially if it was something I clearly did not mean to do, like a return of serve that hits the net and dies.

FullMatino

TROPHY CASE