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Increase topspin on your drives
Paul from Pickleball Daily
December 11, 2025
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Tip of the day
This instructional video, featuring pro player Ben Johns, focuses on harnessing power and adding topspin for a highly consistent and effective third-shot drive.
To generate reliable power, you should rely more on the twist of your hips and core than on excessive wrist movement, which can introduce variance and inconsistency.
A fully closed stance is the most fundamental and recommended way to start, as it best facilitates the necessary hip rotation for power generation.
A common error is hitting the inside of the ball, but to maximize topspin, you must be thinking about contacting the outside third of the ball.
The swing path must always move from low to high to create the desired topspin, which causes the ball to dip down sharply and stay low after the bounce.
Instead of thinking about a wide wrist rotation, focus on using your wrist to set the paddle face to meet the ball so that it is closed and hits the outside third.
Stay low and hit the ball earlier at the peak of its bounce, ensuring you maintain a full extension away from your body at the contact point.
If you swing hard, you can use a more closed paddle face to naturally take pace off the ball, which adds spin and makes the drive more effective and consistent.
Key Points:
Generate power by twisting your hips and core, relying less on the wrist for a more consistent drive.
Use a fully closed stance to facilitate maximum hip rotation.
Contact the outside third of the ball to maximize topspin.
Maintain a low-to-high swing path and ensure your paddle face is closed at contact.
Make contact with the ball earlier at the peak of its bounce with a full extension away from your body.
If you swing hard, close the paddle face more to take off pace, which increases spin and keeps the ball low.
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Happy pickling,
Paul