Played competitive tennis for 15 years and just started pickleball about 2 months ago. Everyone told me it would be easy because of my tennis background but honestly Im struggling. I keep swinging too big, hitting balls out, and my instincts are all wrong for the kitchen. My tennis slice doesnt translate well either. Former tennis players - how long did it take you to break your old habits?
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took me about 3-4 months to really feel comfortable. the hardest part was accepting that big swings hurt you in pickleball. i had to basically forget everything about generating pace and learn to let the paddle do the work. focus on compact strokes and soft hands. your touch will come faster than most beginners since you have racket sport experience, but the power control takes time.
3-4 months is actually encouraging. Im at 2 months and still feeling like a total beginner
Tennis players have the most to unlearn honestly. Your continental grip and slice will help at the kitchen, but you need to quiet your swing significantly. One drill that helps: practice hitting balls with your elbow tucked against your body. Forces you to use wrist and compact motion instead of the big tennis follow through.
the elbow drill is what helped me too. felt so wrong at first but it fixed my overhitting fast
Your tennis background will be an advantage eventually, especially for overhead shots and volleys. The serve is probably the biggest adjustment since pickleball serves are underhand. Just give it time. I see former tennis players dominate once they figure out the soft game.
6 month tennis convert here. what finally clicked for me was thinking of it as table tennis instead of tennis. the short compact strokes, the soft hands at the net, the spin on dinks. once i stopped thinking tennis and started thinking ping pong everything got easier. weird mental trick but it worked