When playing pickleball, considering where to stand in the large court is essential. Your position may make a significant difference in the game.

In pickleball, being in the right position at the right time is half the battle won. Your footwork and shot selection determine the other half of the battle.

You must be behind the baseline when planning to serve. However, you may stand on the baseline when preparing to receive a serve. Another important position is being outside the kitchen when planning to play a volley. These three areas are the most crucial and where most points are lost and won.

Keeping your feet in the right position allows you to handle different shots fired at you by your opponent. Confident footwork often results in confident shots, and shaky footwork will likely send the ball in the wrong direction.

Pickleball professionals state that positioning is one of the most crucial factors of the game. If you stand in the wrong places, you will not be able to approach the ball within the due time and give away points. Where you stand on the court can mean the difference between a good and an excellent shot.

Where Should the Serving Team Stand in Pickleball?

As the name implies, the serving team is the team that will begin the game. The server needs to be positioned correctly to deliver the ball in the right area. The server's partner needs to be in a position to play the return of the serve.

Your Position as the Server

Start by standing in a diagonal position. This position will allow your service toss to hit beyond the no-volley line while remaining inside the side and baselines. You have the freedom to line up anywhere within the serving quadrant, but you must remain beyond the baseline. This means that you can be standing towards the middle, towards the centerline, or sideline of your quadrant. You are ok as long as you are not in the other quadrant and behind the baseline.

It is best to choose a spot towards the middle of the serving quadrant and not hug the corners. Most professional players serve from the middle and avoid the corners.

You can choose how far behind the baseline you want to initiate your serve. Some players prefer staying close to the baseline, with only an inch or two to spare, while others stand a good foot or even two behind it.

Standing close to the baseline allows you to serve deeper into the opponent's court with a steady swing and follow-through. Standing away from the baseline ensures that your serve does not land outside the other baseline. You can find the position that works best for you through practice.

One main disadvantage of standing too close to the baseline is that you risk doing foot fault, where your foot crosses the baseline. This will give the opposing team points before the game has even begun.

Footwork

When you are serving, it is advised not to stand with both feet parallel. Since you will be serving to the diagonally opposite quadrant, you must keep your dominant foot, which is on the same side as the hand you are holding the paddle in, should be back. The other foot will be closer to the baseline.

For right-handed people, their right foot will be back and further away from the baseline, and the left foot will be closer to the baseline.

Your Position as the Server's Partner

As the server's partner, you should stand on the baseline in the quadrant beside the server. You can be directly on the baseline or a few inches ahead of it into the court as per your preference. Technically, you can be standing anywhere. But since you want the return of the serve to bounce, you will want to be far away from the net.

There is no hard and fast rule to define where you will stand as the server's partner. It largely depends on how the other team is playing the shots. If they are always hitting the ball deeper into your court, you will have to stay back with your serving partner. If they give shorter returns, you will have to move up by a step or two.

Why a step or two, you ask? Because if you are too close to the kitchen line and your partner is serving, you will become the target for the opposing team, and they will surely hit a deep shot in your direction. Due to the double-bounce rule, you will not be able to hit it as a volley and will likely cause a fault.

Remember, it is much easier to move forward and hit the ball than backtrack and allow the ball to bounce.

You can judge the correct position to stand in as the server's partner by checking which way you move when the serve is returned. If you have to back up to hit the third shot, you are standing too far up. The best position to stand is where your momentum and weight push forward to attack the return of the serve.

With a forward momentum in the direction of the shot, you can hit the ball more confidently and even add a little spin to it.

Where Should the Returning Team Stand in Pickleball?

With the ball coming at you as the receiving team, you need to be positioned correctly to, first, handle the serve and then handle the third shot of the game, which will also come at you.  

Your Position as the Returner

The returner is the person who will be receiving the serve, and will play the second shot of the game. Ideally, your position should be around one or two feet behind the baseline. This position will allow you to run into the court if the serve is short and will give you enough room to allow the ball to bounce if the serve is deep.

It is recommended to position yourself so that you will return the serve with a forehand shot rather than a backhand. For this, you will want to stand a little off from the center in the direction opposite to your dominant hand.

Keep in mind that the server will be aiming to hit within the quadrant and as close to the baseline as possible. It is important to position yourself so that you have enough room to adjust yourself without having to backtrack. It is much easier to hit the ball in the direction you are traveling in than in a direction opposite your momentum.

Experienced players stand two feet behind the baseline, and most of them enjoy running into the court to pick up a short serve. This lets them blast the ball back towards the opponent with a topspin.

Footwork

As a returner, you should keep your footwork simple. It is best to stand with both feet parallel and shoulder-width apart. The knees should be slightly bent, and you should have most of your weight on the balls of your feet. You should firmly grip the paddle in your dominant hand and your arm open with your hand near the middle of your body.

Your Position as the Returner's Partner

The most common position, which most pickleball enthusiasts prefer as a returner's partner, is close to the net but behind the kitchen line. This position is good for you because, as the return team, you only need to let the serve bounce and can play volleys after that.

Since you will most likely be the first to hit a volley, try to make the best of it. Watch for a weak third shot, and blast it back to the opponent. Be cautious not to let your foot land in the no-volley zone when smashing the ball.  

Where Should the Serving Team Stand For the Third Shot?

You served the ball, and it went great. The opponent lets the ball bounce and hits the ball back at you. The ball is now approaching your half of the court. Let us look at how to respond to the "return of the serve." which is more commonly known as "playing the third shot."

Remember, you have to let the return of the serve bounce before you attack it. So it is best to stand back near the baseline rather than in the middle or upfront near the kitchen line. Even when playing without a partner, you will have to stay back near the baseline and wait for the return of the serve to bounce before playing the third shot.

Most "return of serve" shots are hit deep into the court. However, they are not hit as deeply as they serve, so you can expect the ball to bounce in the middle of your quadrant or closer to the baseline.  

Staying close to the baseline will give you enough time and room to judge and position yourself confidently. If the return of the serve is deep into your half of the court, you should be able to play it without changing your position too much. If it is hit shallow for some reason, you can always leap forward as the ball is bounced and hit it once it bounces back up.

Where Should You Stand When Dinking?

You will want to put yourself and your partner right at the no-volley zone line to handle dink shots that drop into the kitchen. However, you must also be prepared for the drive shot, which is the opposite of a dink and comes rocketing back at you.

If the opponent hits a drop shot, you should step forward into the kitchen to play the ball when it drops and slowly bounces in the no-volley zone. One trick you can practice for drop shots is pivoting the correct foot.

If the ball lands to your left, you must pivot your left foot and step towards the ball with your right foot. If the ball lands to your right, you must pivot the right foot and approach the ball with your left foot. This might sound a little confusing, but it can mean a significant difference in winning dink shots once you get the hang of it.

Dinking a Drive

Your opponent will most likely play a powerful drive shot if the spot you are standing close to the no-volley line. In such a scenario, your best bet would be to absorb the energy in the drive and let the ball drop into your opponent's kitchen. Driving a drive can be very tricky and requires a lot of practice. It is also challenging to turn a drive into a scoring opportunity, and the best strategy here is to save yourself from losing a point.

When the drive is coming at you, you should be standing in the ready position, with your feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. Place the paddle in the ball's trajectory, allow your hand to absorb most of the energy, and direct the ball into the opponent's no-volley zone.

Stacking – An Advanced Standing Strategy

Many beginners forget that only two players are bound by rules to stand in specific positions, and they are the server and the returner. Other than these two, all players, including these two, once the serve is complete, can stand wherever they feel like it – even if it is out of bounds.

What is Stacking?

The stacking strategy allows team players to position themselves in an unconventional position as the game is starting, and then they can select the sides they want to go on. To understand this better, we will illustrate with an example.

Say you are playing with a left-handed partner while you are right-handed. It is recommended to keep the dominant hand towards the center of the court to minimize backhand shots. So a left-handed person will play to the right of the centerline, and the right-handed person should be playing to the left of the centerline.

Now, the ball needs to be served from the left side of the court. The person with the dominant left hand will be able to deliver a better serve than the right-handed person. Here is where stacking comes in.

The left-handed person moves to the left side to serve the ball, and the right-handed person stands out of bounds. Once the ball is served, the left-handed person moves to their original position, and the right-handed person moves into the left side of the court.

Remember to make shifts immediately after the ball is served, or you can give your opponent an empty area to hit through.

Stacking as a Return Team

You can stack as a return team as well. This will allow the dominant returner to handle the serve. When the dominant returner hits the ball over the net, the players can take their desired positions.

When stacking as a return team, the returner will stand a foot or more behind the baseline, as we have discussed above. The partner will have to stand out of the court, on the same side as the returner, and in line with the kitchen line.

For example, if the serve is coming from the right side to the left side from the returner's perspective, the returner will stand on the left side behind the baseline, and the other partner will also stand on the left side of the court, out of bounds, and in line with the kitchen line.

As soon as the ball is returned over the net, the returner can move diagonally to the right side of the court, and the partner who is standing out of bounds can come into the court.