How to Beat a Pickleball Opponent You're Intimidated By

Instead of trying to out-power an opponent with superior skills, you're going to out-think them

There's a moment every pickleball player knows too well. You're standing at the baseline, and across the net is someone who just looks dangerous. Maybe they've got a serve that sounds like a cannon. Maybe their spin game is so ridiculous it seems almost unfair. Maybe they're just taller, stronger, or faster than you.

Suddenly, your confidence takes a nosedive.

Here's the thing though: pickleball isn't football. Or hockey.

You've got something way better than physical dominance on your side. You've got the kitchen, and it's the ultimate equalizer.

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That's the core message from Tanner Tomassi, who recently shared a tactical breakdown on how to neutralize opponents who intimidate you. In a crisp, 60-second video, Tanner lays out three concrete strategies that flip the script on power players and turn their strengths into liabilities.

Strategy 1: The Third Shot Drop Over the Drive

When you're facing someone who intimidates you, your first instinct might be to match their aggression. Don't. That's exactly what they want.

Instead, Tanner recommends hitting third shot drops rather than drives.

Even if they've got the most power in the world, even if they could hit a ball through a brick wall, a ball bouncing in the kitchen forces them to hit up. And it's very difficult to attack from below.

This is the beauty of the kitchen rule in pickleball. It's not just a line on the court; it's a defensive fortress. By committing to the drop shot, you're essentially saying, "I'm not playing your game. I'm playing mine." You're taking their power and rendering it useless.

Strategy 2: Dink Crosscourt, Not Straight Ahead

Once you've gotten to the kitchen line, the temptation is to dink straight ahead. It's the most direct route, the path of least resistance. But Tanner points out that this is where your opponent's physical advantages become dangerous.

If you dink straight ahead, they can use their length and reach to attack that ball. They're right there, ready to pounce. But if you go crosscourt, something magical happens:

• You've got more room to work with.
• The court opens up.
• Your opponent has to cover more distance.

Suddenly their reach isn't as much of an advantage.

This is tactical geometry at its finest. You're not changing the rules of pickleball; you're just using the space more intelligently. Crosscourt dinking also gives you more margin for error. You've got more court to land in, which means you can be more aggressive with your placement without risking an error.

The psychological benefit here is real too. Your opponent starts to feel like they're chasing the ball rather than controlling the point. That's when their intimidation factor starts to fade.

Strategy 3: Make Everything Bounce in the Kitchen

This is the overarching principle that ties everything together. Your number one priority, Tanner emphasizes, should be making all of your shots bounce in the kitchen. Not most of them. All of them.

Why?

Nobody, and Tanner's pretty emphatic about this, can hit a speed-up from that low. It's going out.

This is the ultimate power move against an intimidating opponent. You're not trying to win the point with a winner. You're trying to win it by forcing them into an impossible situation. You're making them beat themselves.

This strategy also has a compounding effect. The more you execute it, the more your opponent's confidence erodes. They came in thinking their power would dominate. Instead, they're stuck hitting up from the kitchen line, watching their speed-ups sail long. That's demoralizing.

The Bigger Picture: Pickleball's Great Equalizer

Tanner's three strategies are really just different applications of the same principle: use the kitchen to neutralize power.

• Drop shots to the kitchen.
• Crosscourt dinks to create space.
• And always, always make sure the ball bounces.

Next time you're facing someone who intimidates you, remember this: they're not playing a different sport than you. They're playing the same game with the same rules. And those rules include a kitchen that's designed to level the playing field.