The dink battle feels like chess — patient, probing, each player waiting for the other to blink. But chess has a queen, and pickleball has the speed-up attack: the sudden hard shot fired at your opponent’s body when they least expect it. Executed at the right moment, it ends points decisively. Misread the moment, and you hand the rally right back.
Here is how to read those moments, aim your attack, and practice the speed-up until it becomes a reliable weapon.
What Is a Speed-Up Attack?
A speed-up attack (also called a speed-up or a flick) is a fast, aggressive ball directed at or near your opponent’s body while both teams are at the kitchen line. Unlike a drive — which comes from deeper in the court — the speed-up initiates from the non-volley zone and targets the dink exchange itself.
The goal is not raw power. It is surprise, angle, and placement. A speed-up that catches your opponent at the shoulder or elbow forces an awkward pop-up. A pop-up gives you and your partner the next ball to put away.
When to Pull the Trigger
Timing the speed-up is more important than executing it. Attack at the wrong moment and your opponent has all the time in the world to reset through you.
Fire the speed-up when:
- The ball sits up. Any dink that floats above tape height and moves slowly is an invitation. If you can make contact above the net without reaching for it, you have an attackable ball.
- Your opponent is stretched or off-balance. When someone is reaching wide or mid-step laterally, their hands are slow. That half-second of recovery lag is your window.
- You have a sharp cross-court angle. A tight angle pulls the ball away from your opponent’s paddle and compresses their reaction time — far more effective than a straight-ahead speed-up into their sweet spot.
- The rally is going nowhere. If the dink count has passed 12–15 balls and nobody is gaining ground, a well-timed speed-up resets the psychology of the point and puts your opponent on the defensive.
Hold off when:
- Your contact point is below the net. Flicking upward gives your opponent time and a fat target.
- You are reaching for the ball. Off-balance attacks generate weak pace and no angle.
- Both opponents are set and ready at the line. A telegraphed speed-up into two well-positioned players usually comes back even harder.
The Three Best Targets
Where you aim determines whether the speed-up wins the point or restarts the rally.
1. The Backhand Hip or Elbow
Jamming a ball at the hip or elbow on the backhand side is the highest-percentage target for most players. The receiver cannot get their arm away from their body in time, and the resulting shot is almost always weak or popped up.
2. The Backhand Shoulder
A ball aimed at the backhand shoulder on a right-handed player forces a cramped, late swing. Even if they block it, the reset tends to float — giving you a second chance at the same point.
3. The Low Cross-Court Angle
A tight angle to the far sideline is harder to execute but devastating when it lands. The ball hugs the court and gets past the wide opponent before they can react. Use this when your opponents are both cheating toward the middle.
How to Execute the Shot
The mechanics of a clean speed-up are compact and deceptive.
Grip pressure: Firm up to a 4–5 out of 5 at the moment of contact, then immediately soften back for your next shot. Squeezing early telegraphs the attack.
Paddle face: Close it slightly more than you think — face it toward the ground. This keeps the ball low and out of your opponent’s comfortable strike zone.
Swing: Short backswing, accelerate through the ball, snap the wrist at contact. The motion looks more like a hard flick than a full groundstroke swing.
Recovery: After the speed-up, your paddle goes up. You will either volley the next ball aggressively if the speed-up worked, or absorb a counter-attack if it did not. Either way, the neutral paddle position buys you time.
How to Set Up the Speed-Up
The best speed-ups are earned, not random. Smart dinking builds the conditions that invite an attackable ball.
Move your opponents laterally. Dink wide to one side, then wide to the other. Lateral movement disrupts footwork and causes high, floating responses.
Use topspin dinks. A topspin dink bounces higher than a flat one and arrives faster, compressing your opponent’s reaction time and increasing the chance of a weak, sitting reply.
Be patient. Most failed speed-ups at the 3.0–3.5 level come too early, before the opponent has been moved or pressured. Waiting two or three more balls often means the attackable ball comes directly to you.
How to Defend Against a Speed-Up
Understanding how to defend a speed-up makes you a better attacker — you will know exactly what your opponent is looking for and what leaves you exposed.
The best defense against a speed-up is a compact block with a soft hand. Let the incoming pace do the work and deflect the ball back low toward the kitchen. Do not swing at it. A still paddle face angled toward your opponent’s feet kills the rally pace and resets the dink exchange on your terms.
This also tells you where NOT to aim your own speed-ups: at players in a balanced, compact stance with soft hands. That is the one scenario where the speed-up backfires consistently.
Practice Drill: Speed-Up and Reset Rally
The fastest way to build the speed-up into your game is a two-person drill:
- Both players start dinking cross-court from the kitchen line.
- Either player can speed-up at any time.
- The receiver must attempt a soft block reset — no counter-attack.
- After the reset, return to dinking and repeat.
Five minutes of this drill teaches you to recognize attackable balls, recover after the speed-up, and develop the soft hands needed to survive one. Run it at the start of your next open play session and you will feel the difference within a few weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a speed-up and a drive?
A drive is typically hit from the baseline or mid-court with a full swing, designed to push your opponent back or earn a weak return off pace. A speed-up is fired from the kitchen line during a dink exchange — it uses the existing tempo of the rally and relies on surprise and placement rather than raw power.
Should beginners learn the speed-up attack?
Beginners can learn the concept, but consistent dinking and kitchen positioning should come first. The speed-up is most effective when you have already earned a weak, floating ball — which requires patience and placement to create. Players who speed up before learning to control their dinks tend to put too many balls in the net or float easy balls back to their opponents.
Do I need to be a 4.0 player to use the speed-up?
No. Players at 3.0 and above can use the speed-up effectively if they pick the right moments — specifically balls that sit up above tape height during the dink exchange. What separates levels is not the shot itself but the precision of the target, the patience to wait for the right ball, and the ability to recover after the attack either succeeds or fails.
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