How to Use Stats to Improve Your Game

One area that is often overlooked in pickleball at all levels is the value of stating your play. This is partially because players don’t have the resources or the knowledge of how to stat their play but also because the game itself is difficult to accurate stat.

It’s one thing to look at how a rally ended, but something else completely to understand the progression that led to the rally ending shot. As a coach, I will often ask players who are watching on the sidelines to watch a point and see if they can pinpoint the moment the winning team was most likely determined. It’s a great exercise in really narrowing down the true cause of any trouble that happens during a point.

(Obviously, as players get better, we can often fight our way out of multiple catastrophic moments, until eventually one team or the other finally pushes far enough - this is the joy of watching great players initiate speedups, amazing defense, and great gets, only to bring the point back under control until the next pressure moment).

Here are some examples of what we see when we watch a point for analysis and stats.

• Player A hits a dink into the net. The analysis becomes was this an unforced error or a forced error. Did the player hit the dink into the net because the opponent hit an amazing, aggressive dink out wide? What allowed the opponent to hit such a great dink? Was it incredible footwork or did Player A’s team hit a weak shot that started the sequence? Or did Player A simple execute poorly and made an error.

• Player B misses their third shot drive. Did they miss the drive because they had poor footwork and technique? Did they miss it because it wasn’t the best choice under the circumstances? Or did they miss it because Player A hit an incredible return that was deep and fast and out wide and overall challenging?

• Player C losses in a hands battle. Questions become who started the speedup? Was it a good speedup or a bad one (technique or timing). If Player C started it and lost on a counterattack, then Player C need to look at their speedup technique. If Player D started it, and Player C lost trying to counter or trying to stay in the battle, then Player C needs to look at their preparation for the attack and other options they might have available to neutralize or win the rally.

• Player D wins the rally with a forehand swinging volley off a high ball from player C. Initial impression is Player C must have made an error. But looking back even further, we see that it was actually Player C’s partner who popped up a ball with poor footwork, allowing player D to become aggressive back at Player C, who managed to defend one or two back, but eventually, Player D was able to finish the rally. So who’s at fault?

Phew - did I just confuse us even more? But we can see how complicated stats in pickleball can become. Regardless of all this, the value is still there in understanding patterns of your game and starting to recognize how to watch your own matches with an eye for improvement. And some stats are easier than others. If we miss a lot of third shots, we can probably easily see what we need to work on, pressure or not. If we miss a lot of attack attempts, stats can help us recognize what is working and what isn’t. If we struggle to get to the kitchen line consistently, we need to focus on our thirds, fifth, and movement timing to get to the line under less pressure.

And for many players, this is very important because our brains love the dopamine feelings we get when we hit some crazy, amazing winner. And we quickly forget all the times we miss that same shot. Is that shot really worth it? When we look at some of the tennis greats, like Nadal, they win slightly more than 50% off the points they play. But that’s enough to win them matches.

When we realize our stats are lower than 50%, it’s time to start digging into the why behind that and work on bringing those numbers up. For myself, looking at my stats from a previous tournament, my speedups off the bounce are around a 50% rate. Here becomes a mini focus for the next few weeks of training. How do I improve that rate? At the same time, my lob rate is at an 95% accuracy but only a 60%-point win. Those stats are still pretty darn good and finishing the point is sometimes on my partner.

How I will use these stats is both in practice (constantly working to get better) but also in tournament recognition. I do need to utilize my lob as much as possible. I need to be more careful with my speedups, especially as the returning team, until I can improve them even more.

In addition, I am more aware of the shots and strategies I execute well in order to utilize those more under pressure situations and save my riskier shots for other moments. It also helps me to know my game and strengths when working with a partner allowing us to discuss how best to support each other and build a successful team.

I have a very clear memory of the first time I played with PPA signed-pro Lauren Stratman. Lauren is an aggressive player. She loves to rush to the NVL and attack immediately. As we practiced and even in our first match of the day, I realized her instant attack game did not suit my game well (or my weaknesses). I would not be ready for whatever came back at me from across the net when we started the attack before I was more established at the kitchen.

We had a conversation about it. I simply told her that in order for me to be able to stay in the point longer, I needed us to both get to the kitchen and maybe dink one or two balls before looking to attack. And yes, my ego would love to be able to attack instantly and react in the points, etc., but my game or reaction speed or whatever it is, doesn’t allow it. Luckily, Lauren listened and worked with me for the overall success of our team. And guess what? We won gold in a stacked field against some of the top players you would still recognize today (anyone heard of JW Johnson?). This was actually my first gold medal on the APP Tour.

All this being said, I have been thinking more about stats and working more on stating my own games and utilizing that data for my own training and play. So, I’m sharing it with you.

Stay tuned for more details on my stat programs for pickleball as well.

Love to hear your thoughts!