I charted the points that CBS / Pickleball Channel chose to show us, counting the number of returns of serve hit to each player in the Men’s Gold Medal Game at the US Open. Here we go:
Colin Johns = 11 3rd Shots Attempted.
Ben Johns = 32 3rd Shots Attempted.
Matt Wright = 8 3rd Shots Attempted.
Riley Newman = 28 3rd Shots Attempted.
Ben/Colin hit the ball directly at Riley the vast majority of the time.
Matt/Riley generally hit the ball to the middle of the court, where Ben would poach and take the third shot himself.
Even in a rec game, have a plan for who you want to hit all of the third shots. Odds are one of the players is weaker than the other – why hit the ball to the stronger player? The pros don’t do it, why should you do it?
Pickleball Analytics! 