The Dink: The Shot That Wins Matches

The dink is a soft, low-power shot hit from near the kitchen line that drops into the opponent's kitchen. It's not meant to win the point outright — it's meant to keep the ball low and slow so your opponent can't attack, forcing an error or forcing them to give up control of the net. Intermediate and advanced matches are almost always won at the net, and the dink is the tool that opens up that fight.

Grip pressure is everything in this shot: it should be soft, almost like you’re holding an egg without breaking it. A tense grip transmits all the energy from your arm straight to the paddle, and the ball flies past the kitchen. Relax your hand, let the paddle "receive" the ball instead of hitting it, and use just enough shoulder and wrist movement to guide it.

Contact point should always be in front of your body, never at hip height or behind it. Contacting the ball out front gives you control over the angle and height of the shot before the ball loses speed; contacting it late forces you to improvise, and almost always ends in a dink that pops up too high.

The ideal trajectory traces a low arc: the ball should reach its highest point right as it clears the net — just a couple of inches above the tape — then drop quickly into the opponent's kitchen. An arc that's too high hands your opponent time to attack; one that doesn't clear the net ends up in the net.

The preferred target isn't the middle of the kitchen — it's your opponent's feet. A dink that lands at their feet forces them to hit downward from an awkward position, sharply reducing their offensive options and increasing the odds they'll pop up another high dink for you to attack.