6 Ways to Become Unpredictable in Pickleball (And Why It Changes Everything)
If your opponents always know what shot you are going to hit before you even swing, you are giving away free points. It is that simple. Predictability in pickleball is basically handing the other team a roadmap to beat you. The fix is not hitting harder or moving faster. It is becoming genuinely difficult to read, so that no one standing at the kitchen line feels comfortable with you on the other side of the net.
This is exactly the shift that pro player Kate Fahey has been working through. In a recent conversation on The Dink’s PicklePod, she broke down how she moved from being a reliable setup player into a genuine offensive threat — and the lessons apply at every level of the game, from competitive rec play to the pro circuit.
Here is a deep dive into the six core ideas she shared, with real context for what they mean and how you can actually apply them on the court.
First, Let’s Break It Down for the Newer Player
If you are relatively new to pickleball, here is why this concept matters so much. Pickleball points are often decided at the kitchen line, which is the non-volley zone at the front of the court. When both teams are up at the kitchen, rallies become a soft, strategic back-and-forth called dinking, where both sides try to force the other into a mistake or create a chance to attack.
The problem is, if you always do the same thing in those situations — always reset, always dink cross-court, never attack — your opponents figure you out quickly. They stop being worried about you. They start aiming at you on purpose because they know what to expect. When you become unpredictable, that all changes. They have to think about every ball they send your way. They hesitate. Hesitation leads to errors. Errors give you points you did not even have to work that hard for.
That is the whole idea. Now let us get into how to actually do it.
1. Stop Living Only as the Setup Player — Find Your Own Offense
One of the most honest things Fahey said in the conversation was about her role alongside Anna Bright. When you play with a dominant partner, there is a natural gravitational pull toward becoming the support system. You keep the ball in play, you set up your partner, and you let them swing. It is comfortable. It is also limiting.
“My role primarily has been to set her up for offense,” Fahey said. “But this weekend I tried to find my own offense as well.”
That single shift — deciding to look for your own shot instead of only feeding your partner — changes the entire dynamic of a doubles team. Suddenly the other team has to account for two offensive threats instead of one. They cannot focus all their attention on one side of the court. They cannot just funnel everything to the “safe” partner because that partner is no longer safe.
Think about how Anna Leigh Waters has built her dominance on the tour. Her game is built on relentless offense, constant pressure, and never giving opponents a comfortable ball. That mentality is not exclusive to elite pros. You can bring pieces of it into your own doubles game right now.
The practical takeaway here is to identify two or three moments per game where you actively choose to be the attacker instead of the helper. Commit to those moments in advance so they do not catch you off guard when they arrive. Over time, that habit grows and your opponents start to feel it.
2. Build a Menu of Shots So No One Can Pattern You
Predictability comes from having only one answer to any given situation. If every medium ball you receive gets reset soft cross-court, your opponents have you solved. They know exactly where your shots are going before you even read the bounce.
Fahey’s solution is to intentionally expand her shot menu so she has multiple answers to the same ball. “I’ve just been working on adding more shots,” she said. “I’m trying to add a flick out of the air.”
Where she used to lean almost entirely on her forehand off the bounce, she is building out options: taking the ball out of the air, flicking when it sits up, rolling when the angle is right. The idea is that when opponents send a dink her way, they genuinely do not know which version of Kate Fahey they are going to get.
A simple way to build this in your own game is to think of three possible responses to any dink you receive: a reset, a roll, and a flick. Practice each of them separately in drilling sessions, then start mixing them in live play. Mastering essential pickleball shots like these is what turns a one-dimensional player into someone opponents actually have to game-plan around.
The variety does not have to be perfect. Even an imperfect flick that lands in keeps opponents honest. That is all you are going for at first — creating doubt in their minds before the rally even starts.
3. Make High Balls Feel Dangerous, Not Safe
This is a mindset shift as much as a technical one. In most recreational pickleball, a ball that sits up a little high — especially to the backhand — is treated by opponents as a free reset or a safe exchange. They feel comfortable sending that ball because they know the receiver is just going to push it back soft.
Fahey described exactly this scenario. “If a ball sits a little bit high to Kate’s backhand side, before it was safe,” she said. “But now, hopefully, I can add a little bit of fear.”
That word — fear — is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The goal is not necessarily to hit a winner every time you get a high ball. The goal is to make opponents feel like every high ball they send carries risk. Once that feeling exists in their heads, they have to work harder on every single shot they hit to you. The quality of their balls goes up, and quality balls are harder to execute consistently. Errors follow.
Learning when to speed up is the key here. A speedup, for those who are newer to the term, is when you accelerate a ball that your opponent expects you to keep soft — essentially turning their comfortable setup into a sudden attack. The backhand flick is one of the hardest shots for opponents to read because it looks almost identical to a soft reset until the moment of contact. That deception is the whole point.
4. Commit to the Shot Even When You Are Not 100% Certain
This one is uncomfortable for most players to hear, but it is probably the most important mental shift on this list. When you only pull the trigger on an attack when you feel completely certain you are going to make it, you are broadcasting that certainty through your body language. Opponents who are watching you — and good opponents always are — pick up on that hesitation and they are already moving before you swing.
Fahey admitted this is the exact mental block she is working through right now. “Right now I’m like, okay, I have to be sure before I pull,” she said. “Which is not really great in pickleball, I don’t think.”
That level of self-awareness is exactly what separates players who improve quickly from those who plateau. She knows the habit is limiting her and she is actively trying to break it. The answer is not recklessness — it is committing to good-looking opportunities even when the outcome is not guaranteed.
Give yourself permission to miss a few. An aggressive miss in the first game of a match is not a failure. It is an investment. It plants a seed in your opponent’s head that says this player is going to attack, and I need to be ready. That seed pays dividends all day long. The mental side of pickleball is just as trainable as your groundstrokes, and learning to pull the trigger with confidence is one of the most valuable things you can develop as a competitor.
5. Study the Players Who Do This Better Than Anyone
Fahey did not just talk about abstract ideas. She pointed to two specific players who embody unpredictability at the highest level: Gabe Tardio and Hayden Patriquin. “You have two guys who exemplify that better than anybody else in the sport,” she said. “It’s one of their biggest assets.”
What makes these players so difficult to plan against is not raw power or speed. It is that opponents genuinely cannot tell what is coming next. Tardio, in particular, has a habit of reaching in and taking balls out of the air that most players let bounce, which compresses the time opponents have to react and sets up angles that do not exist from ground contact. It is smart, deliberate game theory built into muscle memory.
You do not have to replicate their exact style. You probably should not try. But the principle underneath their game is absolutely worth borrowing: make opponents guess, and make them guess wrong often enough that they start playing defensive even when they should be comfortable.
If you want to see how this mindset shows up early in a player’s development, look at how junior pickleball players are growing up in the sport right now. The best young players are learning variety and disguise from the very beginning. It is becoming a baseline expectation at the competitive level, not an advanced add-on. And for a masterclass in decision-making at the highest level, studying the Ben Johns approach to the game is always a worthwhile exercise — his unpredictability comes from making better decisions, not from hitting harder than everyone else.
6. Understand That the Real Value Is the Ripple Effect, Not the Winner
This is probably the most underappreciated idea in the entire conversation. Players often judge their attacks purely by the result of that specific shot — did it land in, did it win the point? But that framing misses most of what an unpredictable offense actually does for you.
Fahey put it perfectly: “These speedups might not be net positive,” she said, “but the impact surrounding it” is what matters.
Think about what happens in a match when opponents learn to respect your offense. They stay a half foot closer to their own baseline because they are less willing to lean in aggressively. They tense up at the kitchen line instead of flowing freely through their shots. They have to hit a higher-quality ball just to keep you in a neutral position, because they cannot afford to give you anything comfortable. The whole tactical landscape of the point shifts in your favor before you even swing your paddle.
That is the difference between being a wall and being a problem. A wall absorbs everything and returns it safely. A problem forces opponents to make decisions they do not want to make, and then punishes them when they get it wrong. Learning modern offensive patterns gives your pressure somewhere to go, and building the habits through deliberate practice drills is how those patterns become automatic when the match is on the line.
What to Do When Your New Attacks Are Missing Too Often
Missing more shots when you start attacking is normal. It is part of the process. The answer is not to retreat back into passive play. The answer is to sharpen your shot selection so you are choosing the right moments to attack rather than forcing offense on balls that do not warrant it.
The rule of thumb is straightforward: when the ball is genuinely low or awkward, take the reset. When the ball sits up or floats, treat it as an opportunity. Pair your aggression with solid defensive fundamentals so that when you miss a speedup, you are still in a position to compete in the hands battle that follows. Winning those fast-exchange rallies is how you keep the pressure on even when a specific attack does not land.
A few early errors in a match are a reasonable price to pay for an opponent who spends the rest of the match second-guessing everything they send your way. That is not losing ground. That is making an investment with a very good return.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I actually become more unpredictable in pickleball?
Build at least two or three different responses to the same type of ball — a reset, a roll, and a flick are a good starting set — and mix them consistently enough that opponents cannot spot a pattern. The goal is to make every ball you receive feel like a potential attack to the person on the other side of the net.
What exactly is a speedup in pickleball?
A speedup is when you accelerate a ball that opponents expect you to keep soft, usually during a dinking exchange, to catch them flat-footed. It works best when opponents are slightly out of position or leaning into a comfortable rhythm. The element of surprise is what gives it value.
Should I attack even when I am not confident I will make it?
Yes, within reasonable limits. Waiting until you are completely certain telegraphs your intentions through your body language and gives opponents time to react. Committing to good-looking opportunities, even with some misses, keeps opponents honest and creates more space for your team over the course of a full match.
Does being unpredictable actually change how opponents approach the match?
Absolutely. When opponents respect your offense, they adjust their positioning, they hesitate more, and they have to execute better shots just to keep you neutral. The entire shape of a rally changes when opponents are playing with a degree of fear about what you might do next. That mental load is one of the most powerful tools you can carry into a match.
Why is playing offense from the right side considered harder?
The right side often involves handling more balls through the middle and reaching across the body, which limits natural attack angles. Adding out-of-the-air shots and backhand flicks — the way players like Gabe Tardio do — is how right-side players create genuine offensive threats and stop being the safe target on the court.
