Hey there, it’s your coach Jordan Briones.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re just surviving when someone speeds the ball up at you — blocking it back, hoping for the best, watching it float right into their wheelhouse — this one is for you.
I recently worked through a full counter session with Grayson, a high-level lefty who plays the right side consistently. And even at his level, there were some clear patterns breaking down when balls were coming at him fast.
What we fixed in that session applies directly to your game, whether you’re left-handed or right-handed, whether you’re playing 3.5 or 4.5.
Here’s everything we worked through.
Why Most Players Get Destroyed in Zones Two and Three — and What They’re Missing
Before we talk about fixes, you need to understand the framework. There are three zones on your body that you have to be able to defend when someone attacks you at the kitchen line.
Zone one is your dominant side — anything coming at or outside your dominant shoulder. For a right-handed player, that’s your right side. For Grayson as a lefty, it’s his left.
Zone two is your body — anything coming at your midsection, from low to high. This is the most common target pros go for, and it’s the zone that causes the most problems for recreational players.
Zone three is your non-dominant side — anything coming at or outside your off shoulder. If you have a strong two-handed backhand counter, zone three can actually be one of your better positions. The reach is there and the power is real.
Here’s the issue. Two hands are great for zone three, but when the ball comes into zone two and you’re still using two hands, you get jammed. There isn’t enough room to accelerate through the ball cleanly. You end up pushing a weak counter right back into the middle of the court.
This is what we saw happening with Grayson, and it’s one of the most common counter mistakes I see at every level.
The Zone Two Fix: One Hand, Better Timing, and Shorter Compact Motion
For zone two — anything at your body — the answer is one hand.
I know that might feel uncomfortable if you’ve been relying on two hands for your counters. But here’s the reality. A one-handed counter in zone two gives you the space to actually push through the ball with your shoulder instead of cramming your arms together trying to generate power in a tight space.
The grip for this is continental. Get comfortable with it before anything else.
Now here’s the timing piece, and this is where Grayson was struggling when we started. He was making contact too far out in front — elbow fully extended, ball contacted early. And when you do that, you lose power and control. The ball ends up floating or spraying wide.
What you actually want is to let the ball travel a little closer to your body than feels natural. Elbow slightly bent at contact. Then you push through — shoulder driving forward — and your follow-through stays short and compact.
This is counterintuitive. Most people think more extension equals more power. But for counters in a fast firefight at the kitchen line, a short compact push is going to give you just as much — if not more — than a long swinging motion that leaves you out of position.
Keep the follow-through short. Pop it. Get right back to ready.
Zone One High: Open the Paddle and Push Through — Don’t Swing Big
High zone one — anything coming at your dominant shoulder up high — is a shot that catches a lot of players off guard because the instinct is to wind up and swing at it.
Don’t do that.
The biggest mistake I see on this shot is players taking the paddle back past their shoulder before they push through. Once that happens, you’ve lost your chance to be compact and accurate. In pickleball counter attack technique, swinging big on a ball that requires precision often sends the counter long or wide.
What you want instead is to open your paddle face directly toward your opponent early — before the ball even arrives. From there, it’s a short, direct push straight through contact and right back to ready. You’re not generating power through a big swing. You’re generating it through the shoulder push and the direction of the push.
Get your paddle open and in position early. Push through. Finish short. That’s it.
And one more thing on this shot — you need to let go of that second hand. If you’re gripping with two hands when a high zone one ball comes at you, you’re not going to be able to rotate your paddle and get it open in time.
Train yourself to release and react with one hand on the dominant side.
Zone One Low: When Your Backhand Is Actually the Smarter Choice
This one surprises people. On a low ball coming at your dominant side, the natural instinct is to reach around and hit a forehand. And yes, if you get there in time, forehand is fine.
But here’s what we see even at the pro level. When you’re reading a down-the-line ball and a low zone one comes at you quickly, there’s a very good chance your backhand is already there. And a short, punchy backhand push to low zone one can be just as effective as a forehand — maybe more, because you don’t have to scramble around the ball.
Same rules apply. Contact close to the body, elbow bent, shoulder pushing through, short compact finish.
Don’t feel like you’re doing something wrong by using your backhand there. It’s smart positioning, and the best players in the world do it all the time.
Think Ahead: Where Your Counter Should Go Before the Rally
Here’s something I talk about that most players have never even considered.
Everyone thinks about their attack target. Where am I going to speed up? What spot am I going for?
But almost nobody thinks about their counter target ahead of time.
Before the point even starts, you should already have an answer to this question: if someone speeds up at me, where am I going first?
Having that default target in your mind does two things. It speeds up your reaction because your brain already has a plan. And it gives your counters direction instead of just sending the ball somewhere and hoping.
For Grayson, playing the right side as a lefty, his default counter on zone one was targeting his opponent’s dominant side — pushing the ball right back into that corner. Even when I was sitting on it and anticipating it, it was still a tough ball to deal with. That’s a good counter target. It’s not just sending it back to center court where your opponent has every option in the world.
Pick your default counter target before the rally starts. Own it. Then move it around once your opponent starts to sit on it.
Practice Real Points to Make Your Counters Stick
Drilling zones in isolation is great. But at some point, you have to make decisions in real time — and that’s where the reps really matter.
The way we wrapped up the session was simple. I’d feed Grayson a dead dink, he’d dink it back out wide to my forehand, and then I’d attack. He didn’t know if I was going zone one or zone two. His job was to read it, pick the right counter, and play the point out.
This is the kind of drill that exposes everything — whether your timing is right, whether you’re holding onto two hands too long, whether your backswing is too big, and whether you’re thinking about your pickleball counter attack technique or just reacting randomly.
Run this with a partner. Start with your partner telling you which zone they’re attacking so you can groove the feel. Then move to random attacks where you have to make the call in real time.
The goal isn’t to be perfect. The goal is to stop feeling surprised when someone speeds it up at you and start feeling like you’re ready for it — every single time.
Final Thoughts
Counters aren’t glamorous. Nobody’s putting counter highlight reels on social media. But they are absolutely the difference between surviving and winning when the game gets fast.
If you’ve been getting torched by players who speed the ball up at you, the answer isn’t to hope they miss. The answer is to build a counter that makes them think twice about speeding it up in the first place.
Know your three zones. Use one hand in zone two. Keep your backswing short. Push with your shoulder. And go into every point already knowing where your counter is going.
Do that consistently and the dynamic flips. Now you’re the one who’s comfortable. And they’re the one wondering why their speed ups keep coming back hard.
See you on the courts,
Coach Jordan Briones
