Racquetball Strategy 

Photo of author
Written By Dan Kaplan

Page Editor and Racquetball player

Being physically prepared for a racquetball game or match is of the utmost importance, right? Well, just as important is your mental preparedness. What is your strategy when you walk through the door of the racquetball court? What kind of serve will you start with? How will you attack your opponent during a rally? What is working best for you today and what are your opponent’s weaknesses? How will you attack those weaknesses? You prepare in your mind with a strategy to start the game, but as the game progresses, a different strategy may be needed to assure the win.

Strategy – A plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim. Racquetball strategy is an approach to how you will play.   

 

Racquet and purple ball

Racquetball Strategy -Play To Your Strengths

 

If you play at the same courts and at the same time each week, with the same people, you start to know who you can beat, who is a challenge, and not much thought goes into the strategy you will play with.

You instinctively have a good idea of what you will do during gameplay.

When you first begin playing racquetball, it’s all about how YOU are playing that day. Your performance. Are you hitting the ball well or is it an off day?

This is what is called, “playing to your strengths”. It’s what all players do when we start playing racquetball.

If we are good at hitting down the wall passes, that is what we tend to do if given the opportunity.

If we have had success in the past hitting z-shots, that’s the shot that we tend to use when the situation presents itself.

This becomes your strategy; this is how we play. It’s something we do naturally.  

 

Getting Low

 

Racquetball Strategy – Play to Your Strengths Until You Know You’re Playing to Their Strengths 

I would even say more advanced players also play to their strengths. But as your game improves, and the fundamentals become second nature, more thought goes into what is working and what is not and how you can adjust to that.

Your tendency might still be to hit those same down-the-line passes as when you started playing, but you also know that your cross-court passes are just as effective.  For more information on Techniques for people starting to learn about racquetball click here. 

Hitting either one is a solid part of your game. Now you have the option to change your strategy.

Play to your strengths until you know you’re playing to your opponent’s strengths.

This is when you identify your opponent thrives off a drive serve, so you change it up to a lob or drive z serve to take away that advantage they had. Take your opponent out of their comfort zone.

Maybe they are great at playing up front and they are eating up your pinch shots and your kill shot attempts. Change your game to hit more ceiling balls, passing shots, or z shots, and make your opponent play from the back of the court.

There are millions of different examples or ways to change your strategy during a game and change what you are doing to play so you’re not playing to your opponent’s strengths.  

It could even be as small as taking one half a step right or left when setting up for their serve to take away the one serve you’re having difficulty with.

 

Z Shot Forehand

 


Racquetball Strategy – Strategy vs. Ability
 

Let us make sure when we decide on a strategy, it is within our ability.

We would all like to walk on the court and decide that our strategy will be to end each rally with a backhand kill shot or a forehand pinch early on during each rally, but this is not a realistic strategy.

Can you routinely kill a backhand from anywhere on the court?

Can you pinch a ball that is outside your ideal strike zone?  

Even if you could do this, your opponent should adapt and start to pressure those shots defensively and make these shots even harder to complete than they already are.

One strategy that will always pay off is to play from center court. Find out more about center court here.

When you hit a shot, don’t spectate or watch how your shot turns out. Get yourself back to center court.

This position places the most pressure on your opponent’s offensive shots and moving to this position is within everyone’s ability.

This is one strategy that will pay off every time!
 

Racquet on court

 

Racquetball Strategy – Does everyone need a strategy? 

I was watching a 2023 Montoya vs. Carson match earlier today, and the commentators were talking about making adjustments as the games are played, especially when things aren’t working out your way.

Rocky Carson was down 1-7 and could not score a point on his serve. Carson took a timeout and when the match continued, you could see how he stopped reacting to Montoya and began playing more aggressively.

He stepped up his defense and in turn, he got offensive opportunities that he capitalized on. It took some time, but Rocky Carson eventually tied up the game at 9-9.

Carson changed his strategy during that timeout. He made an in-game adjustment.

What he walked through the door in his mind originally did not work, so he adapted his strategy to something that worked better for him and this game.

This does not mean that it will work next week or even in the next game because Montoya is also making adjustments as the match progresses.

Montoya wound up winning the game 15-9, but this is how the ebb and flow of a game can go. Strategies change and each player decides how they are going to approach each shot offensively or defensively.

Be adaptable, work with what you have, and adjust to what is working for you and what is working to make the game more difficult for your opponent.  

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