If you keep watching your dinks and resets balloon up into an easy put-away for your opponent, you're not alone, and it's not bad luck. It's mechanics. Here's what's actually happening at contact, and why the usual "keep your paddle down" advice doesn't fix it on its own.
What's Actually Happening
Popping the ball up almost always comes down to paddle face angle at the moment of contact. When the face is open, angled upward too much, it sends the ball on a loop trajectory instead of a flat one, and that loop is what carries it high over the net for an easy attack.
It's often paired with a second issue: making contact with the ball behind your body instead of in front of it. Late contact tends to open the face further without you noticing, compounding the problem.
The Fix: Soft Hands
The most reliable fix is what's called "soft hands," a loose grip rather than a tight one, especially when you're at the kitchen line. A tight grip transfers more of the ball's incoming pace straight back into your shot, which tends to send it up and out. A loose grip lets the paddle absorb some of that pace instead.
Alongside that: keep your paddle face neutral or only slightly open, take contact in front of your body rather than letting the ball get behind you, and minimize your backswing. You're not trying to hit the ball hard here, you're trying to absorb its speed and redirect it.
Why This Is Harder Than It Sounds
Here's the part most people don't expect: loosening your grip when a ball is coming at you fast is deeply counterintuitive. Your instinct under pressure is to tighten up and swing bigger, which is exactly the opposite of what actually works.
That's why this isn't a one-and-done fix. It has to become muscle memory, and muscle memory only comes from repetition. You need time on the court drilling this specifically, from the baseline, from the transition zone, and right up at the kitchen line, until soft hands stop feeling like a risk and start feeling normal.
What Most Advice Gets Wrong
A lot of quick-tip articles reduce this to "just angle your paddle down" as if it's a single adjustment you make once and move on. In practice, the paddle angle is a symptom. The real work is training your grip and your contact point under pressure, which takes deliberate practice, not a one-line reminder.
It's also worth saying plainly: no paddle fixes this for you. A more forgiving paddle can soften the occasional mishit, but popping the ball up is a technique problem, not a gear problem. If this is happening to you often, drilling is the answer, not a new paddle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is popping the ball up more about grip or paddle angle?
Both, but grip tends to be the root cause. A tight grip transfers more pace into the shot and makes it harder to control face angle. Loosening your grip, especially at the kitchen line, is usually the first thing to fix.
Where should I make contact with the ball to avoid popping it up?
In front of your body, not behind it. Contact that happens late, with the ball already behind you, tends to open the paddle face further and send the ball up.
How long does it take to fix a popping-up habit?
There's no fixed timeline. It depends on how much focused practice you put in, since it needs to become muscle memory rather than something you consciously think about mid-point. Drilling it specifically, rather than just playing more games, tends to speed that up.
Final Thoughts
Popping the ball up comes down to an open paddle face and late contact, both usually driven by a grip that's too tight under pressure. The fix, soft hands, a neutral face, and contact out in front, is simple to describe and genuinely hard to do consistently, because it goes against instinct. Drill it deliberately, and it'll stop being something you have to think about.
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