(via typti.com – Photo credit: Steve Galluzzo/TYPTI)
“The net in tennis, and most racket and paddle sports has always been the extinguishment of joy for the points it ends. Ball hits net, falls back on same side of court, hitter loses point, hitter quietly screams 4 letter expletive under breath, racket potentially goes headfirst into court surface, and although the opponent won the point, they didn’t win it on a genius sharp angle roll passing shot or a scissor kick overhead, they won it because their opponent didn’t quite hit the ball high enough. In TYPTI, the constitution of the foam ball leads to accentuated dwell time in the air and after a net strike, it leaves a micro moment of possibility to extend the point.
READ THE ORIGINAL TYPTI POST
So in TYPTI, if you hit the ball into the net, you can hit it again with anything except the string bed. You can use your hand, foot, chest, face, handle, side of the racket head or anything that isn’t the string bed. If it touches that, then you lose the point.
This leads to the big question… why? While we’re in the beginning of the narrative of this sport and can’t promise that this rule will be forever, it is amazing how it creates so many magic moments in points. It pushes athletes in ways they are never pushed in normal racket and paddle sports. In pickleball, when someone executes their first ernie or ATP, it’s like they climbed Mt. Everest. And that’s as it should be because those are amazing accomplishments that make the sport of pickleball way better. In tennis, a player could start playing at age 5 and play every day until their 90… and never hit a single ATP (around the post.) The fact that most pickleball players get their first one in the first year is nothing other than a great positive.
When you extend your first point in TYPTI and then win it on a net rebound, it is that same euphoria except even greater. Because otherwise you were going to lose that point. When you ATP or ernie, you were still in the point. An ATP or an ernie are basically just shot choices. A net rebound win is stealing life from the jaws of death. There are few things in sport that feel as good as when this happens.”