Sunday, June 22, 2025. The crowd inside Rancho San Clemente had already risen to its feet. The excitement surrounding the men’s doubles final of the Orange County Cup between Federico Staksrud-Hayden Patriquin and Ben Johns-Gabriel Tardio had reached fever pitch.
Staksrud and Tardio were locked in one of those frenetic exchanges as the rally grew increasingly intense at the kitchen line. Then came the shot – out of nowhere.
Staksrud, firmly positioned in his corner, anticipated the moment well and kept an eye on Johns throughout the rally. When he sensed the time had come, he went for the kill. With a subtle flick of the wrist, he redirected the ball away from the dink exchange and fired it straight at Ben Johns’ torso. The ball retained its pace, struck Johns before he could react, and ricocheted away for a winner. The match, however, went in favour of Johns and Tardio, who won the five-game final.
The clip went viral on social media. It received mixed reactions. But almost everyone agreed on one thing. It was a body bag – the shot that has brought pickleball into direct comparison with tennis, badminton and even cricket because of one common element: the tactic of targeting an opponent’s body to intimidate and unsettle them.
What is Body Bag?
A body bag shot refers to a player intentionally – or sometimes instinctively – driving the ball directly into an opponent’s body, most commonly the chest or torso, to win the rally.
Unlike a passing shot that beats an opponent with deft placement, the body bag eliminates reaction time altogether. At the professional level, where players stand barely 14 feet apart across the non-volley zone, fractions of a second often determine rallies. The shot is brutal because the human body presents a considerably larger target than the narrow angles available around it. Its objective is simple – yet, to many, unfair: target the body and win the point.
This shot also points to pickleball’s fascinating tactical evolution. Until a few years ago, pickleball revolved around dink rallies, carefully constructed points and the surgical precision that defined elite competition. Today, faster paddles, livelier balls and increasingly acrobatic players have transformed matches into fiercely fought contests. But points have become harder to win, forcing players to dig deep into their tactical reserves and find new ways to stay ahead in the game.
Unlike tennis’ overhead, badminton’s jump smash and cricket’s Bodyline tactic, pickleball’s body bag has no recognised inventor. In contrast, the Erne Body Bag and the Nasty Nelson serve are named after Erne Perry and Timothy Nelson respectively. It remains a mystery who played the body bag first. But top pros like Anna Leigh Waters, Tyson McGuffin and even Ben Johns use these shots frequently to force errors on their opponents.
It is often believed that the shot is a natural progression in professional pickleball, where matches are often evenly balanced and winning points become increasingly difficult. Players realised that attacking the body often offered higher-percentage returns than chasing impossible angles. They started targeting opponents who crowded the kitchen line, attacked volleys too early or became predictable in their positioning.
Tennis’ overhead, badminton’s smash and cricket’s bodyline
At first glance, the body bag shot resembles badminton’s thunderous body smash, tennis’ devastating overhead, or cricket’s Bodyline tactic, first used by Douglas Jardine’s wrecker-in-chief Harold Larwood.
The similarities are obvious. All three shots rely on pace. And the intention is the same: to intimidate the opponent, force them to back off and fetch a winner in an energy-sapping rally.
But the comparison ends there. A badminton body smash is usually delivered from above the head, travelling steeply downward after forcing a weak lift, and is widely regarded as a legitimate attacking weapon. Tennis’ overhead functions similarly, punishing a short lob with explosive downward force and is equally praiseworthy.
The pickleball body bag operates in an entirely different space. It is played almost horizontally from the net. There is little elevation. The attacker often has only a split second to decide.
Instead of overwhelming an opponent from above, the objective is to jam them before they can establish a comfortable volley position. It is less about raw power and more about surprise. However, the chances of eye injuries are high, hence the shot is criticised.
Why Body Bag?
Pro player Grayson Goldin, however, differed and argued that the shot is an integral part of the sport. “You don’t want to ever hit someone’s face, but chest and below is fair game,” Goldin said, explaining, “Body bagging is part of the sport, especially if someone is reaching in the kitchen a lot and they’re taking a lot of balls out of the air. That means they feel comfortable with you, so body bagging can make your opponent uncomfortable.”
The tactical advantage that a body bag gives a player is immense. An effective body bag disrupts the opponent’s footwork, instils fear in their mind and makes their defence porous. Their footwork becomes tentative.
Goldin said the bounce is another factor that is encouraging body bag shots. “The Life Time ball is more rubbery, so it actually bounces up higher, and the paddles are a lot more powerful so the ball comes out quicker,” he explained.
‘Not well received’
Closer home, Danielle Jones and Arunava Majumder are among the finest exponents of the body bag shot.
Arup Mullick, an Indian pickleball player, said the shot is mainly played by the “Bangers” – a term used for tennis players who rely on raw power and try to intimidate opponents by hitting overheads from the baseline and targeting their bodies. In pickleball, when players move close to the kitchen line, opponents often resort to such a shot.
Arup, however, warned of the intentional ploy to hurt players through such shots. Shots such as the Nasty Nelson – a controversial pickleball serve that hits an opponent standing closer to the net – have already reignited the debate over fair play.
“Intentional Body Bags are not well received by opponents coming from other racquet sports like badminton or tennis and can border the line of ethics in racquet sport even though it’s perfectly legal and used very often,” he told Pickleball Now.
He even cited the example of the Bodyline tactic used in cricket and reminded how dangerous the shot can be.
“This is absolutely a dangerous shot and can result in injuries like you have bouncers in cricket which can be horrifying to the batsmen in concern. But it’s the element of danger that brings the sparkle and interest into pickleball like bouncers bring into cricket,” explained Arup.
But sport is a competitive arena. While fair play is a topic that is often discussed, winning points in evenly balanced matches requires more than skill. Tactics are important. Sometimes players resort to intimidation, turning matches into psychological battles. And this is resulting in more injuries, most prominently eye injuries, prompting players like Anna Bright, highly skilled at retrieving the ball, to wear protective eyewear.
Indian player Sanil Jagtiani, who plays in the US, even sarcastically blew a flying kiss to his opponent, who targeted his body for a winner.