Players of pickleball everywhere would certainly agree that the most vexatious game error is the net fault.
Defining a Net Fault
A net fault occurs when a returned ball sails into the netting or thwacks the net cord and fails to land into the opposing court. Unlike other potential faults, a net fault always results in a dead ball and loss of the rally.
When a team is racking up net faults in a game, the outlook for victory seems bleak. Conversely, the team that keeps net faults to a minimum should be on the path to winning the game. Are these claims true?
The following hypothesis is proposed:
The number of net faults committed by a team in a game of pickleball is a surrogate of the team’s performance and is predictive of the outcome of the game.
In other words, the ultimate game score for a team is inversely proportional to the number of net faults committed by said team.
Putting it to The Test
A video analysis of 32 games from the 2024 PPA CIBC tournament in San Clemente, California, was conducted to test this hypothesis and assess net faults in pickleball. The analysis covered semifinal and final matches in women’s, men’s, and mixed doubles, along with random pool play games. Net faults included serves, drives, dinks, volleys, or any return that…
