What the ATP Actually Is
An around the post shot happens when the ball travels wide enough to pass outside the net post rather than over the net. The shot is legal as long as it lands inbounds on the opponent's side. The ball doesn't have to cross over the net at all.
According to USA Pickleball's official rules, a ball that passes around the outside of a net post is in play. Most recreational players don't know this. The first time you pull one off against someone who hasn't seen it before, expect a long conversation.
The setup almost always comes from a cross-court dink or drop that your opponent pushes too wide. When the ball drifts outside the sideline extended, you have an opening. Whether you can reach it in time and actually execute the shot is a different question.
Why I Kept Missing for the First Few Weeks
My first dozen attempts were bad. Swinging too hard, timing off, aiming the ball back toward the center of the court when I should have been going sharp cross-court.
Carla watched me botch three attempts at a Saturday morning session and finally said something. "You're staring at the net post," she said. "Stop looking at the post."
She was right. I was fixating on clearing the post when I should have been tracking the ball and trusting my peripheral vision. Once I stopped staring at the obstacle and focused on contact, my swings got cleaner almost immediately.
The Footwork Issue
The other problem was my approach. I was running at the post and then trying to adjust mid-swing, which doesn't work. What actually works is getting to the ball position first and setting your feet before you swing. You have a split second more than you think. The panic of watching a ball sail wide makes you rush, and rushing kills contact quality every time.
I spent a full session just practicing the movement pattern. Sprint wide, set up outside the sideline, simulate the swing. No ATP attempts, just the footwork drill. Felt pointless. Made a real difference.
Where to Actually Aim
This took me longer to figure out than it should have. When you execute the ATP, aim sharp cross-court back into the near kitchen corner on your opponent's side. Not toward the middle. Not at their body. Sharp angle into the kitchen.
If you aim toward the middle, the ball clips the net post from the side. A lot of my early failures were exactly this. I wasn't angling sharply enough, so the ball would graze the post and drop into the net. The sharper your angle, the further you are from the post and the harder the return becomes for your opponent.
It's a bit counterintuitive. You're already moving away from the court, so swinging even more cross-court feels wrong. But that's where the shot needs to go.
When to Go for It vs. Let the Ball Go
Not every wide ball deserves an ATP attempt. Plenty of players who've just learned about the shot try it on anything that drifts outside the sideline, which is a fast way to hand over free points.
Good conditions: the ball is dying as it goes wide, you have clean footwork to reach it, and your opponent has already moved toward the center expecting the rally to be over. All three of those line up? Go for it.
Skip it when: the ball is moving fast and you'll be reaching off-balance, you're already in a compromised position, or your opponent is still alert and in position. A ball rolling out for a sideout isn't a failure.
Marcus and I talked about this during warmups once. His heuristic is simpler than mine: if you can set your feet, go for it. If you're reaching, let it go. That rule holds up pretty well in practice.
What to Do After You Hit One
The first ATP I hit in a real match, I was so surprised it worked that I forgot to move. I watched the ball clear the post, land in the kitchen, bounce twice, and win the point while I stood outside the court grinning. My partner had to cover the middle while I jogged back into position about two seconds too late.
Get back into court fast. The ATP doesn't end the rally on its own most of the time. Good players reach it. You execute the shot, then sprint back to your position and play the next ball. Treat it like any other offensive strike, not a highlight reel moment.
Roughly a third of my ATPs end as outright winners. The other two-thirds get returned, and I've given up the follow-up point more than once because I was still watching my shot land instead of resetting my feet.