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INSTRUCTION by KYLE MCMAKIN
THE FOURTH SHOT:
The Returner’ s Advantage— And Why Most Players Waste It
Ask most players what wins pickleball points, and they’ ll talk about fast hands, the drive, consistency, the third-shot drop.
Almost nobody talks about the fourth shot. And that’ s exactly why I spend so much time working on it— both in my own game and when I coach. It’ s the single biggest wasted opportunity in amateur pickleball, and once you understand it, it can help you stop losing matches you should be winning.
The fourth shot is the returning team’ s first real chance to apply pressure, take control of the point, and cash in on the built-in advantage they already have to get to the kitchen first. When you understand that advantage and you learn how to use it, the game opens up.
This article walks through the fourth shot at three different levels— because the approach looks different at 3.0 than it does at 4.5— and then breaks down the technique that matters most once the game speeds up: the topspin swing volley.
WHY RETURNERS HAVE THE ADVANTAGE
Before we go anywhere, we must set the table. The returning team has a structural advantage in pickleball. The server has to stay back until the return bounces, which means the returner gets to move forward first. If the returning team does their job— deep return, closed distance, both feet at the kitchen— they get to the non-volley zone before the servers do. Every time.
That is your birthright as the returner. If you are not returning deep, not following your return in, and not getting to the kitchen, you are throwing away the one free advantage the sport gives you. Before you worry about the fourth shot, fix those three things. Return deep. Follow it in. Get to the line.
Once you’ ve done that work, the fourth shot is the payoff. It’ s where all that positioning either turns into pressure on the serving team, or gets squandered by a bad decision. And the right decision changes depending on who you’ re playing.
THE FOURTH SHOT AT THREE LEVELS
Beginner to 3.0: Win Through Chaos
At the lower levels, the third and fourth shots are chaos. The serving team generally doesn’ t transition well. They don’ t know whether to drive, drop or stay back. One partner is standing in no-man’ s-land. The ball comes back high often.
At this level, you don’ t need a fancy fourth shot. You need four simple things:
• A return deep enough to push the serving team back.
• Your feet near the kitchen line before the ball gets back to you.
• A fourth shot that keeps the other team back.
• Patience to let them make a mistake.
If you get a deep third shot, come in behind it, hold your position at the net, and hit a fourth shot that applies pressure, even just a little. The serving team at this level will typically lose the point within a shot or two. You don’ t have to out-hit them. You just have to not hand them the point.
At 3.0, the fourth shot isn’ t about offense. It’ s about not giving the point away.
Intermediate( 3.5-4.0): The Game Starts to Develop
As players get better, the third shot gets better. The serving team will either commit to a clean drive, or
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