7 Pickleball Shots That Every Player Needs to Know
Just how many pickleball shots would you say you have in your arsenal right now? Your answer might be “Zero.” if you’re brand new to the game. Or if you’ve been playing for several years, your answer might be, “geez, I don’t know. 30?”
Regardless of how many you have, there are seven (yes, just 7!) that EVERY player needs to know to play pickleball successfully. Of course, there are more than seven total shots. See the Erne, for instance. Or consider that every shot has several variations.
But, these 7 shots need to become your best shots and it would be a great idea to practice these the most.
1) Serve
In pickleball, you can only score when you (or your team) is serving. Which makes serving, and having a good serve, vitally important.
The rules of serving are:
You must serve underhand
Contact must be made below the waist
The server must call the score before serving
You must serve the ball diagonally across the court
The ball may not land in the non-volley zone or touch the line at the front of the service area
If you’d like, you can check out the Official USAPA Rulebook here.
Besides the rules (there are a few more you’ll need to know), there are important aspects to the serve each player should focus on to improve their serve and give their team to maximize their chances for points.
Tips for a better serve
There are considered three types of serves in pickleball:
High soft serves
Power serves
Soft angle serves
In the high soft serve, you purposely hit a high arcing serve onto your opponent’s court. This is a good serve to mix things up a bit or cause your opponent to move into a new position. Some players, especially more aggressive ones, might even get frustrated having to deal with slow, high arcing serves.
The power serve is a fast and low arcing serve. Typically, the ball goes deep into the opponent’s court and you can even catch them backpedaling to try and return it.
A soft angle serve is great for mixing up the rhythm of the game. This shot drops either near the kitchen line or the sideline, causing your opponent either run up or off the court to play it.
Each of these serves has some pros and cons, but the best players find a way to mix in all three throughout the match to keep their opponents guessing.
The only real tip we have is to practice–a lot! Hitting angles, putting spin on the ball, or trying to get aces on your serves takes work. Fortunately, you can practice serving alone with just a bucket of balls and a court to play on.
What’s the most powerful pickleball serve? Find out here.
2) Return of serve
The return of serve is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the second shot of the round and used to return the serve back to your opponent. The main rule to be aware of with the return of serve is that you must wait for the ball to bounce before you can hit it.
Tips for a better return of serve
Due to the bounce rule, the best way to prepare for returning the serve is to wait behind the baseline. It’s easier to run forward and hit a shot that’s short, than to fall backward and hit a good shot.
Other tips for having a strong return of serve include:
Try to hit the return with your forehand (typically, backhands are weaker shots)
Put your body into position to hit the ball, while you’re waiting for it to get to you
Hit the ball while it’s out in front of your body (not falling back)
Return the serve deep into your opponent’s territory to allow your team time to get to the NVZ line
That last tip is especially important, because the opponent (the serving team) must also wait for the ball to bounce before they can take their third shot. Use this rule to your advantage by hitting it deep into their territory and taking your chance to get into a strong playing position.
Read 9 ways to improve your pickleball return of serve.
3) Drive
The forehand drive (also known as a groundstroke) is a fast-paced shot hit with a forehand after the ball bounces. It has little to no arc and is designed to force your opponent to react quickly or go past them.
Tips for a better drive
Drive shots are pretty common and some players rely on it a lot (maybe too much). But, that’s all for good reason. The drive is an effective shot and perfect in any of these situations:
Your opponent prefers a soft game or struggles defending harder hit shots
Your opponent is in “no man’s land,” meaning he’s not forward enough or back enough, but instead caught in the middle of the court somewhere
Your opponent ran to the NVZ line too quickly and you were served up a perfect ball to drive it past them
The return of serve is hit too soft and short
You just want to mix your game up
You want to catch your opponent running one way so you drive the ball the other way
Hitting a great drive is all about timing and using the right angle on your paddle so that you don’t drive the ball too far or out of bounds.
Drop or drive? What should you be hitting on the third shot? Find out here.
4) Third Shot Drop
Stick around pickleball blogs or strategy videos and you’ll learn quickly that the third shot is considered the most important shot of the round. The third shot is exactly what it says–the third shot of the round. It happens after the return of serve, and is made by the serving team.
The reason the third shot is so important is because it sets up the way the rest of the round is going to play out. The third shot drop is a commonly used technique to give your team (the serving team) time to get themselves to the non-volley zone line, where most of the action is going to take place.
A third shot drop should be a softly hit ball, with a decently high arc, that lands inside your opponent’s kitchen.
Tips for a better third shot drop
The goal of hitting a strong third shot drop is to give your opponents a shot that they can’t attack you with, while you make your way up to the kitchen line.
The best way to get good at this shot is to practice. You want to focus on hitting the ball with enough touch that it lands softly inside the kitchen. It should have a high arc and clear the net by several inches.
The danger of doing a third shot drop is that if you hit it too hard, your opponents will have an easy putaway opportunity.
The best time to do third shot drops is on deep returns and low returns.
Check out 11 ways to improve your third shot drop.
5) Reset
Sometimes during a rally, your goal is not to score a point, but to simply reset the rally, without giving up a point or the serve. A reset shot is the perfect way to do this. Most often, you’ll want to use a reset shot when you are caught in a transition zone. This is the part of the court that’s between the baseline and the kitchen line. This is the zone where a lot of players will hit the ball at your feet, forcing you to make an awkward or poor return attempt.
Tips for a better reset
When you’re caught in a transition zone, you shouldn’t try to score a point or end the rally. Instead, you want to get low and hit the ball softly back into your opponent’s kitchen. This forces them to wait for the bounce and doesn’t allow them a strong attacking shot.
Here are some key strategies for hitting a reset:
Be patient - even if you need multiple resets each round, don’t force anything
Aim for dropping the ball into the kitchen area
Use a reset to buy yourself (and your partner) time or slow down the pace so you can get a better attacking shot later
After your reset, get to a better position or to the kitchen as quickly as possible
For some pros, resetting is the key to pickleball success.
6) Dink
A dink is a soft shot with a higher arc that lands within your opponent’s kitchen. Ideally, its trajectory is as straight up and down as possible, creating a difficult shot for your opponent. Watch any pickleball match and you’re likely to see a lot of dinks, especially when all the players are at the kitchen line. Oftentimes, dinking is done to open up a better shot opportunity later in the match.
Tips for a better dink
Dinking is an essential part of pickleball, and you would do well to practice dinks often!
Keys to good dinking:
Be patient - you’re rarely going to score on a dink shot, unless you catch your opponent sleeping at the baseline
Make contact out in front of the body
Use a gentle lifting motion with a good follow through
Get your body low–as if you’re trying to get under the ball
Crosscourt dinks provide you with more space to get the ball over the net and can force your opponents out of position
Don’t break your wrist when dinking, instead use your shoulder and avoid a backswing
Continue dinking until your opponent makes a mistake and then make them pay for it
More tips and help with your dinking and third-shot drops.
7) Overhead Smash
Few things in sports are more satisfying than smashing a ball into your opponent (okay, not into them, but into a space where they can’t return it). The overhead smash is exactly that.
Tips for a better overhead smash
In an overhead smash, you are lifting your paddle over your head and back and bringing it forward forcefully, driving the ball straight into the court and hopefully leaving your opponent without a return shot chance.
Key tips:
Look up at the ball as it’s coming toward you
Use your non-paddle hand to point at the ball and help you line up your shot
Contact the ball as high as possible, while it’s still out in front of you
Shift your weight from the back to the front as you drive the paddle forward
Use your wrist to snap the ball and give it a trajectory that puts it over the net
Shuffle backwards sideways (torso facing the sideline), never with your back to the baseline (this can cause you to lose your balance and fall)
Aim at an open spot on the opponent’s court or at the feet of your opponent - not the body
Get more help with your overhead smash here.
These seven shots are the most important parts of pickleball. Master them and you’ll be dominating the courts in no time!
