{"id":1250,"date":"2026-10-31T05:02:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1250"},"modified":"2026-10-31T05:02:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:02:02","slug":"the-fourth-ball-apply-pressure-instead-of-conceding-the-kitchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1250","title":{"rendered":"The Fourth Ball: Apply Pressure Instead of Conceding the Kitchen"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"The Most Important Shot in Pickleball (It\u2019s NOT the 3rd Shot)\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OjJDY_JnpeA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>tanner.pickleball argues the most important shot isn\u2019t the serve, return, or third-shot drop \u2014 it\u2019s the fourth ball, because it decides who controls the rally.<\/p>\n<p>Amateurs often concede the kitchen when the opponent\u2019s drop lands: flat feet, paddle swinging from behind, free ride forward. Instead, recognize the drop early, turn sideways, step back to create space, and drive hard so they have to hit the hardest shot in pickleball \u2014 the reset. Priority checklist: take it out of the air when you can (takes time away); if it bounces, still create space and apply pace. Form adjusts with height (sternum+ vs lower balls), but the intent is the same: pressure, not a free approach.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Fourth ball decides control \u2014 don\u2019t gift a free ride to the kitchen<\/li>\n<li>Step back \/ turn sideways to create space, then drive to force a reset<\/li>\n<li>Prefer out-of-air contact when possible; still pressure on the bounce<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Partner feeds drops; you only count \u2018wins\u2019 when you force a reset or weak reply<\/li>\n<li>Film 10 fourth balls \u2014 mark flat-feet concession vs step-back pressure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"tdd-newsletter\">\n<p><strong>Get the 5 best pickleball tips every week<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com\/v3\/loader.js\" data-beehiiv-form=\"0e5f3fe0-e4d3-4036-8d7f-c33b311980b2\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thedropdrive.beehiiv.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe free<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>tanner.pickleball argues the most important shot isn\u2019t the serve, return, or third-shot drop \u2014 it\u2019s the fourth ball, because it decides who controls the rally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[373,3,440,200,20],"tags":[12,988,986,106,140,32],"class_list":["post-1250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-attacks","category-kitchen","category-returns","category-strategy","category-transition","tag-footwork","tag-fourth-ball","tag-pressure","tag-reset","tag-tanner","tag-third-shot-drop"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/02-kitchen-line-through-the-net-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}