Hey there, it’s your coach Jordan Briones.

Getting to 4.0 is one of those goals a lot of players talk about but not many have a real plan for. They play more, they watch more, they maybe pick up a tip here or there. But without a clear focus on the right things, improvement happens slowly if at all.

I want to give you that focus right now. Four specific areas that if you commit to deliberately practicing, will move your game faster than anything else you could be doing.

How to Get to 4.0 in Pickleball: Focus on the Shots and Skills That Really Win Points

1. Get to the Kitchen with Confidence: Master the Transition Zone

After you serve, you and your partner are behind the baseline. Unless you have the kind of offense that wins points from back there consistently, you have to get to the non-volley zone to create any real pressure. That journey from the baseline to the kitchen is the transition zone and most recreational players have no real plan for navigating it.

There are two shots you have to master to make this work. The third shot drop and the reset volley. Without both of those being reliable, getting to the net as a serving team is going to feel like a lottery.

The way to build these is through deliberate isolated practice. Work on your drops from the baseline with a partner who is putting real pressure on you, using topspin and underspin and pace so you are hitting realistic drops rather than easy ones. Work on your reset volleys in the transition zone specifically, staying low and balanced and focused on getting the ball to land softly in the kitchen.

Once those two shots feel consistent, practice actually moving through the transition. Have a partner feed you a deep ball, make your third shot decision, and then split step, reset if needed, and work your way up to the line. Run that pattern over and over until the movement becomes automatic.

2. Own Your Second and Fourth Shots: Keep the Ball Under Control

Serves are getting more aggressive. Drives are getting heavier with topspin. And if your return and your fourth shot counter are not sharp, you are going to struggle against anyone who can keep the ball coming fast.

On the return side, the habit to build is keeping your momentum moving forward through the shot. A deep return with your weight going toward the net gives you a head start up the line and puts your opponents under more pressure at the same time. Practice this with a partner who is serving hard with spin so you are getting used to real pace on real balls, not just easy cooperative feeds.

On the fourth shot side, you need to get comfortable punching and pushing balls back at your opponents when they drive the third. Short compact swings, absorbing the pace, and redirecting it low and fast toward their feet. Isolate this too. Have a partner drive at you from the baseline repeatedly so you are seeing pace over and over and your body learns how to handle it without panic.

Then put them together. Serve, return, drive, counter. Run the whole sequence in practice so it feels like second nature in a match.

3. Film Yourself and Fix What You See: Spot Weaknesses and Get Better

Most players have a general sense of what they are bad at. But there is a big difference between thinking you know your weaknesses and actually seeing them on video.

I film myself playing regularly, and watching that footage back has been one of the most valuable things I have done for my own development. The camera catches things you cannot feel in the moment—a paddle that drifts after shots, feet that are not moving early enough, a pattern in where your attacks are landing that you had no idea existed. For anyone wondering how to become a 4.0 pickleball player, reviewing your own gameplay like this is essential because it reveals blind spots you otherwise wouldn’t notice.

Once you see your weaknesses clearly, you can do something about them. Block time specifically to work on those areas—not just play more and hope they improve on their own, but deliberately isolate those skills and practice them until they become reliable. That focused approach is what turns a weakness into something you can actually trust in a match. Understanding how to become a 4.0 pickleball player is largely about mastering these fundamentals, rather than chasing flashy trick shots.

I get it. The ATP looks incredible. The Erne is exciting. The around-the-post shots and sneaky angles feel amazing when they come off.

But here is the truth: those shots make up maybe ten percent of what actually happens in a match. And a lot of players spend a disproportionate amount of their practice time on high-difficulty, low-frequency shots, while the fundamentals that decide the majority of points stay underdeveloped.

4. Commit to Fundamentals (Serve, Return, Transition, Kitchen Game)

Your serve, your return, your transition game, your dinks, your attacks and counterattacks at the kitchen line—that is the game. That is where points are won and lost over and over. If those are sharp, you win a lot more matches. If those are shaky, no amount of trick shot ability is going to make up for it.

I am not saying abandon the fun stuff entirely. But be honest about where your practice time is going. The players who improve fastest are the ones who put their hours into the shots that matter most in real play.

Four months is not a long time. But four months of focused, intentional practice on the right things can move you further than years of casual play. Work on your transition game, sharpen your returns and fourth shot counters, film yourself and fix what you find, and commit to the fundamentals.

Do those four things consistently and 4.0 will come a lot sooner than you think.

See you on the courts,

Coach Jordan Briones