Everyone is busy talking about the third shot drop, but what about the fourth shot?

The G.O.A.T. of pickleball, Ben Johns, participated in a YouTube video with high-level player and content creator, Josh Jenkins, to share some insight on the shot.

“The fourth shot is one of the easiest things that you can improve that makes matches and points a lot easier for yourself,” said Johns. 

Unlike the third shot drop, there’s lots of different options when hitting a fourth.

According to Johns, deciding what shot to hit comes naturally based off the ball position.

“For the fourth ball, it’s super important to keep the wrist flexed forward when you’re getting to full extension because when people get to extension they tend to open the wrist and it goes up instead of with a top spin,” he demonstrated. 

After watching Jenkins hit a few times, Johns already had some excellent points. 

“When a ball is high and you’re swinging, people tend to flick the wrist upwards to compensate for that, but you don’t want to do that. You can finish your swing above your right shoulder instead of your left. If you need to hit more severely, just change the swing path - not the wrist - and that will also get you more spin,” he explained.

Rotating was a big focal point as well. 

“If you’re getting a ball that’s near the level of the net and you’re trying to generate power, look to rotate with your hips and shoulders. That’s going to generate a lot of power,” he insisted. “But, you still want to stay low enough so when you’re contacting the ball near the level of the net, your eyes are near that level.” 

Another fascinating tidbit applied to when the ball comes into your backhand and it's shoulder height and above, and you want to generate power. 

“Keep your paddle horizontal, then turn your paddle face down so you don’t hit it out, and then you just rotate and snap,” Johns demonstrated. “What people do wrong with this shot is that they don’t trust that the ball is going to go in, so they don’t swing fully hard. But if you turn your wrist down enough it’ll always go in. You’re contacting the ball so high and turning the wrist down so much that you have full license to turn to your maximum rotationally and snap back like loading a spring.”

When Jenkins asked where Johns was aiming these shots, Johns confirmed “most of the time, I’m just focused on hitting it really, really hard.”

After watching Johns demonstrate some of those shots, I’m glad I’m not on the opposite side of the court from him.

As for Johns’ key takeaways...

“Your focus is to try to be aggressive. Be aware of what your opponents are doing, as in picking spots. Find a good contact point, and move laterally,” he summarized.

Want more tips straight from the pros? Follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the pickleball updates.