Learn exactly where to aim every shot in pickleball to gain a strategic edge. From deep, targeted serves to body shots that jam your opponent, you’ll learn how smart placement leads to more errors, pop-ups, and easy points. Whether you're placing shots at the corners or targeting the non-paddle-side foot, these tactics help you control rallies and keep your opponents guessing. Ideal for players looking to play more intentionally and win with smarter shot selection.
The pickleball serve
Your pickleball serve will set the tone for the entire point. The best place to aim your serve is deep in the back fourth of the court if possible — but assuming you can consistently hit the ball into the back quarter of the court, where exactly should you aim?
Some advantageous places to aim are 1. At the corners, and 2. Into the body of your opponent.
You should be looking to hit the ball away from your opponent’s paddle side. If they're a right-handed player, try to hit to their opposite foot, because this makes them have to guess “should I run around this ball or should I hit a backhand?” Hitting into their body on the opposite side foot can jam them up, creating a popup.
When you're going for your serve, hit to the corners or hit into the body and to the opposite side paddle foot. That will win you more points.
Bonus tip: Vary your serve locations and speeds. This will keep your opponents guessing.
Your return
If you're on the returning team, the return can actually be a make-or-break shot in pickleball. The goal of the return is to make the serving team’s third shot more difficult to hit, which should then set you up for your next shot.
To do this, the best place to aim during the return is similar to the serve: in the back fourth of the court. That will set the service team up for a very hard third shot and a hard drive. Plus, the serving team is going to have to run forward, so the longer you keep them back the faster that you can establish your position at the kitchen line.
Another thing to watch for is to see if the service team is cheating their forehand or their backhand — you can immediately see what shot they want to hit and you can either return into their body or opposite to where they're cheating. A good way to take them off guard is to watch their body language and where they set up for the shot, so you can take them off guard and either hit the shot that they don't want or just hit it into their body.
Third shot
When it comes to your pickleball third shot, many times you're going to either drop the ball or drive the ball. But where should you aim your third shot?
Third shot drop
The best and most high percentage place to aim your drop is to the middle, which is great because:
- It takes away angles from your opponent: If you hit a bad shot they can't do as much in terms of angles.
- If you're playing a good team and you hit to the corners, you risk an Erne or them jumping over the corner of the kitchen line and smashing your ball.
If you're more confident with hitting a consistent middle drop, then you can start to apply more pressure to the corners. But the most safe and most advantageous place to drop is typically to the middle of the court. The net height is slightly lower in the middle of the court: It's 34 inches in the middle and 36 inches on the edges, so you have a little bit more margin when you aim to the middle.
Third shot drive
There are two places you can aim when hitting the third shot drive.
- Into the body of your opponent to try to create a popup.
- To the open court (if they're shading one direction or the other).
Typically one player is attempting to advance and the other player is already at the net, so you can gain an advantage by driving the ball to the person that's running forward to the net. If you can hit the player that's on the move you're more likely to create an error and a popup.
Fourth shot
The fourth shot is one of the most underrated shots in the entire game of pickleball, but also one of the most effective ones in regards to overturning points.
When it comes to the fourth shot, the service team is typically making their way up to the kitchen line. Your job as the defending team is to make it as hard as possible for the service team to get up to the kitchen line, so targeting the back third of the court is a great way to keep the service team from getting good offensive positioning.
The best place to hit your fourth shot is at your opponent’s feet, because it will make it very difficult for your opponent to return aggressively while making headway to the kitchen. If you are intentionally aiming down and at their feet, you're going to hit some really effective fourth shots.
Bonus tip: When aiming your fourth shots, going for angles can create some gaps on the court. So if you can keep the service team from moving up together like a wall and get them staggered you're going to create a lot of areas to attack on the court.
The reset
When you're hitting the ball from the transition zone, and you're trying to reset the ball into a nonattackable spot for your opponents, it's best to aim to the middle of the court (similar to the strategy behind the drop — because the net height is lower in the middle of the court). You can avoid an Erne from your opponents (jumping the corners) and you can create confusion for your opponents about who's going to take that ball.
When you're in the middle of the court, get a wide base with an open paddle face and try to direct the ball to the middle of the court when you're trying to advance, which will reset the ball and allow you to make your way to the kitchen.
The dink
There are a few general fundamentals for the pickleball dink:
One of the goals of a dink is to put your team on offense and your opponents’ team on defense. To do that, your goal should be making your opponents feel uncomfortable. There are a couple ways to do that:
- Exploit their weaknesses: A lot of beginner and intermediate players don't like hitting their backhands, so aiming for backhands can be a really great strategy when you're at the beginner or intermediate level.
- Look at your opponent's body positioning: When your opponents start to put weight on one or the other of their legs, it likely means that they're anticipating where you're going to hit the ball and the side that you're going to hit it to. When you're about to hit a dink, look at where your opponents are leaning and then hit to the opposite side. That will often cause unforced errors and discomfort to the opposing team.
Bonus tip: If you're on the defense and get surprised, it's important to aim your dink to the middle of the court. You don't ever want to reset to the side because the sides of the net are higher than the middle of the net, so if you are ever pulled off balance and you're on the defense, make sure that you hit a reset dink to the middle of the court.
Locations for speeding up the ball
If you get a dink from your opponent and it sits a little high and you want to speed the ball up off the bounce, there are a couple different locations where it's going to be advantageous for you:
- Anywhere from the paddle side hip to the paddle side shoulder: You need to be careful for any ball above your shoulder because the ball might go out if there's not enough spin. It could also create an awkward spot for your opponent to hit a backhand, which could create a chicken wing effect. They may decide if it’s worth it to hit a forehand, because the backhand covers most of the body.
- Right at your opponent’s body: If you hit the ball right to their body, you will want to add a little bit more pace so that if they don't get out of the way, the ball's probably going out. You're not specifically trying to hit them or target them, but if you don't add extra pace right at the body they can easily counter it right back at you. This shot is to create a pop-up to put the next one away.
Bonus tip: If you pull your opponent out of position you can aim to the open court — assuming that they're not going to get there and put the ball away.
The lob
The lob is a very effective shot that you should only be using when your opponents are established at the kitchen line, because the goal of the lob is to push them off the kitchen and get them into the back court — so that they have to work all the way back up to the kitchen.
There are specific places that you should aim the lob:
- The back fourth of the court: You want to push your opponent's back as far as possible, but there are a few things you should think about:
- Make sure that you're avoiding forehands: If you're playing a right-handed player, you don't want to be hitting to the middle of the court because you're going to be hitting to your opponent's forehand.
- Going crosscourt into the corners: No matter which side that you're playing, there are a few reasons it’s effective to hit crosscourt into the corner:
- It gives you the most area to work with.
- You’re avoiding forehands.You’re forcing your opponents to switch which player is responsible to get that ball.