Pickleball 4.0 Mixed Doubles Gold Medal Match Picked Apart! Learn from Watching! 

4.0? Wow. I would love to play them. Lol.

I enjoyed the vid. Great way to improve on the game. Suggestion - make the mouse icon much smaller, less colorful, and do with out the vibration/animation effect. Much easier on the viewers eyes, thanks.

These are not 4.0 players. I would rate them lower than that.

1:40. 3rd shot and a few 3 shots after all chest level or higher for what should be easy hard hit putaways and they were essentially love tapped until finally a direct overhead was putaway. Where I play, the 3rd shot drop attempt fail that occurred here(as it was a bad strike) would be just crushed and point over, even at 3.5 level by a 6 foot tall male.

Really like these vids great for learning how to play the game. Think you should focus more on their shot making, stokes and footwork than their age, height, weight ect. Point out what they need to improve on to make them a better player. Looking forward to more vids

First, thanks for doing these videos. Generally, they are very helpful. This one had a maddening number of stoppages before anything happened. Please stop predicting what will happen before every play. I made it 8mins in and couldn't take any more...

I thought 4.0 was advanced? How come they have a "beginner serve". Look at the serve from the lady in blue at 24:49 in the video. My serve is deeper and has more pace with top spin. I just started playing two weeks ago. I don't have a tennis background, I've just been watching a lot of instructional videos and pro games.

Rory, You’re a brave man guessing a woman’s age 😂 At about 12:40, the lady with the white cap is dinking cross-court with the tall guy then she lobs it over the lady’s head across the net. You said her mistake was trying to lob it over the 6’4” guy. She didn’t. She lobbed it over the lady. The tall guy turned and ran to intercept the ball which is exactly what he should do. Just pointing out to new players that when a ball is lobbed over your head, you don’t turn and run. Your partner does. The reason is he/she is turning less than the 180 degrees you would have to turn. Another key maneuver for those new to pickleball is when he turned to chase the ball on her side of the court she moved to his side of the court ready to defend. It helps to call “Switch”. Other than defending his side of the court, she switches sides to get out of the way of his return. The tall guy and his partner executed that perfectly.

I don't see how you can watch this without commenting on the lady in the white hat's grip. She hits lobs off the forehand because that's what her grip allows her to hit. If she does drive it's that awkward elbow high swing. The giveaway for this type of player is the backhand volley but surprise, she pounds the first one for a winner. Stop the video and you see she changed from index finger up the back to thumb up the back to enable the backhand. 4.0? Not in my world.

Enjoyed the analysis. All 4 of these players would get destroyed by 4.0s where I play and probably have a tough time against a lot of the 3.5s. Rating system is really inconsistent.

I am losing confidence in the skill ratings around the country by watching your videos.

Spot on with your analysis. This is so much needed. Most of us should know our drills, shots, etc. I believe that plans and strategies are most critical today. Our instructors need to teach more of this methodology. Thank you.

I need to get into these tournaments. These players have absolutely no racquet skills. They’re all holding the paddle like a frying pan.

At 13:05 in video, she’s not trying to lob over taller opponent, she’s lobbing the shorter female who was in front of her. Taller player was able to cover shot.

At 9:47 mark, not a lob. Look at it again, have you ever seen anyone lob like that? More like a backhand drive that was hit too high.

Something needs to be done with this rating system in pickleball. It’s so inconsistent. This would be 3.0 or less pickleball at most places.

By the way, I really like the studio look in your videos. Very impressive background and vibe.

Did not watch the entire video, and maybe you subsequently pointed it out , but , if these players are 4.0 , ( and you know they are not ) we'll then....I'm an 8.0 and ready to turn Pro . Ofcousre , I'm not , then again , they are not 4.0 either . BTW , larger red illustrative arrows are a big improvement over previous little white arrows .

The Red arrows were a bit much.

I also played a game where score was 10-0 with their banging selves then came back winning the game 10-12 by forcing the team to hit balls out when trying to be aggressive or hit the net after successfully doing drops and dinks forcing them to play a slow game.

Are these really 4.0 players? If so... I must be a pro. (said NOBODY!)

those are not 4.0 Those folks have to be 3.0 3.5

It seems like from watching the guy in yellow has a weak backhand. I might be wrong but that's what I saw on a few of his shots.

Yes , they seem like they might have 4.0 knowledge, but execution wise, not so sure ? And yet , at the same time , 3rd shot drops done very well . Hard to figure what their rating outa be .

4.0?

Regarding the lob shot at 12:40 by the lady in the white hat - she wasn't trying to lob it over the tall dude. She was trying to lob it over his female partner and it likely would have worked if the tall dude didn't anticipate it and cover his partner's rear. I think that was a real head's up move by him and I wouldn't expect that kind of move at this level. I also think her gamble was reasonable but I don't think she'll try it again :O

Great commentary on this match. The point at 13:20, purple guy set that point up with a 3rd shot drop that was too deep. Black guy had an easy, well-executed shot to purple guy's feet and purple guy simply could not get it over the net. I'm only mentioning it because it is such a common mistake (by me, too, by the way) at this level. Unless you can master the 3rd shot drop, I think its better to try a 3rd shot drive and hope that your opponent pops it up or fails to return it.

So I’ve watched a few of your videos and enjoyed the analysis. This is such a great learning tool for those of us looking to improve. However, I am puzzled by something here. I don’t see how this game is at the 4.0 level. I would say I play at about the 3.5 on a good day and I just don’t see this level of play to be significantly better than my group. Am I missing something? I admit to making this comment before getting all the way to the end of the video.

Hey Rory, new viewer and really enjoying and learning from your comments.

You know sometimes that goal of a lob is not to make a point, but to drive your opponent back and into a defensive situation.

I just have a question. I have noticed that all the games I have watched here are just games to eleven (except the occasional game to 15) and you only have to win by one. Where I live, in the Pacific Northwest, they are games to eleven, win by two. Which is the standard system nationwide?

Yeah the team on the right beat themselves by staying at the baseline. Maybe they were afraid of loosing in a firefight.

I really enjoyed this match , thank you

My son is 6.4 with 8 ft reach I would not try to lob it over him.

I’ve only be playing a couple of years but when at the kitchen line the guy in yellow seems to play close to the centre line a lot always eager for a poach on his partner. I was taught to respect the X and let the forehand take the shot. Am I wrong about that?

Thank you so much for analyzing the game and I did learn lots from your videos.

4.0 lmaoooo

11 to 10? Thought you had to win by 2 if tied @ 10?

I really enjoyed your analysis. However, in my opinion - and it doesn't diminish the excellent analysis you have provided, they appear to be closer to the 3.0 level.

The more I play pickleball, the more I find out how much disinformation and misinformation is out there about how to play. When I see people doing lobs I automatically know that they are a lower level player. Lobs are by far the worst shot in pickleball next to hitting the net. People need to understand how risky that shot is and how ineffective and low percentage it is. Lobs are used as a crutch and people need to learn better ground strokes, body position, and mechanics. When I play I can't wait for the lobs so it almost guarantees either a side out or a point.

I have watched several videos on your channel over the past few days and have a question I keep wondering about. Why don’t you introduce yourself and share your name with your channel subscribers? Are you intentionally withholding your identity with your viewers?