Why You Keep Losing in Pickleball—and What to Fix First

Over the years, I have met many players who came to me asking for help because they were tired of losing at pickleball. They were frustrated with how they played, unhappy with the mistakes they kept making, and, in some cases, they were starting to lose the enjoyment they once had for the game.

Maybe you have felt the same way. You go out to play, but instead of having fun, you start worrying about making mistakes. You miss shots you feel like you should make, and you try the same shots over and over again, but the result doesn’t change. Even worse, you may start feeling like you are always the weakest player on the court, which can become very frustrating after a while.

One of the most common challenges I have seen is that players know what shot they want to hit, but they simply cannot execute it consistently. They know they should hit a third-shot drop, but the ball goes into the net. They know they should slow the ball down, but instead they speed it up at the wrong time. They want to return the serve deep, but they leave the ball short. They want to dink patiently, but after a few shots they get impatient and attack a ball they probably shouldn’t.

Eventually, they get stuck in a cycle of making the same mistakes over and over again, and when that happens, pickleball can stop being fun.

But losing does not necessarily mean you are a bad pickleball player. Often, it means there are a few specific parts of your game that need improvement, and the good news is that you can work on those things.

At Hawaii Pickleball Academy®, we have worked with many players who felt frustrated with their game. Instead of trying to completely change how they play, we usually start by identifying the mistakes that are costing them the most points. Sometimes a few relatively small improvements can completely change the way you feel on the pickleball court.

So if you are tired of losing, making the same mistakes, or feeling like you are always the weakest player on the court, it may be time to look at why you are losing and what you can actually do about it.

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Why Do You Keep Losing in Pickleball?

Before you try to fix your game, you have to understand where you are actually losing points. This sounds simple, but many recreational pickleball players never really do this. You need to reflect objectively after you play and figure out what is really not working.

Instead, many players finish a game thinking:

• “I played terrible.”
• “My partner was better than me.”
• “I missed too many shots.”
• “I can’t play against these people.”

But none of those statements really identify the problem. You need to ask yourself much more specific questions:

• Did I miss easy forehand returns into the net or out?
• How was I missing most of my shots?
• Was my opponent actually forcing me to make an error, or was I making unforced errors on balls that I should normally make?
• Did I get too excited when I saw a ball I thought I could put away and swing so hard that I completely lost control?
• Did I hit the ball way out or into the net because I was simply trying to do too much?

Those are the questions that can actually help you improve.

For example, saying “I missed too many returns” is a start, but you can go even deeper. Were most of those returns on your forehand or backhand? Were you hitting them into the net or long? Were you trying to hit the return too hard? Were you struggling when your opponent served deep?

The more specific you can be, the easier it becomes to understand what you actually need to work on. Sometimes you may also realize that your opponent wasn’t necessarily beating you with amazing shots. You were giving away too many points yourself.

That is a very important difference. If somebody hits a great shot that you cannot reach, sometimes there isn’t much you could have done. But if you miss an easy return, attack a ball you shouldn’t, or hit an easy dink into the net, those are points you can work on changing.

Once you start identifying how and why you are losing points, improving your pickleball game becomes much easier.

Stop Trying to Fix Everything at Once

One mistake I see players make all the time is trying to improve everything at once. They come to a lesson and tell me, “I need to fix my serve, my forehand and backhand drive, my put-away volleys… oh, and I forgot, I also need to be able to block those fast-paced balls coming right at my face. Can you help me with all of that?”

My answer is: Sure, but we have to be methodical about it and figure out what actually fits your game.

Every player is individual, and not everything applies to everyone. What works great for one player may not necessarily work for you. Your movement, athletic ability, previous sports experience, grip, swing, and even the way you naturally see the game can all be different. That is why I don’t like throwing ten different changes at someone in one lesson.

Instead, identify one or two areas that are hurting your game the most and focus on those first. For example, if you are missing five returns every game, there is no reason to spend most of your practice time working on a fancy backhand roll volley.

Start with the return.

Simply getting five more returns into the court could completely change the outcome of your games. Once your return becomes more consistent, you can move on to the next thing. Maybe it is your third shot. Maybe it is your positioning. Maybe you are attacking too many balls that you should be resetting.

The important thing is to have a plan instead of trying to fix everything at once. This is also one reason structured pickleball practice can be so valuable. Instead of simply playing game after game and hoping something changes, you can spend time repeating the specific shot that is actually giving you problems.

Fix one problem, make it more consistent, and then move on to the next one. Over time, those small improvements can make a much bigger difference than trying to change your entire game in one day.

Playing More Pickleball Doesn’t Always Mean You Are Getting Better

This may be hard for some players to hear, especially if they spend three to five days a week on the pickleball courts and their game still looks almost the same. Playing pickleball five days a week does not automatically mean you are going to improve.

You might get better simply from experience, especially when you are new to the game. But eventually, many players reach a level where simply playing more games doesn’t create much improvement anymore.

Why? Because during recreational games, you are usually trying to win. Your focus is on that specific game and what you need to do to beat the players standing across the net from you. You are not necessarily thinking about what will make you a better player three months, six months, or even a year from now.

That is where practice becomes so important. Sometimes you need to step away from worrying about today’s result and ask yourself:

What is my ultimate goal with my game?

Then create your own roadmap to get there.

When you start focusing on your own path, you also stop worrying so much about what everybody else is doing. Someone in your group may have a better drive than you. Maybe somebody has a great backhand. Another player may win more games. That’s fine. You have to focus on your own game and what you need to improve next.

If your third-shot drop is weak, for example, you might only get a handful of opportunities to practice it during an entire game. During a practice session, you could hit 50, 100, or even more third-shot drops in a relatively short period of time. That repetition matters, and the same applies to returns, resets, dinks, volleys, and many other shots.

There is a big difference between playing pickleball and practicing pickleball, and ideally you should be doing both.

When you practice, you get the repetitions you need to make the shot feel more natural. Then, when you play a real game, muscle memory should eventually kick in and you will be able to execute some of the shots you have been working on without thinking about every little detail.

But here is another important part: the first few times you try that new shot in a game may be miserable. You might miss it, hit it into the net, or hit it too high and watch your opponent smash it right back at you. That can immediately make you think, “Forget this. I’m going back to what I was doing before.”

Don’t.

Get over that hump and keep trying. You have to give yourself a chance to bring what you practiced into an actual game. There is a big difference between hitting a good third-shot drop during practice when nobody is keeping score and hitting that same shot at 9-9 in a real game.

That takes time, and you may actually play a little worse for a while when you are trying to add something new to your game. That’s okay. If you have a plan, keep working on it. Get your repetitions during practice, try those shots during games, and don’t give up just because the first few attempts don’t work.

It will get better.

Learn to Make the Easy Shot First

Players often come to pickleball lessons wanting to learn more advanced shots, but they forget that winning doesn’t have to be complicated.

If you watch professional pickleball as well as recreational games, you will notice that many points are not won by somebody hitting an unbelievable winner. Many points are won because the opponent makes an unforced error:

• They hit the ball into the net.
• They hit it out.
• They pop the ball up.

Or you force them into making a mistake because you placed your shot in a way that made it much harder for them to stay in the point. That is a very important difference because you don’t always need to hit a winner yourself. Sometimes your job is simply to make the next shot difficult enough that your opponent eventually gives you the point.

Learning to spin the ball, hit a backhand flick, or execute an Erne may come eventually if your body, athletic ability, and skill set allow it. But if your goal is to start winning more games, the answer may actually be much simpler.

Learn to execute simple shots first before trying to get too advanced.

That might even be one of the reasons you are losing more games than you are winning. You may be trying to execute shots that are too difficult for you at that specific moment in your development.

Yes, that backhand flick might work great during practice. You could hit ten of them perfectly when someone is feeding you the same ball over and over again, but can you execute the same shot during a real game? That is different. Now there is pressure. The ball may not come exactly where you want it, your opponent is moving, you are moving, the score may be close, and maybe you are playing against your friends who definitely don’t want to lose to you either.

Suddenly, that shot that looked so easy during practice becomes much harder.

If your goal is to win more pickleball games, sometimes the biggest improvement comes from becoming better at the shots that don’t look very exciting:

• Deep return
• Consistent serve
• Controlled third shot
• Reset into the kitchen
• Dink that stays low
• Volley placed at your opponent’s feet

None of these shots sound very exciting. They probably won’t end up in a highlight video on The Kitchen Pickleball, but they win a lot of pickleball points. As you start playing against better players, consistency becomes even more important.

Better players are not going to give you as many free points. If you try to hit a winner every time you touch the ball, you’ll probably make the mistake first.

Sometimes you don’t need to hit a better shot than your opponent. Sometimes you simply need to make one more ball.

You May Be Attacking Too Much

Another common problem I see is players trying to win the point too quickly. The ball comes slightly high, and they immediately try to crush it. Or even when the ball is below the net and close to their knees, they are still speeding it up.

It is not always because they got the right ball to attack. Sometimes they don’t know what else to hit, so they smack the ball and hope for a miracle. Sometimes it works, but just like miracles, those moments are pretty rare.

Instead, focus on simplifying your game until you start winning more matches. Yes, you can win a lot of matches by hitting the ball hard and playing fast, especially against players who struggle with pace. But once you start playing against better players, you will quickly realize that this strategy doesn’t work nearly as well. Better players usually have better hands; they can block your speed-ups, counterattack, and sometimes the harder you hit the ball at them, the faster it comes right back at you.

I understand that hitting the ball hard is fun. That is part of what makes pickleball exciting, but winning more is even more fun. So before you speed up the next ball from below the net, ask yourself:

Am I attacking this ball because it is actually the right shot, or because I don’t know what else to do with it?

Try simplifying your game, be a little more patient, and wait for a better ball. You might be surprised how many more points you start winning.

Just try it.

Get Comfortable at the Kitchen

If you want to become a better pickleball player, you have to become comfortable around the non-volley zone, commonly called the kitchen. At certain levels, especially when players are just starting, the ball may not even land in the kitchen very often. Many points are simply bang-bang exchanges until someone makes a mistake.

But once you start playing against people with a better skill set and more control over the pickleball, you will quickly realize how valuable it is to become comfortable at the kitchen and learn how to move the ball around with purpose. When you can control the ball at the kitchen, you can start setting yourself or your partner up for a put-away or an attack.

Instead of just reacting and hoping the ball stays in play, you begin to understand how to create opportunities. You can move your opponent side to side, keep the ball low, and wait for them to give you something you can attack.

As you get better at the kitchen, you become a much better player because you learn how to slow the ball down and control the pace of the game. You also start understanding how important the third shot is because that shot can help you get from the baseline to the kitchen, where you have a much better chance of taking control of the point.

If you are afraid of popping the ball up when you are dinking or resetting at the kitchen, that is normal, especially when you are still learning. But you also need to be prepared for the fact that your opponent may speed the ball up at you. That is why having your paddle ready and learning how to block faster balls is such an important part of becoming comfortable at the kitchen.

The kitchen game becomes a lot of fun once you learn how to move the ball around with control, but it takes time and practice to get there. In the beginning, your arm may suddenly freeze and cause the ball to pop up. Or your wrist may decide to flick at the exact moment you thought it was going to stay still, and suddenly the ball is floating above the net while your opponent is smiling because they see an easy ball coming right at them that they can smack back in your direction.

That is part of learning. The more comfortable you become at the kitchen, the less you panic, the better your control becomes, and the easier it is to recognize when you should slow the ball down and when you actually have the right opportunity to attack.

Don’t Let One Mistake Turn Into Five Mistakes

When playing pickleball, you have probably noticed that momentum is real. Winning five or more points in a row is nothing unusual, but making five or more mistakes in a row can happen just as quickly.

The key is being able to stop the bleeding before one bad point turns into several more.

One of the best ways to do that is to slow the game down and go back to the shots that are comfortable and solid for you to execute. You don’t need to get fancy. Keep it simple, get the ball back in play, and give yourself a chance to get back into the game.

Most of the time, slowing things down works really well because it gives you a chance to regain control. But that doesn’t mean you should keep trying the same shot over and over if it is clearly not working. For example, if you are having a hard time hitting a good drop into the kitchen, speeding the ball up through the middle may solve the problem. Sometimes changing direction, pace, or strategy is exactly what you need to break the pattern.

The biggest mistake is trying the same shot three, four, or five times and getting the same bad result every time. That’s when you need to recognize what is happening and switch to something different.

Keep it simple, use the shots you trust, and find a way to stop the momentum before the game gets away from you.

Practice With a Purpose

If you truly want to improve at pickleball, your practice should have a purpose. When you practice with a skilled pickleball coach, they should already have a plan for what you need to work on and how to help you improve. But if you are practicing with your friends or using a pickleball machine, don’t just hit balls for the sake of getting repetitions.

Create a plan before you start and ask yourself what you are actually trying to improve and how you are going to work on it.

For example, if you are practicing your serve, don’t just hit 100 serves into the court. Focus on something specific, such as placement, depth, consistency, or changing direction.

If you are working on your third-shot drops, start simple. Begin with minimal movement and focus on controlling the ball into the kitchen. Once you’re comfortable, slowly add more difficulty. Move farther back, add movement, change where the ball is coming from, or have your practice partner put you under more pressure.

By gradually increasing the difficulty, you start becoming more comfortable in situations that actually happen during a real game. There is a big difference between hitting a perfect drop when you are standing still and somebody is feeding you the same ball every time versus hitting that drop when you are moving, under pressure, and trying to get yourself and your partner to the kitchen.

That is why your practice should keep challenging you.

Start simple, get comfortable, and then make it harder.

The goal is not just to hit more balls. The goal is to make those repetitions actually help you become a better pickleball player.

Playing Better Makes Pickleball More Fun

Winning isn’t everything, but when you start playing better, it can make you feel happier and more satisfied with your game. Most of us aren’t professional pickleball players. We play because we enjoy the sport, the competition, the exercise, and the people we meet.

But let’s also be realistic. Losing almost every game isn’t very much fun, and feeling like everyone else on the court is better than you isn’t very much fun either.

Getting better changes that. You become more confident, you start understanding which shot you should hit and when, and you stop panicking every time somebody hits the ball hard at you. You begin recognizing patterns instead of simply reacting to whatever happens.

You also start setting up points with more purpose. Instead of hoping your opponent makes a mistake, you begin understanding how to move the ball, when to slow the game down, and when you actually have the right opportunity to attack. Eventually, you start winning points and games that you probably would have lost before.

That progress is one of the things that makes pickleball so enjoyable. You don’t have to become the best player on the court. You want to feel that your game is moving in the right direction and that the time you are putting into pickleball is actually paying off.

And when that starts happening, the game becomes a lot more fun.

How Hawaii Pickleball Academy® Can Help

At Hawaii Pickleball Academy®, our goal is not simply to feed you balls for an hour. We want to understand what is actually happening in your game, where you are losing points, and what is keeping you from improving.

Sometimes the problem is technical, sometimes it is strategy, and sometimes it is simply a habit you may not even realize you have. That is why we look at each player individually and focus on the areas that can make the biggest difference.

You do not always need to change everything about your game. Sometimes improving just a few important areas can help you become more consistent, more confident, and start winning more points.

Our pickleball lessons in Honolulu are designed to help you understand what to work on, why it matters, and how to use it in a real game.

The goal is simple: play better and enjoy pickleball more.

Frequently Asked Questions About Improving at Pickleball

Why do I keep losing at pickleball?

There usually isn’t one single reason. Common problems include unforced errors, poor positioning, inconsistent returns, attacking the wrong balls, difficulty reaching the kitchen, and trying to win points too quickly. Start by identifying exactly how you are losing most of your points instead of simply telling yourself that you played badly.

What is the fastest way to get better at pickleball?

Combine playing with focused practice. Recreational games help you learn patterns, competition, and how to handle different opponents, while drilling allows you to repeat specific shots many more times than you normally would during a game. Combining both is usually much more productive than simply playing more games.

Should I take pickleball lessons?

Pickleball lessons can be especially helpful if you keep making the same mistakes and aren’t sure how to correct them. A good coach can often identify technical, strategic, or positioning problems that are difficult to recognize while you are playing.

How often should I practice pickleball?

Consistency matters more than having one extremely long practice session. Even shorter sessions focused on one or two specific skills can be valuable when combined with regular match play. The important part is knowing what you are trying to improve instead of simply hitting balls without a plan.

Where can I take pickleball lessons in Hawaii?

Hawaii Pickleball Academy® offers pickleball instruction on Oahu for players who want to improve their technique, strategy, positioning, and overall understanding of the game. Our goal is to identify what is holding your game back and help you build a plan that makes sense for you.