{"id":1206,"date":"2026-10-29T01:25:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T01:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1206"},"modified":"2026-10-29T01:25:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T01:25:59","slug":"weak-partner-stay-home-dont-play-both-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1206","title":{"rendered":"Weak Partner? Stay Home \u2014 Don\u2019t Play Both Spots"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"What To Do If Your Partner SUCKS In Pickleball!!\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P3SGO1v7fTQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>Ava Pickleball\u2019s blunt doubles tip: if your partner is struggling, overcompensating makes it worse.<\/p>\n<p>Going for every ball creates confusion. Stay in your normal position, communicate, and take the middle only when you can reach it without abandoning your whole side \u2014 otherwise you get passed. Make the opponent hit one more ball and give your partner a chance to play theirs.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Overcovering both spots confuses the pair and opens passes<\/li>\n<li>Take middle only when you can still own your side<\/li>\n<li>Communicate and let partner play their ball<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>One set: no hero poaches \u2014 only balls you can reach without leaving the alley<\/li>\n<li>Use a pre-point \u201cI\u2019ve got middle \/ you\u2019ve got middle\u201d call<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"tdd-newsletter\">\n<p><strong>Get the 5 best pickleball tips every week<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com\/v3\/loader.js\" data-beehiiv-form=\"0e5f3fe0-e4d3-4036-8d7f-c33b311980b2\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thedropdrive.beehiiv.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe free<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ava Pickleball\u2019s blunt doubles tip: if your partner is struggling, overcompensating makes it worse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[205,565,200],"tags":[1272,1178,1179,1271,491],"class_list":["post-1206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-doubles","category-positioning","category-strategy","tag-ava","tag-communication","tag-doubles","tag-partner","tag-positioning"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/01-doubles-at-the-net-over-shoulder-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}