{"id":1227,"date":"2026-10-29T06:37:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T06:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1227"},"modified":"2026-10-29T06:37:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T06:37:36","slug":"short-return-after-a-big-serve-dont-take-the-drive-bait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1227","title":{"rendered":"Short Return After a Big Serve: Don\u2019t Take the Drive Bait"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"Don\u2019t take the BAIT\ud83c\udfa3 \ud83e\ude9d Access Exclusive Courses and Personalized Pickleball Feedback at the\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EAIT2jkoBiU?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>John Cincola on the classic trap: huge serve, short return, all the momentum \u2014 and you rip a drive that goes long, nets, or gets volleyed at your feet.<\/p>\n<p>From the transition zone your job is still to get to the kitchen. A low short ball is bait, not a free put-away. Take the higher-percentage soft option that lets you keep moving forward instead of restarting from no-man\u2019s-land.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Short ball after a big serve \u2260 automatic drive<\/li>\n<li>Goal from back: reach the kitchen, not hero-ball<\/li>\n<li>Low short returns often net, sail, or come back at your feet<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Practice: serve \u2192 short feed \u2192 mandatory drop\/roll into NVZ approach<\/li>\n<li>Next match: every short return, say \u201ckitchen\u201d out loud before you swing<\/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>John Cincola on the classic trap: huge serve, short return, all the momentum \u2014 and you rip a drive that goes long, nets, or gets volleyed at your feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736,"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":[5,4,200,6,20],"tags":[169,332,553,14,37],"class_list":["post-1227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drives","category-drops","category-strategy","category-third-shot","category-transition","tag-john-cincola","tag-patience","tag-short-return","tag-third-shot","tag-transition"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/08-forehand-drive-sunlight-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1227","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=1227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}