{"id":1361,"date":"2026-11-09T11:24:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1361"},"modified":"2026-11-09T11:24:56","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:24:56","slug":"two-bounce-rule-the-serve-and-the-return-must-bounce-before-anyone-volleys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1361","title":{"rendered":"Two-Bounce Rule: The Serve and the Return Must Bounce Before Anyone Volleys"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"The First Two Shots In Pickleball Must Bounce\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o0Y7wRtHXUY?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>Aylex Pickleball Academy covers the two-bounce rule: the serve and the return of serve must each bounce before they\u2019re hit. That\u2019s Rule 10.A in the 2026 USA Pickleball Rulebook.<\/p>\n<p>If the receiver hits the serve out of the air, it\u2019s a fault on the receiver. If the serving side volleys the return, it\u2019s a fault on them. The first two shots of every rally bounce \u2014 then the volleys can start.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Serve and return must bounce (Rule 10.A, the two-bounce rule)<\/li>\n<li>Volleying the serve is a fault on the receiver; volleying the return is a fault on the serving team<\/li>\n<li>After those first two bounces, volleys are legal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>On serve receive, let the serve bounce even if it looks tempting to take out of the air<\/li>\n<li>After you serve, don\u2019t step in and volley the return \u2014 let it bounce, then hit the third shot<\/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>Aylex Pickleball Academy covers the two-bounce rule: the serve and the return of serve must each bounce before they\u2019re hit. That\u2019s Rule 10.A in the 2026 USA Pickleball Rulebook.<\/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":[440,7],"tags":[1388,1082,1387,406,1369],"class_list":["post-1361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-returns","category-serves","tag-aylex-pickleball-academy","tag-return","tag-rule-10-a","tag-serve","tag-two-bounce-rule-2"],"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\/1361","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=1361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/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=1361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}