{"id":384,"date":"2026-10-03T03:54:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T03:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=384"},"modified":"2026-10-04T10:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T10:21:10","slug":"the-third-shot-every-tennis-player-gets-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=384","title":{"rendered":"The Third Shot Every Tennis Player Gets Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"The Third Shot Every Tennis Player Gets Wrong\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uMnY9sKkEW0?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><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>Selkirk TV, part of a 10-part series for tennis players, with Coach Matthew Haley working with two players on third and fifth shots. For a tennis player, the goal of the third (and fifth) isn&#8217;t a winner: it&#8217;s transition to the non-volley zone. Read the incoming ball: if it comes low with pace or deep and hard, bump back a soft drop (soften the grip, short swing, higher target); if it comes higher, softer and shorter, set your feet and drive it with a lower target at about 80% pace, closing the face and staying forward. Players call &#8216;drive&#8217; or &#8216;drop&#8217; out loud based on the feed, then practice drive on the third and drop on the fifth (the drive is meant to draw a soft fourth ball so you can come in), then drive, drop and finish at the kitchen. It ends with a ladder game: start at the baseline, move up one position for each good drive or drop, move back on a miss, and finish the point at the NVZ.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Third and fifth shots are about getting to the NVZ, not hitting winners<\/li>\n<li>Low\/hard or deep ball: soft drop with a relaxed grip and short swing<\/li>\n<li>Higher, softer, shorter ball: drive at about 80% with a lower target<\/li>\n<li>Drive the third, drop the fifth: the drive sets up a soft fourth ball<\/li>\n<li>Ladder game rewards good shot selection, not big swings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Partner feeds a mix; call &#8216;drive&#8217; or &#8216;drop&#8217; out loud before each third<\/li>\n<li>Drill drive-drop-finish sequences, moving forward after each shot<\/li>\n<li>Keep drives at about 80% and stay forward through contact<\/li>\n<li>Play the ladder game: move up on a good shot, back on a miss<\/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>Summary Selkirk TV, part of a 10-part series for tennis players, with Coach Matthew Haley&#8230;<\/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_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,6,20],"tags":[184,617,144,726,728,546,727,14],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drives","category-drops","category-third-shot","category-transition","tag-drills","tag-drive","tag-drop-shot","tag-fifth-shot","tag-matthew-haley","tag-selkirk-tv","tag-tennis-players","tag-third-shot"],"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\/384","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=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":708,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions\/708"}],"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=384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}