{"id":981,"date":"2026-10-10T03:42:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T03:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=981"},"modified":"2026-10-10T03:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T03:42:26","slug":"why-your-speed-ups-keep-getting-blocked-back-complete-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=981","title":{"rendered":"Why Your Speed-Ups Keep Getting Blocked Back \u2014 Complete Fix"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Why Your Speed-Ups Keep Getting Blocked Back \u2014 Complete Fix\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YZXPtONYXBk?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>Universal Rackets breaks blocked speed-ups into three mistakes. First, players speed up balls they have no right to \u2014 below the net in a dink rally \u2014 so the ball goes flat or up and is easy to block. Only speed up balls at or above net height in your strike zone so you can hit high to low.<\/p>\n<p>Second, stop aiming into their counter wheelhouse. Aim at the center of the person so misses still jam the paddle-side hip or shoulder; predecide the target before you swing. Third, after every speed-up, snap the paddle back up and expect the block \u2014 better players will send it back. Mentally you&#8217;re hunting an opportunity for the next ball, not ending the point on the first swing.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Only speed up balls at or above net height<\/li>\n<li>Aim at the body center \/ paddle-side hip, not their open swing<\/li>\n<li>Preddecide the target before you attack<\/li>\n<li>Reload immediately \u2014 after you speed up, clean up<\/li>\n<li>Treat the speed-up as creating an opportunity, not winning the point<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In a dink game, call &#8216;go&#8217; only on balls above the tape<\/li>\n<li>After every practice speed-up, freeze in ready position and wait for a fed block<\/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>Universal Rackets breaks blocked speed-ups into three mistakes. First, players speed up balls they have no right to \u2014 below the net in a dink rally \u2014 so the ball goes flat or up and is easy to block.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732,"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":[598,3,604,200],"tags":[571,147,953,308,76],"class_list":["post-981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-counters","category-kitchen","category-speed-ups","category-strategy","tag-aim","tag-block","tag-cleanup","tag-speed-up","tag-universal-rackets"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/05-rec-doubles-outdoor-court-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981","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=981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}