If a lefty can drive people nuts w/ BH slice,

[Roforot]

why can't I use slice on my FH?
I just realized after watching a lefty play a right hander, the righty would hit hard shots at his backhand, and he would just chip them back and keep the ball low. Righty ended up overhitting and making a lot of errors or hitting a short ball that lefty creamed.

Well, supposedly the slice forehand is low percentage and should only be used for approach shots, but it seems to me that it should be pretty effective.

[Bungalo Bill]

Try it and tell us how you do.

[kevhen]

My slice forehand is consistent as hell with great placement and many players struggle with dealing with the timing and spin of it. It's extremely hard to volley when I crank up the spin on it. It is hard to put balls away with it, but I have worked all year on my topspin putaways so I am starting to mix it up more in matches now and using the topspin to finish points, unless I can use placement to put the ball away with the slice. I love my slice forehand and everyone is amazed at how good it is. Topspin forehand is very nice too though!

I will rally from the baseline with my slice, play defense, and wait for errors, or hit slice approach up-the-line to my opponent's backhand. The slice is cool to in that you can have it skid low or hit it slow and high and have it bounce straight up. Some opponents stuggle with low balls and others struggle with no pace. It's harder to hit crosscourt and keep it deep but some people struggle dealing with slice on their forehand side as well.

[Camilio Pascual]

The slice forehand is underused in the amateur game, especially on clay, imo. Try to hit a few low FH slices to a 2H BH right at the beginning of a match, especially against someone with an extreme Western grip and/or stiff knees. If he has trouble with it, goodbye topspin, hello slice for the rest of the match.

[Kirko]

You said it ! It really rattles a guy ; not many players who have honed strokes ever really encounter it & when they do whoa !

[Roforot]

I'm not advocating abandoning a topspin FH; however, it's odd that the slice FH is not being taught (at least when I was learning to play). I know I hate it when the ball skids a couple inches off the ground.

[Frank Silbermann]

A strong forehand slice will tend to have more sidespin than backspin. Hit them down-the-line as often as you please; it's a very effective shot at any level of play.

[JohnThomas1]

The short balls that the lefty creamed would have been on his forehand? Which would put them on your backhand?

[ucd_ace]

I use slice on my forehand all the time. It's very consistent; if I just want to get the ball on the other side of the net and in play I go to my slice. I use it a lot on the return of serve and when using the 'chip and charge' tactic. On the return of serve, it can really neutralize an opponents big serve. They blast it and you just use that pace to slice it back and you've survived an offensive shot and now you're playing from a neutral position. It's not very different strategically to the backhand slice, the backhand slice is just utilized a lot more. I never try to put side spin on it, it's not something that I would emphasize, it just makes it a whole lot easier to screw up. Abandon topspin? I would never suggest that, but learning to slice your forehand is equally as useful as learning how to hit slice and topspin off your backhand side.