How to deal with high bouncing moonballs on the forehand

[Power Player]

You can hit across, over, drive it flat, it doesnt matter.

What matters is getting off the ground and raising your contact point to shoulder level.

[martini1]

Are they speaking the hobbit language?? LOL

To the OP you need to learn these things:
- ball sense: anticipate where the ball will land and how high it will bounce
- hit on the rise: hit the ball before it jumps up to your shoulder level and beyond. You will need to step in, not backing up. That's why ball sense is important.
- learn the reverse fh, and extreme semi western bh, and/or the bh slam. Hit with a ball on the rise with power and spin. You will get some of the rainbow shots ppl are talking above. BH slam it if it gets too high on the bh side. These shots will take time away from the moonballer to get into position.

The key is never back up. Watch the guy's strokes and if you see the moonball coming get ready to close in. A few rainbows later they should give you a short lob and that is when you come in for the kill.

[jakeytennis]

i either back up way behind the baseline to hit the ball in my strikezone (which only hurts me if my opponent comes to the net) or i slice it while it's high. i used to be good at running forward and vollying them out of the air.

[dlam]

The high moonball/lob with lots of topspin is best against a pusher

To counteract the moonball you gave to learn to hit the ball better with topspin and moonball back. Its another level Of tennis

[Mick]

if I had to play somebody who could hit moonball really well, I would hit short and bring him to the net to see how good his volley skills are. If his volley skills are inferior compared to his moonball skill, I would continue to hit short. That would stop him from hitting moonballs because nobody would hit moonballs from the net position.

[LeeD]

And the normal counter to a moonball is to move to service line position to volley the ball into an open corner, not giving the baseliner the time to set up for his next shot.

[TennisCJC]

For 3.0 level, I suggest backing up, letting the ball bounce and drop to just below shoulder height and hitting your normal groundstroke back with a lot of net clearance to keep it deep.

If you have a pretty good forehand, and you want to be more aggressive, try: hitting a hard topspin shot usually CC but DTL is OK. But sure to use some knee bend and lift because it is real easy to muff a slow high bouncy ball if you don't use some leg lift. If I am set up, I like to hit this pretty fast but with a lot of topspin for margin of error. Again, my key is use the legs to lift.

As others say, you can also move in and take it out of the air with a volley into the open court. Since you will likely be hitting this volley from fairly deep, you want to hit a firm volley and not try anything fancy - no severe angles or drop volleys. Basically, you are hitting an approach volley that you follow to net. I would not use a topspin drive volley, but an underspin volley as it is easier to learn and to keep deep.

[Wodz]

lmao I played with a 4.0 the other day and he was hitting moonball top spin a good 20' over the net.. I kept hitting defensive bh slices right onto his baseline to wipe out his power until he collapsed.. rotfl epic

[NLBwell]

Originally Posted by LeeD

And the normal counter to a moonball is to move to service line position to volley the ball into an open corner, not giving the baseliner the time to set up for his next shot.

Then move into the net.
The key at lower levels is to have a good overhead. Otherwise, they will kill you with lobs. If your OH is good, you get to kill the lobs.

[Nellie]

Originally Posted by Orion3

You could try this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tilMGez0xos

Will need practice regardless - good luck

While the emphasis of this video is taking the ball on the rise, it does raise one of my favorite points- prepare high and swing straight through the ball. A common mistake I see is preparing low (as if you are going to hit at a normal ball at hip height) and then swinging very loopy to get from that low starting position to a ball at your head height. This gives you no margin for error (a millisecond slow/early, and you are framing the shot). Also, this stroke gives you no power since you are almost entirely brushing and not contacting the ball. By preparing high and swinging level, you have a much better margin for error and power, and the ball will drop into the court due to gravity. You don't need to swing that hard (no kill shots), but your ball will be fast and flat - very tough for the moonballer.

[watungga]

High balls. Easy.

Like a forehand swing, throw your racquet high enough and over the fence.

When youre throwing the racquet, its not an arming stroke, as long as you start with the butt directed at the ball on takeback. Let the racquet and the handle throw themselves up to the ball. Relax wrist relax. To ensure relax wrist on this particular shot, pull your grip further the end of the handle.

Smile.

[President]

If you are using an eastern grip it can be difficult, shift a little over towards western. I use a full western grip and just crush high balls all day long.

[tennisdad65]

1) move way in and volley it
2) move a bit in and whack it flat on the rise at about shoulder height.. no need for spin. it is a high percentage shot from anywhere inside the baseline.
3) move back and moonball it back.

if you do #3 above, you will stay at 3.0-3.5 all your life

[mxmx]

Originally Posted by Chas Tennis

I once asked a tennis instructor how to hit high bouncing balls like moonballs. I had been using the mindset to still get topspin by hitting up on the back of even the high balls with very poor results. My instructor said that there is not as much need for topspin to bring the ball down on a high ball.....

He said to hit across the back of the ball horizontally, using mostly or all sidespin. The racket moves mostly to the side, parallel to the net. I found that I could hit much better shots off of balls above my head height using this sidespin impact. I position the ball in front of my face - facing the net the ball is directly between me and the net - and not to the side as on a forehand.

I also will return using moonballs or high deep ones and wait for a moonball return that I can come in on to volley. Best for that is to wait until you have hit a high one that will impact near the baseline. Wait and when your opponent is distracted and turns for your high bouncing ball, sneak in at the last minute.

I can confirm this...

On very high balls, either on the backhand or forehand side, i will also hit less topspin and more sidespin...almost at 45 degrees or more...any spin will slow the ball down and cause it to drop, even backspin in some instances (but not all)
In other words, in a less than ideal situation, i will contact the ball with a groundstroke above my comfort zone or even above my head. It is important not to lean back though...