Hitting at the ducks

The high ball!:twisted:

First, let's just be clear about what I mean. Anything bellow the shoulder is just too low for this topic; at the shoulder, it starts to be somewhat fit for us, but it's not quite high enough... I'm talking about hitting forehands on balls that are about head high or above.

What's so nice about being able to hit them hard is that you don't need a rising trajectory with them and, from that vintage point, hitting angles, even from far behind the baseline becomes a lot easier. But you need some juice to kill these puppies!

So, let's have a discussion on your tendencies, tips and thoughts about how to play these super high balls.:twisted:

Moonball them back.

Or hit a downward forehand slice (like a mini overhead smash but not a smash but a slice).

I hate these sorts of balls

I either go for an extreme western grip and hit some sort of forehand (less often), or just go for a standard overhead smash (more often).

Slicing is usually easier, but can lead to you being volleyed at the net..

I recall when my coach was just beginning to teach me this stroke and I was just starting to trust the shot but could no longer afford to continue my lessons. He was showing me how to hit this stroke from the side and not out in front. The contact point was also far away from the body as possible with a fully extended arm. That is the one part I could not get right. I just kept jamming myself to the ball instead of extending out and moving my weight into the shot. But when I did, WHOA! the ball blazed!

here is a very good training video on the topic that i revisit from time to time. enjoy!

1HBH Rocks said:

The high ball!:twisted:

First, let's just be clear about what I mean. Anything bellow the shoulder is just too low for this topic; at the shoulder, it starts to be somewhat fit for us, but it's not quite high enough... I'm talking about hitting forehands on balls that are about head high or above.

What's so nice about being able to hit them hard is that you don't need a rising trajectory with them and, from that vintage point, hitting angles, even from far behind the baseline becomes a lot easier. But you need some juice to kill these puppies!

So, let's have a discussion on your tendencies, tips and thoughts about how to play these super high balls.:twisted:

Click to expand...

High balls are usually winners for me. Just bend your knees, stick your left hand out at the ball so you don't airswing/ mishit. And then jump and drive the ball downwards.

Or alternatively, if it is a topspin moonball to the baseline take it on the rise.

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

it is really amazing all of the different variations of shots the pros drill against. i can honestly say that i have never drilled against moon balls or drilled against nothing but slice or etc etc etc. but i guess when you do this stuff to put food on the table, you best be drilling everything you can.

You can try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7_B3m5GzFk&feature=player_detailpage#t=15s

thebuffman said:

it is really amazing all of the different variations of shots the pros drill against. i can honestly say that i have never drilled against moon balls or drilled against nothing but slice or etc etc etc. but i guess when you do this stuff to put food on the table, you best be drilling everything you can.

Click to expand...

I did hitting sessions with a friend where he'd keep moon-balling all day. Once you've hit tons of them, you get to love these balls specifically due to the angle you get over court. It's tiring, however. A good trick I got is to use a scissor kick jump to hit the forehand (move the racket leg back and the other leg forward while in mid-air); it works well to hit a big shot, but it's pretty tiring to do without a little break of a few seconds.

thebuffman said:

I recall when my coach was just beginning to teach me this stroke and I was just starting to trust the shot but could no longer afford to continue my lessons. He was showing me how to hit this stroke from the side and not out in front. The contact point was also far away from the body as possible with a fully extended arm. That is the one part I could not get right. I just kept jamming myself to the ball instead of extending out and moving my weight into the shot. But when I did, WHOA! the ball blazed!

here is a very good training video on the topic that i revisit from time to time. enjoy!

Click to expand...

I hit it mostly with a straight arm when I do, but if you swing it right, a double bend could do the job too -- I do that one too, so I can tell it works.

sureshs said:

Moonball them back.

Or hit a downward forehand slice (like a mini overhead smash but not a smash but a slice).

Click to expand...

Yep. Anyone with a decent forehand slice can eat this sort of ball for lunch. Not necessarily a put-away, but it's easy for me to shoot a low skidder deep through the court when I have a ball up there or even hit an evil approach shot with a lot of accuracy compared with slicing a very low ball.

phnx90 said:

You can try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7_B3m5GzFk&feature=player_detailpage#t=15s

Click to expand...

actually, the motion is exactly what you want to do. for a righty, that would be thinking of hitting the top right of the ball and folding over to the bottom left. as if you were going to hit a reverse twist serve like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgap_W1kZCA

p.s. - that is not me.

thebuffman said:

I recall when my coach was just beginning to teach me this stroke and I was just starting to trust the shot but could no longer afford to continue my lessons. He was showing me how to hit this stroke from the side and not out in front. The contact point was also far away from the body as possible with a fully extended arm. That is the one part I could not get right. I just kept jamming myself to the ball instead of extending out and moving my weight into the shot. But when I did, WHOA! the ball blazed!

here is a very good training video on the topic that i revisit from time to time. enjoy!

Click to expand...

Thanks, excellent video, I was looking for a lesson exactly like that. Either I have been searching with the wrong keywords(likely ) or there's a paucity of these short and/or high ball put away lessons. Love hitting shots that overwhelm the opponent. Any similar videos or clips of pros hitting these would be great!

sportsfan1 said:

Thanks, Any similar videos or clips of pros hitting these would be great!

Click to expand...

certainly. you want to do a search on the "drip drive" or "tennis dip drive" and you will have better results. here are some other videos:

dip drive 1

dip drive 2
dip drive 3

drip drive 4

This is good stuff! However, this is for balls inside the court. What do you do if the ball comes deep and bounces high?

AltiusFortius said:

This is good stuff! However, this is for balls inside the court. What do you do if the ball comes deep and bounces high?

Click to expand...

Your contact point then has to be high and more toward the front of the body than side. Do some practice swing to see how the racquet has to make arc to have that kind of contact point. Prepare racquet high and swing in front and down and across. At the contact point the racquet may be almost vertical.

I love moon balls. Especially if they're in a form of a kick serve.

The key is to have optimal preparation. Once you have that, all you need to do is hop up and swing up and through the ball as hard as you possibly can, aiming a bit over the net. The heavy topspin will easily bring the ball into the court, and given the height, you have a ton of room for error. If you want, you can add some sidespin and aim more in the middle of the court to compensate.

I have a tendency to put unnecessary sidespin, and that tends to pull the ball off the court and out. If you want a clean kill shot, go for pure topspin, and simply go directly below and up the ball. I hit them at an angle when I don't mean to and create sidespin, and that sometimes costs me points when I want to aim down the line.

If it's deep and high, the only adjustment you need to do is just aim higher over the net. You should maintain a very fast, powerful windshield wiper motion no matter where you plan to hit this shot.

This goes by FYB's conventions, where you simply change your preparation for a high ball by setting your shot up higher. The only difference is that now, you have the excuse of being able to hit as much topspin and pace as you can, given the room for error from the initial height of the shot.

For high balls I contact near the baseline or forward, I just crunch it flat and deep - often it is a winner. The height of the ball at contact allows hitting forward/down with some margin for error. If driven deeper, a heavy topspin high over the net - watch some clips of Muster in his heyday. It can be really fun hitting these, trying to get the ball to be oval-shaped, especially on the (one-handed) backhand.

thebuffman said:

here is a very good training video on the topic that i revisit from time to time. enjoy!

Click to expand...

Great vid. Put it to use the other night; video pointers all rushing thru my head as I got a short high bounce -- move feet, keep distance, start racket high and swing hard! I guess 3.5 level stuff. I don't think I ever swung so hard. Aimed for empty court but unfortunately pegged the net guy in what was until that point a friendly game

thebuffman said:

it is really amazing all of the different variations of shots the pros drill against. i can honestly say that i have never drilled against moon balls or drilled against nothing but slice or etc etc etc. but i guess when you do this stuff to put food on the table, you best be drilling everything you can.

Click to expand...

Yeah you best be.:smile: