dozu
Banned
Basically the term 'slice' has every player started on the wrong foot.
Beginners see the pros swing the stick from high to low, plus they see the back spin on the ball in super slow-mo, plus they call it the 'slice'...... so guess what... they literally slice the ball!
and what happens? they slice at it - i.e. chop at it... ball floats up, no pace, a sitting duck.
this stroke is not taught properly even at the Division I level - not to mention at the high school level, every kid I have hit with produce the exact choppy sitting duck with their slice.
I have only correct a small number of people on this stroke - people I know well enough so they don't take offense, or people who are willing to listen.
the teaching community, and the TV commentators, should all call it the backhand drive, the backhand 'knock', the backhand tap -what have you.
when I correct people on this stroke, the first thing I tell them is to forget about the term 'slice'; the 2nd thing I ask them to do is to try to hit the ball with NO SPIN - ZERO..... all of a sudden they all produce this penetrating thing of beauty.
of course even if the intention is to hit a ball with no spin - in reality the ball does come with underspin, because the impact is with an open racket face.
whoever invented the term 'slice' should be shot - that person definitely didn't know how to hit it properly... he probably just watched from the sidelines and went - hm, how should this shot be called.... because it looks like a high to low chop... let's call it the 'slice' !
the rest is history - millions of tennis fans played their whole lives without knowing why their 'slice' doesn't look like the 'slice' on TV !
Beginners see the pros swing the stick from high to low, plus they see the back spin on the ball in super slow-mo, plus they call it the 'slice'...... so guess what... they literally slice the ball!
and what happens? they slice at it - i.e. chop at it... ball floats up, no pace, a sitting duck.
this stroke is not taught properly even at the Division I level - not to mention at the high school level, every kid I have hit with produce the exact choppy sitting duck with their slice.
I have only correct a small number of people on this stroke - people I know well enough so they don't take offense, or people who are willing to listen.
the teaching community, and the TV commentators, should all call it the backhand drive, the backhand 'knock', the backhand tap -what have you.
when I correct people on this stroke, the first thing I tell them is to forget about the term 'slice'; the 2nd thing I ask them to do is to try to hit the ball with NO SPIN - ZERO..... all of a sudden they all produce this penetrating thing of beauty.
of course even if the intention is to hit a ball with no spin - in reality the ball does come with underspin, because the impact is with an open racket face.
whoever invented the term 'slice' should be shot - that person definitely didn't know how to hit it properly... he probably just watched from the sidelines and went - hm, how should this shot be called.... because it looks like a high to low chop... let's call it the 'slice' !
the rest is history - millions of tennis fans played their whole lives without knowing why their 'slice' doesn't look like the 'slice' on TV !