I sometimes see that when people (including pros) get a very high ball on the forehand side, they'll hit with a very flat swing path that starts high and finishes low and sort of spank the ball flat. Net clearance and topspin isn't a primary concern because the ball is hit from a very high starting point and the goal is to hit a penetrating flat shot.
I have developed something similar on the backhand side (I have a one-hander). Some things I have noticed are that you do not have to have a ridiculous swing speed to get really good pace on the shot since the energy is going into speed and not spin. You can kind of swing relaxed and the ball will really ping off the racket. However you have to wait for the ball to get up really high (at least as high as your chin) otherwise you won't have enough margin over the net to pull it off consistently. The swing starts high and finishes kind of slightly higher than waist height, so it is a very flat swing path. However it is definitely not a slice as you do not chop the ball downwards, but just drive straight through it instead.
The thing is that I haven't seen this shot often on the pro tour. A few two-handers kind of do something similar when they get a high ball around the service box. The only time I saw a one hander do it was at last years's French Open where Wawrinka took a backhand that bounced over his head and smashed it flat down the line using this swing path. He was playing Gasquet.
So basically this shot works for me, but is it legitimate? Another option would be to use a very low to high swing path and hit up even higher on the high ball like Gasquet does, but then you'll end up with a topspin moonball duel, which is not always desirable because I find that it takes a lot of effort to continue to whip up on the ball like that over and over. The flat shot I described before is actually energy-efficient and you can hit it consistently as long as you only use it on high balls (otherwise you'll hit the net). I thought that since I see people do this all the time on the forehand side, why not copy it on the backhand...? Is it a legit shot?
I have developed something similar on the backhand side (I have a one-hander). Some things I have noticed are that you do not have to have a ridiculous swing speed to get really good pace on the shot since the energy is going into speed and not spin. You can kind of swing relaxed and the ball will really ping off the racket. However you have to wait for the ball to get up really high (at least as high as your chin) otherwise you won't have enough margin over the net to pull it off consistently. The swing starts high and finishes kind of slightly higher than waist height, so it is a very flat swing path. However it is definitely not a slice as you do not chop the ball downwards, but just drive straight through it instead.
The thing is that I haven't seen this shot often on the pro tour. A few two-handers kind of do something similar when they get a high ball around the service box. The only time I saw a one hander do it was at last years's French Open where Wawrinka took a backhand that bounced over his head and smashed it flat down the line using this swing path. He was playing Gasquet.
So basically this shot works for me, but is it legitimate? Another option would be to use a very low to high swing path and hit up even higher on the high ball like Gasquet does, but then you'll end up with a topspin moonball duel, which is not always desirable because I find that it takes a lot of effort to continue to whip up on the ball like that over and over. The flat shot I described before is actually energy-efficient and you can hit it consistently as long as you only use it on high balls (otherwise you'll hit the net). I thought that since I see people do this all the time on the forehand side, why not copy it on the backhand...? Is it a legit shot?
