Hammering the Short Ball

[tennis_eel]

Hey, I really need some tips for when it comes to hitting the short ball, every time I get a short ball I hit the thing out.
Can you guys give me any advice to what I should do when the short ball comes? I see it a lot because I have a big serve and when I do see it I put the ball out and to a lesser extent, into the net.

 

[Topaz]

Are you hitting it flat? When I try to hit and put away short balls, and I don't put any spin on them, they go way out.

 

[Koaske]

If the ball is high and quite close to the net, go ahead and hit it flat. If the ball is quite low, hit with topspin. To hit a good put-away you have to remember to:
1.Keep your head cool while hitting and see the ball.
2.You have to get to the ball early;It's harder to hit it on the run. If your opponent regularly hits short return off your serves, you can anticipate it by moving a little more forward right after you've served your bomb and get ready to dash forward.
3.Do not try to hit it too hard! The more skilled a player gets, the more consistent he gets with shots with a lot of pace. A put-away needs to be hit with high %, so take off a little pace to make sure it lands in. You have to experiment on how hard you can hit it to consistently keep it in the court. "But won't the opponent get to the ball if I don't hit it with enough pace?" " Not if you place it well with enough depth." The placement is a very important factor in put-aways! Even if you didn't hit a clean winner with your well-placed put-away, it's not likely that it's coming back or if it is, the ball will be short and you can hit another put-away.

 

[mclee025]

Maybe you need to practice that shot. You might want to get a good rally buddy with a bucket of balls to feed you shots similar to the short ball you might get on a weak return so you can really groove it. After you've hit a few hundred, you might be able to do it in your sleep.

 

[jstr]

Watch the ball at contact, not at the court/ your target...

 

[treo]

Don't hammer it. If you hit the ball when you are halfway to the service line you already have taken a lot of their reaction time time away. Relax, take a 3/4 swing, go for placement and advance ready to volley. Many times they have to guess which way your going to hit it so if you just get it in with medium pace you have a 50% chance of a winner.

 

[narrator]

hit it flat when its still high, the ball should go down by itself

 

[andyroddick's mojo]

don't just try and hit it flat. you can hit it with some spin too, but what you really got to remember is to throw your weight horizontally, kind of like jumping forward a bit, instead of leaning down like you might cause you might think you want to smash it DOWN, but throw your weight horizontally and you'll do fine.

 

[LuckyR]

You want to hit these low balls (they are low balls, right?) with a high racquet head speed, but not a lot of pace ie translate the head speed into spin, not pace.

 

[metsjets]

train yourself to not hit the ball so hard. just use a quicker and much smaller swing.

 

[Woodstock_Tennis]

Choke up on the handle.

 

[tennis_eel]

Yeah they are low balls, not in the hitting zone. I put can put away the short ball if it's high, around shoulder height or chest high but yeah the lower ones are the real bad ones for me.

 

[looseswing]

I have not read all of the posts so sorry if someone said this, but if the ball is short you should not be going for a winner right away. You should approach with it (usually down the line) and then put the volley away.

 

[goober]

Yeah they are low balls, not in the hitting zone. I put can put away the short ball if it's high, around shoulder height or chest high but yeah the lower ones are the real bad ones for me.

For these types of balls I agree with the posters saying don't hammer it. I would definitely go for placement with a shorter swing and follow it in for a volley. Trying to hit a winner from short ball below the net is a low percentage shot.

 

[FH2FH]

The best advice I've heard was a Tennis Channel 1 minute clinic with Rick Macci (know's what he's talking about):

High balls go cross court, Low balls go down the line.

I believe this normally means finish the point with a high ball, since there is greater net clearance and you can hit a nice angle. For the low ball, you just want to make your opponent pass you, so get it deep (no sitters).

The preparation on "getting there" is more important than how hard you hit the ball. Get there in time so you can have more high balls and can take a relaxed and controlled swing. You want to win the match - not make one or two ESPN highlights losing 1 & 1.

 

[kevhen]

I slice approach short balls down the line and finish with a volley or overhead. I don't try to hammer short balls or they often will go out. Place to the corners away from your opponent and you will usually get a weak reply.

 

[tennis_eel]

I didn't mean hammer as in hit it as hard as I can I meant as in put it away, I just typed it up wrong my mistake, I'll shorten my swing when i see it, I have a pretty full swing.

 

[mowcopian]

just hit thrpugh the ball and angle ur racket head dwn so the ball goes dwn aswell.

 

[downthemiddle]

The short ball does not always have to be a winner. The key is in mixing it up and not giving your opponent the same look every time. You can hit a low, off-paced flat shot, underspin, topsin, or just crank it. Mainly though, if you are going to hit the ball "hard" topspin is always necessary with any shot to keep the ball in the court.

 

[mowcopian]

tht is a neccesity.