How to deal with slice

[bostontennis]

please club level players nowadays are taught semiwestern grip forehand and topspin drive. I met this guy who mix topspin drive and slice on both forehand and backhand(2 handers).
I have difficulties to deal with him in match and practise. he uses slice, both forehand and backhand as set up. I have a ok backhand slice so he sends me a lot of slice to my forehand and I have hard time to give a quality return:
I can do forehand slice back, sometimes it works but my forehand slice is not very reliable due to lack of practice.
If I try to drive return a slice, i often would be caught late, mostly because i don't predict slice trajectory well, and after bounce, the ball is usually lower and sometimes faster than I imagined. So I often return short and became his set up. He has a good finish either topspin/flat drive or just slice to open court.

Any suggestion on best approach to deal with this? and some drill to practise?

 

[FRV3]

Are you more athletic than this person? In terms of being able to retrieve balls?

 

[LeeD]

Get into position early, have a target, hit through the ball. Pubish him for slicing, don't prolong the point.

 

[LeeD]

Punish.

 

[Mark-Touch]

Get into position early, have a target, hit through the ball. Pubish him for slicing, don't prolong the point.

A well executed and placed slice can not be punished.
That's why you see the pros often engage in extended slice-slice rallies.
If you could do as you say, immediately, that's what the pros would do!

 

[golden chicken]

Practice hitting drop feeds to groove hitting through balls with no pace.

Intermediate players often do fine hitting against moderate pace. You end up swinging mostly to reverse the spin on the ball and just reflect the power. A sliced ball needs the opposite, but intermediates don't make the necessary adjustments to their swing. You need to swing flatter to supply the power to send the ball back and you don't have to focus so much on reversing the spin.

 

[golden chicken]

Also if your opponent is hitting a lot of low, skidding slices, consider the kinds of shots you are hitting to him. If you are hitting loopy topspin with 6-10 feet of net clearance, you are giving him exactly what he needs to hit slice from above net level, which allows him to drive through the shot and get the ball to skid.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

If I try to drive return a slice, i often would be caught late, mostly because i don't predict slice trajectory well, and after bounce, the ball is usually lower and sometimes faster than I imagined. So I often return short and became his set up. He has a good finish either topspin/flat drive or just slice to open court.

This is classic [along with simply hitting into the net]. I can identify.

Try the following:
- Get lower to the ground so you can have a more pronounced lift
- Concentrate on the low to high part of your swing
- Back up a bit

I have an Eastern FH so dealing with the low slice is not as difficult as for someone with a more extreme grip. But I still have to the above 3 things or else I find myself either hitting a weak ball or a netter.

 

[mental midget]

some good advice here. if it's a real skidding slice, get low, hold the racket a little more firmly and rather than 'whip' at the ball which i'm assuming is your normal forehand, try a more connors-like flat swing plane, hitting through the ball firmly. that should generate a controllable deep groundstroke.

 

[Injured Again]

please club level players nowadays are taught semiwestern grip forehand and topspin drive. I met this guy who mix topspin drive and slice on both forehand and backhand(2 handers).
I have difficulties to deal with him in match and practise. he uses slice, both forehand and backhand as set up. I have a ok backhand slice so he sends me a lot of slice to my forehand and I have hard time to give a quality return:
I can do forehand slice back, sometimes it works but my forehand slice is not very reliable due to lack of practice.
If I try to drive return a slice, i often would be caught late, mostly because i don't predict slice trajectory well, and after bounce, the ball is usually lower and sometimes faster than I imagined. So I often return short and became his set up. He has a good finish either topspin/flat drive or just slice to open court.

Any suggestion on best approach to deal with this? and some drill to practise?

I started regularly playing a guy six or seven years ago who had the most severe underspin backhand that I normally see. He's a mid- to high 4.5 doubles player and would hit that slice and come to the net. I was totally hopeless playing against him because I couldn't time hitting over the ball, and a slice would float up for him to volley away. For two years, I never got close to even contesting deep into a set, never mind taking a set.

I got determined to learn to play against this shot as I had just advanced to 4.5, and spent probably a dozen sessions hitting against a ball machine set to maximum underspin. There were several realizations that helped me significantly. One important one is that for every court surface, there is a combination of speed and spin that will cause the ball to either skid through, or to catch the court surface roughness and check up. If you think the ball is going to do one thing and the other happens, a timing problem is inevitable. Learning to recognize this is just a matter of experience - you just have to see enough of these shots to determine what is going to happen. A second important one is that to compensate for timing issues that are the major problem hitting an offensive shot, you have to bend your knees and make the swing trajectory as level as possible. That way, if you mis-time, the ball will still generally have the right trajectory to get over the net and may still land in the court. If you stand straight up and hit with a pendulum type swing, mis-timing will send the ball into the net or over the baseline.

At that point, it is footwork, footwork, footwork, and practice, practice, practice. Once you see enough of those shots, you'll get the hang of it. As a side note, I haven't lost a set to this guy now for the past two years.

Here's a video I shot when I was playtesting the Pure Strike for Tennis Warehouse. At the level and age group that I play, this is typically how opponents will try to attack me, by hitting a slice to my backhand and hoping for a weak return back, or approaching with underspin to my backhand. Notice in the video that many of the shots are hit just after the bounce, which compounds timing issues so I'm trying to keep the stroke pretty simple. Bend low with the knees, have as level of a swingpath as possible, and make sure the footwork is good.

 

[LeeD]

A well executed and placed slice can not be punished.
That's why you see the pros often engage in extended slice-slice rallies.
If you could do as you say, immediately, that's what the pros would do!

Yeah, you're right. Better to let the slice play you and keep extending the point.

 

[bostontennis]

thanks a lot for advise. seems there is no way around. hitting many (nearly 50%) at level 4.0 4.5 looks like a winning strategy because not a lot of people practice that.

 

[bostontennis]

thanks a lot for advise. seems there is no way around. hitting many (nearly 50%) at level 4.0 4.5 looks like a winning strategy because not a lot of people practice that.

I started regularly playing a guy six or seven years ago who had the most severe underspin backhand that I normally see. He's a mid- to high 4.5 doubles player and would hit that slice and come to the net. I was totally hopeless playing against him because I couldn't time hitting over the ball, and a slice would float up for him to volley away. For two years, I never got close to even contesting deep into a set, never mind taking a set.

I got determined to learn to play against this shot as I had just advanced to 4.5, and spent probably a dozen sessions hitting against a ball machine set to maximum underspin. There were several realizations that helped me significantly. One important one is that for every court surface, there is a combination of speed and spin that will cause the ball to either skid through, or to catch the court surface roughness and check up. If you think the ball is going to do one thing and the other happens, a timing problem is inevitable. Learning to recognize this is just a matter of experience - you just have to see enough of these shots to determine what is going to happen. A second important one is that to compensate for timing issues that are the major problem hitting an offensive shot, you have to bend your knees and make the swing trajectory as level as possible. That way, if you mis-time, the ball will still generally have the right trajectory to get over the net and may still land in the court. If you stand straight up and hit with a pendulum type swing, mis-timing will send the ball into the net or over the baseline.

At that point, it is footwork, footwork, footwork, and practice, practice, practice. Once you see enough of those shots, you'll get the hang of it. As a side note, I haven't lost a set to this guy now for the past two years.

Here's a video I shot when I was playtesting the Pure Strike for Tennis Warehouse. At the level and age group that I play, this is typically how opponents will try to attack me, by hitting a slice to my backhand and hoping for a weak return back, or approaching with underspin to my backhand. Notice in the video that many of the shots are hit just after the bounce, which compounds timing issues so I'm trying to keep the stroke pretty simple. Bend low with the knees, have as level of a swingpath as possible, and make sure the footwork is good.

 

[bostontennis]

Also if your opponent is hitting a lot of low, skidding slices, consider the kinds of shots you are hitting to him. If you are hitting loopy topspin with 6-10 feet of net clearance, you are giving him exactly what he needs to hit slice from above net level, which allows him to drive through the shot and get the ball to skid.

good point, i will develop the same skill

 

[bostontennis]

Get into position early, have a target, hit through the ball. Pubish him for slicing, don't prolong the point.

Get into position early -- that's hard, given you can predict the "position". in many cases, I don't know where the best position is.

 

[bostontennis]

Are you more athletic than this person? In terms of being able to retrieve balls?

slicing back and compete on athleticism will be a losing game for me, because he slices better. however i can learn his skill and win other guys.

 

[LeeD]

Get into position early -- that's hard, given you can predict the "position". in many cases, I don't know where the best position is.

If it's supposed to be easy, why ask questions?

 

[PURETENNISsense]

This is classic [along with simply hitting into the net]. I can identify.

Try the following:
- Get lower to the ground so you can have a more pronounced lift
- Concentrate on the low to high part of your swing
- Back up a bit

I have an Eastern FH so dealing with the low slice is not as difficult as for someone with a more extreme grip. But I still have to the above 3 things or else I find myself either hitting a weak ball or a netter.

I agree with these steps!

Be sure to have a wide stance/base when hitting this. It's much harder to get under a tennis ball when the feet/base are narrow then when they are wider like a lunge position.

 

[FRV3]

slicing back and compete on athleticism will be a losing game for me, because he slices better. however i can learn his skill and win other guys.

How important is winning to you? People might not want to play with you if all you do is slice. However, against this guy, I was thinking it may work, but apparently he can finish so it won't work.

 

[nyta2]

please club level players nowadays are taught semiwestern grip forehand and topspin drive. I met this guy who mix topspin drive and slice on both forehand and backhand(2 handers).
I have difficulties to deal with him in match and practise. he uses slice, both forehand and backhand as set up. I have a ok backhand slice so he sends me a lot of slice to my forehand and I have hard time to give a quality return:
I can do forehand slice back, sometimes it works but my forehand slice is not very reliable due to lack of practice.
If I try to drive return a slice, i often would be caught late, mostly because i don't predict slice trajectory well, and after bounce, the ball is usually lower and sometimes faster than I imagined. So I often return short and became his set up. He has a good finish either topspin/flat drive or just slice to open court.

Any suggestion on best approach to deal with this? and some drill to practise?

other than slicing it back... (easiest IMO), then
short backswing, moonball it high.
driving it is possible, but will require quite a bit of practice (and is low %, for me anyway)

when i get into slice fights (typically bh to bh) with my buddy, it comes down to who hits the short ball that pops up, first... but to change rhythm i wll throw up a topspinny moonball on the right ball (ie. a bit higher)

 

[bostontennis]

How important is winning to you? People might not want to play with you if all you do is slice. However, against this guy, I was thinking it may work, but apparently he can finish so it won't work.

I am not competition driven. in fact i was beaten by a guy who slice and top spin drive and get me lost. i need to figure this out.

 

[bostontennis]

other than slicing it back... (easiest IMO), then
short backswing, moonball it high.
driving it is possible, but will require quite a bit of practice (and is low %, for me anyway)

when i get into slice fights (typically bh to bh) with my buddy, it comes down to who hits the short ball that pops up, first... but to change rhythm i wll throw up a topspinny moonball on the right ball (ie. a bit higher)

that sounds fresh. however i don't know how you can topspin moon ball when the sliced incoming ball is so low. my thought is to treat this as low volley, but with extended follow through, so that may become a underspin lob/moon ball. I haven't tried that, and I may try next time. That maybe less effective than simple slice back.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

other than slicing it back... (easiest IMO), then
short backswing, moonball it high.
driving it is possible, but will require quite a bit of practice (and is low %, for me anyway)

when i get into slice fights (typically bh to bh) with my buddy, it comes down to who hits the short ball that pops up, first... but to change rhythm i wll throw up a topspinny moonball on the right ball (ie. a bit higher)

I have great matches against one buddy and he's the only one who outslices me BH to BH. And, to make matters more challenging, he now has developed a DTL slice that tails away!