How to hit a flat rally starting shot?

kengan

New User
What I mean is the first shot of the rally, where often you see some players pretty much "spank" the ball over so that it doesn't have any top spin unlike a regular forehand.

You can see Federer doing this in the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjBXVQyiwg&feature=related

0:00, 6:06, 8:59, 9:46, etc.

I've always been hitting the first shot in an almost forehand like manner, but a bit more flat. The funny thing is that my ground strokes are perfectly fine as soon as I step in the court, but I've noticed my "rally starter" tends to pop up to the right side, when I'm aiming down the center. The mis-hitting disappears after a few minutes but the same thing would repeat itself the next day.

At this point, I'm not even sure if it has something to do with me over thinking and choking my racquet or just something fundamentally wrong with my stroke.

Thoughts?
 

rkelley

Hall of Fame
One way is to use a continental grip, toss the ball to the fh side, hit it low (below the waist) and just sweep through it. It's the feed you use if you're coaching people. I gotten pretty good at it since I've been helping my son over the last year. Also helps give you a continental grip fh, which you can use for a low approach on the fh side and every once in a while is a nice desperation shot to have.
 

WildVolley

Legend
Many if not most professionals will do this feed with a scooping motion and something close to a continental grip.
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
It's called a FEED, something you would hit to a beginner friend so he/she can hit it back easily.
Conti or close to grip, flat hit ball, short swing.
 

kengan

New User
Thanks for all the tips, they're all pretty much what I've been doing but I'm still having a hard time hitting it with a continental grip.

One of the reasons why I'm trying to work on the feed is that I'm hoping to do some coaching in the near future, most likely starting out as an assistant with younger children. Feeding them a flat shot would definitely be better than one with slight top spin.
 
Is there any slice motion in this shot, so that the ball curves back in towards your opponent, and possibly enabling you to hit harder but still keep the ball in the court. I am obviously not talking about trying to hit a winner here, but just to start the rally with a ball that's hit harder...
 

pvaudio

Legend
Bend your knees, and up the intensity. You look like you're sleepwalking out there...
Heh, I'm sitting on the side taking pics:
45217_454770754399_706819399_6176765_581486_n.jpg
 

TaihtDuhShaat

Semi-Pro
Continental or eastern grip-

Take your hand without a racquet, and from the the ground with your palm facing forward, push your arm forward until your palm faces the ceiling. that is the motion. Now, your racquet head should be facing exactly as your palm does without the racquet It's just like tossing a ball to someone.
 
Last edited:

zapvor

G.O.A.T.
it took me a while to get this down. basically you just keep practicing it until you figure it out. your body will eventually figure out how to do this. the key is to tell your brain what you want to do. for the longest time i would bounce feed it, until i saw everyone feeding off teh drop. so i just kept doing it until i got it
 

corners

Legend
Continental grip. And play a lot of mini tennis using continental both sides to develop feel and touch. Some great Australian coach (can't remember who) once said that if your opponent starts a warmup rally with their forehand grip rather than continental it's a dead giveaway that they have no feel and you should drop shot and dink them to bring them to net.
 

pvaudio

Legend
Continental grip. And play a lot of mini tennis using continental both sides to develop feel and touch. Some great Australian coach (can't remember who) once said that if your opponent starts a warmup rally with their forehand grip rather than continental it's a dead giveaway that they have no feel and you should drop shot and dink them to bring them to net.
Maybe back in the days of McEnroe. Go tell that to Federer warming up there with a forehand grip. Now, if you mean he feeds with a forehand grip vs. a continental grip, then I'm still confused because it doesn't really matter.

I do agree about the mini tennis though, but not with a continental grip. Use your normal, full strokes. It's about controlling the ball. Anyone can dink the ball with a continental grip from the service box. That's not mini tennis.
 

pvaudio

Legend
Continental or eastern grip-

Take your hand without a racquet, and from the the ground with your palm facing forward, push your arm forward until your palm faces the ceiling. that is the motion. Now, your racquet head should be facing exactly as your palm does without the racquet It's just like tossing a ball to someone.
This. It's a scoop. The racquet face should travel directly toward your opponent and then be facing the ceiling on the follow through.
 

BevelDevil

Hall of Fame
I think Fed starts the rally using a feed because otherwise his straight-arm forehand would require him to drop the ball uncomfortably far from his body. Also, his extreme pull style doesn't allow him to just arm the ball over the net.
 

kengan

New User
Good pointers about the scooping part. Practiced this shot on the wall for the first 10 minutes as warm up today and it felt a lot better, still not comfortable enough to use it in a rally though.

From what I can see the racquet should be pretty much be almost straight down when you hit that shot, maybe 45 degrees? Would you say that's fair?
 

Power Player

Bionic Poster
My friend, you're thinking about it too much. Just try it instead. It's just a ball feed :)

Its actually tricky if you hit with a western/semiwestern all the time. I actually had to go practice this..lol. It makes sense because a lot of us as juniors (pre internet) had improper volley grips and never got comfy with a conti outside of slice and serve.

I hit everything with a semi..it was crazy..everything but serves.

What happens now since I dont practice it much is that I will hit the ball way to the right when I go to feed. But that is ok because I now get the scoop motion and can fix it. It will also help with my forehand volleys, which are pretty bad now (once again from years and years of using the wrong grip).
 

Limpinhitter

G.O.A.T.
What I mean is the first shot of the rally, where often you see some players pretty much "spank" the ball over so that it doesn't have any top spin unlike a regular forehand.

You can see Federer doing this in the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjBXVQyiwg&feature=related

0:00, 6:06, 8:59, 9:46, etc.

I've always been hitting the first shot in an almost forehand like manner, but a bit more flat. The funny thing is that my ground strokes are perfectly fine as soon as I step in the court, but I've noticed my "rally starter" tends to pop up to the right side, when I'm aiming down the center. The mis-hitting disappears after a few minutes but the same thing would repeat itself the next day.

At this point, I'm not even sure if it has something to do with me over thinking and choking my racquet or just something fundamentally wrong with my stroke.

Thoughts?

I've seen a lot of rec players and pros do it. I don't see the point of it, unless you are a coach feeding the ball to a student, as LeeD said.
 

Power Player

Bionic Poster
OP wants to be a coach I believe from his posts.

I want to do it personally because I think it would help me get more comfortable with the conti grip.
 

kengan

New User
Not necessarily going into coaching, but I'm doing this more to satisfy my mindset. I consider myself a pretty well rounded player, and I would never say no to learning a new shot. Plus, I think it's beneficial in the long run to develop more feel.

What I can say is that if you've been used to hitting the feed like a forehand, this won't be the easiest shot out there to learn. Especially if you're aiming to hit it the way Federer hit his in the video.

Going back to the usefulness of this shot, some have said this is essential yet many others call this a counter productive shot. I think Brent Abel (Youtube) mentioned in one of his videos that you're wasting a perfectly good chance to practice your forehand stroke when you opt to do a "smack" feed instead. In a match, chances are you will never hit a shot that flat so he does have a point.
 
Top