need help dealing with constant drop shots

[fedfanforlife]

Hello - Been a long time lurker in the forums. These forums have helped me with my racquet customization and tips. I'm a 3.5 player looking to move 4.0 and have successful 3.5 time until this year. Every player I played this year decided to chop/slice/drop shot to finish the point and this has ruined my game. I played 4 matches in my USTA league and out of them I lost 3 matches in 3 sets. In all the matches I won the first set but in the middle/end of the 2nd set my opponents decided to drop shot on every shot. I usually play from baseline but comfortable playing in the forecourt. The problem I'm facing is that the most of the drop shots are towards to my forehand and in trying to keep the ball in play I end up feeding them with easy passing shots or a lob. Unfortunately, all my opponents have been able to do both quite successfully and by the end of the 3rd set I get tired running back and forth, and eventually lose by going for too much.


How do you deal with the constant drop shots ?. Any tip will be appreciated.

My style of play : Mostly play from the baseline with a lot of spin but nothing too crazy. I play with single handed backhand but most of the time I around my backhand to hit forehand.

 

[Limpinhitter]

First, if you hit high and deep groundstrokes (preferably cross court), and make your opponent hit from behind the baseline, effective drop shots are much harder to execute from that distance. Second, forcing your opponent to go for drop shots from a distance gives you more time to run it down and have a chance to put it away.

As for how to respond to a drop shot, many rec players will remain in the backcourt after hitting a drop shot. That is an opportunity for you to respod with an effective drop shot from short distance. After you hit your dropshot, follow your shot and crowd the net to cut off any response, if there is one. Be sure to use a Continental grip for drop shots. If you get to a drop shot early and the ball is above net level, go for a winner into the open court.

 

[Ft.S]

Certainly @Limpinhitter is on point. I am 3.5 and do not have good court coverage, I am slow to say the least. So when my opponents figure that out, they use drop shots on me as well. I had trouble dealing with them just like you, but recently I realized that if I can hit long balls to my opponents that are off center, they have more trouble coming up with good drop shots.

When I have to respond to drop shots, I also now try to send the ball back at an angle and/or with slight spin. That seems to help as well. However, with opponents that move really well that does not work either, so I have to watch for their movement and generally send back the ball to an area they are starting to run from in hope of catching them with a mis-step; otherwise, the next shot is a lob, which puts even more stress on my court coverage.

Additionally, at our level, we are not very good at disguising drop shots from regular shots. So, if I focus enough, I am getting better at reading their shot selection and react quicker to drop shots even if I am behind the baseline.

One last point: I find that if I put pressure on my opponents as frequently as I can by moving into court or moving to the net, they tend to use the drop shot much less often. This is more about putting a perspective into my opponent than my effectiveness at the net or hitting balls on the rise

 

[dct693]

First, if you hit high and deep groundstrokes (preferably cross court), and make your opponent hit from behind the baseline, effective drop shots are much harder to execute from that distance. Second, forcing your opponent to go for drop shots from a distance gives you more time to run it down and have a chance to put it away.

As for how to respond to a drop shot, many rec players will remain in the backcourt after hitting a drop shot. That is an opportunity for you to respod with an effective drop shot from short distance. After you hit your dropshot, follow your shot and crowd the net to cut off any response, if there is one. Be sure to use a Continental grip for drop shots. If you get to a drop shot early and the ball is above net level, go for a winner into the open court.

Agreed. Keep your balls higher and deep. Pace doesn't matter so much. I find if I get lazy and push back a ball that lands just past the service line, my opponents have so many more options. That said, I have done drop shots from behind the baseline, but it's a lower-percentage surprise tactic that I don't pull out more than once a set.

 

[KenC]

Aside from the above advice to hit deep, I would definitely start coming in to the service line behind every ball that will give your opponent enough difficulty that they have to hit something defensive, and most likely without pace and into the center of the court. Usually this is when you attack a short ball, but it can be behind any shot such as a high loopy shot to the backhand. When your opponent sees you are often at the net, the idea of the dropshot doesn't make sense to them anymore.

In general, I find the best antidote to many of my opponents' strategies is to just play an aggressive game and attack as often as possible, which keeps the pressure on your opponent to resist attack. I train often on attacking any ball that bounces before the service line, hitting a good approach, and trying to finish anything that comes back across the net with an easy putaway or smash. Besides keeping your opponent under increased pressure, it keeps the points short and avoids unneccessary fatigue. It takes a while to get good at it, but it is definitely worth it as you climb the ranks. And once you start coming in behind good serves, you will instill god-awful fear in most opponents, as no one today is good at fighting off a serve and volley player. Remember Federer against Stachovsky a few Wimbledons ago?

Lastly, you need to get good at putting short balls away, whether they are drop shots, mishits or just junk balls. It's worth practicing with someone who hits you drops and comes into the net so you can develop the touch neccessary to angle the ball away.

 

[RetroSpin]

A good rule is if someone is hurting you with something, no matter what it is, take that away from them and force them to go to Plan B.

If you are getting killed with drops shots, you have to crowd the baseline and be on the alert for them. It's easy to fall into the habit of hesitating to see if they are going to clear the net, but that is a bad mistake. Start forward the instant you see your opponent preparing for a drop shot.

The textbook reply to a drop shot is down the line. Crosscourt is good if they stayed back or are out of position. If you get the ball above the net and they are up close, try to hit them. Hard. Don't get too cute and try to lob over them. Miss it and you will be eating an overhead.

I look at a drop shot as an attempt to punk me and I really want to do damage to them and send a message.

 

[steve s]

Try a drop shot, on the drop shot you are receiving.

What I do not understand, if someone is hitting drop shots on every point, where in the heck are you???

 

[Bdole]

Fed has a nice 1-2 he does on most drop shots hit to him. He dinks it short and low down the line, then moves to cover the cross court response that inevitably comes.
As with most top pros, a drop shot or lob strategy against them is a very poor choice.

 

[fedfanforlife]

Thanks for all the tips.

@KenC : I agree with you , playing an aggressive game is a good idea. I'm used to playing consistently from the baseline trying to hit forehands to people's backhand and then every now and then I pull one down the line. What I'm seeing as the match progress my opponents drop shot every time when I go to their backhand. My approaches aren't the best. Most of times, I roll the ball over on my approaches to keep the ball in play and running around every backhand to hit forehand doesn't help either as I get tired by the 3rd set.

@steve s : if I'm serving, after my first shot its a drop shot or if I'm receiving after my return its a drop shot. My weakness is that I can't a drop shot consistently , most of the time it floats and sits up for my opponent to put away. I haven't been successful in using drop shot against a drop shot. Basically not confident on this shot, so I stay away from it. Something I need to learn and work on.

 

[Dartagnan64]

Singles tennis is all about depth, time and angles. If you are failing at those things then unconventional tactics tend to work. You need to look at why drop shots worl against you. Are you feeding them low short balls that are easy to hit drop shots off of? Are you staying too far back? Is your mobility challenged? Are you playing a pusher war forcing them to try to end the point sooner with unconvetional tactics?

Answer those questions and then solutions will come. If you can keep people back with your groundstrokes, get them moving, take advantage of their short balls, play more in the forecourt, then you likely won't be susceptible to this tactic for long. If you are slow-footed, play 3 feet behind the baseline and hit groundies that bounce at the service line, you are going to get drop shotted alot.

 

[Off The Wall]

Limpinhitter nails it.

Let me add that you should be on high alert for short balls every time your opponent hits the ball. If you are looking for something short, say a mishit, you'll be ready to attack it. If your wrong and it lands deep, well, you are already pretty much in position.

 

[pabletion]

Well.... Tennis is a game of exploiting your opponents weaknesses, so of course your opps have u figured out. How to stop it? Overcome your weaknesses, work on them, otherwise of course they'll be looking to hurt you there. Work on your footwork do drills to help you get to drop shots more comfortably, learn no hit them back when you get to them, if you're quick and know what to do, it's way easier. If you've time, you'll be able to hide the ball with topspin and some pace and go for winners or make your opps it a defensive shot, also have the option of hitting a counter dropshot. There's nothing worse than being completely predictable, if your Opp knows he'll hit you with a drop to your fh and knows what you'll do next, you're a sitting duck.... This is the beauty of tennis and sometimes what one doesn't like to work on: your weaknesses. But it's the only way to improve.

 

[elga]

How far behind the baseline do you play, and how deep are the balls that you hit to your opponent? If you're 3 ft behind the baseline and your balls land just past the service line, that's inviting a drop shot.

My guess without knowing more is that your shots could be deeper and/or you're playing too far behind the baseline to prevent the drop shots from happening as often.

When they do happen, then fitness, footwork, etc. comes into play and it starts with reading the opponent's shot - can you tell when he's going to drop shot or does he disguise it well? As soon as you read it, start running like crazy to the net.

 

[10isMaestro]

First of all, consider how a drop shot is played. Ideally, you'd like to lean forward, catch it in the lower to mid register (say, strike the ball at your hips), make contact around the baseline or inside the court and you'd like to use it parsimoniously in a disguised fashion because most people can get to a drop shot in time if they start to run early enough.

So, how do you trouble them? Give them balls that are outside that register: force lower or higher contacts. A contact that is made too low tends to force a more linear trajectory which gets the ball to skid a bit and shortens the distance the opponent has to cover before responding; a contact that is made too high tends to leave the ball bouncing higher which also affords more time to the opponent. You'd also like them to prefer making contact further behind the baseline or while moving back -- shifting your weight backward while hitting is hard, but it is even harder when your striking method involves taking pace off the ball, as when hitting a drop shot. That's from the back court.

What else can you do? Well, when players hit shorter, the appropriate response is to welcome their readiness to let you enter the court: they are so kind they let you move forward, so by all means do. Instead of waiting a maybe 4 or 5 feet behind the baseline, wait a foot behind -- or right on -- the baseline. If they start dinking so much you could wait inside the baseline, do it. By shifting your court position forward (on average), you appropriately respond to shorter balls -- and their appropriate response is to go for more length, which will turn them right back into your comfort zone. My friend seldom goes for big shots, so I often find myself waiting right on the baseline, or just a foot behind, looking to pick balls up early and move forward. Sometimes, he holds back on his first serve so much that I am comfortable waiting in the middle of no man's land... it works wonder.

 

[Lance L]

I think you are missing a piece to your strategy. A baseline player is a strategy, your goal is to have reliable groundstrokes that land deep and with some pace and spin. You prevent your opponent from being able to do anything with it, other than get it back. This is not pushing, the aggressive part is the depth and pace and spin, and consistency. For you, any ball that lands closer to the service line than the baseline should be considered a poor shot. Any shot that lands(without intent) near the service line is a failure. Now, we are constantly hitting sub-par shots, but the goal should be to hit as many of those deep balls as possible.
If your balls are landing closer to the baseline than the service line and are not floaters(some pace and spin), a fellow 3.5ish player will have a devil of a time hitting a drop shot that you can't get to.

Now, that said, if you do hit a short ball, you have to protect against the drop shot. If you know your ball is going to land short, move up at least to the baseline or even inside. This is not a good position, but at this point you do the best you can.

As I thought some more, obviously there are good shots that are not deep. A good sharp crosscourt fh that lands inside the service line is a great shot. For general purposes, deep is a good way to think of it.

 

[jlee0408]

Very difficult to drop shot a lob

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

As suggested by LH and others, most of your own shots should be deep -- in the middle of NML or deeper, if possible. If a lot of your shots are bouncing close to the back of the service box or shorter, you many be opening yourself up to drop shots. Obviously, your serves should land before they hit NML. However, weak serves can often be attacked with a drop shot.

If a player starts hitting drop shots against you, play up a bit. Instead of playing behind the baseline, play ON the baseline, or even a bit in front of the baseline. Make sure that you are executing a split step as your opponent is about to make contact with the ball. If you time your split step properly, you should be able to get to more of those drop shots (unless you are way back behind the baseline).

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

As suggested, you can play slightly in front of the baseline in order to handle drop shots more easily. This position might even discourage the drop shots.If you cannot handle most balls from this position, perhaps your backswing is excessive. Players with large (WTA) backswings tend to play in the red (several feet or more behind the baseline). This positioning can make you an easy mark for a drop shot -- especially if your shots are not deep enough.

If, however, you play just inside of the baseline and your opponent can sonsistently put the ball deep at your feet, then you heed to respect this and back off a little bit.

 

[Bender]

You can return a drop shot with your own drop shot.

If you lack touch, or feel that you hit your own drop shots too far, hit your drop shot with a very wide angle so you can cut down the distance down the length of the court without actually having to actually hit much shorter.

If your opponent's drop shots are landing right in the middle of the court, the advantages of doing this in that situation are that:

1. you are already in the middle of the court, so positioning yourself would be pretty easy
2. hitting a wide angle counter-drop shot at the net can only draw one high margin response, which would be another wide angle drop shot by the opponent rushing to get it, resulting in an easy put away by you

If your opponent's drop shots are landing either on the left or right side of the court, the advantage of doing this in that situation is:

1. you have a much higher margin of error since you have a lot more width of the court to work with, and your wide angle drop shot can actually be hit harder or even as a full stroke if it floats high enough

Your average person at the 3.5-4.0 range (at least so far as I understand it) doesn't nearly have enough control to consistently land drop shots short and low or with enough side spin to make it tricky, meaning that your response often will have a higher margin of error than your opponent's initial drop shot that started this in the first place. They also will not have the technique to consistently deal with very wide angles either.

You will have to change this strategy of course if your opponent starts coming in to the net after hitting the drop shot however. I such a case I would suggest either learning how to hit a heavy topspin forehand (if your opponent's dropshot does not land short enough), or maybe even use a bit of head fake + pass combo (if it does). Making a body shot is also a viable strategy, although not the nicest.

A fairly soft continental bunt down the line on either wing should be enough if you get there early enough and your opponent is already at the net. A short drop / touch shot going directly down the length of the court (assuming your opponent isn't directly in front of you) works too if you can cover the inevitable wide angle response from your opponent with a volley putaway too.

 

[coupergear]

Sounds like a mobility issue. Drop shots are hard to execute at lower levels. I can't imagine your opponents are hitting true drop shots every point. But if you have limited mobility they will realize a soft dink acts as a drop shot. If you simply can't cover thie ground its a strategy you will have a tough time against

Sent from my BLU STUDIO 5.5 C using Tapatalk

 

[Bender]

Sounds like a mobility issue. Drop shots are hard to execute at lower levels. I can't imagine your opponents are hitting true drop shots every point. But if you have limited mobility they will realize a soft dink acts as a drop shot. If you simply can't cover thie ground its a strategy you will have a tough time against

Sent from my BLU STUDIO 5.5 C using Tapatalk

If they are soft, short dinks, then they don't tend to be short enough to be difficult to deal with, in which case learning a topspin approach shot with a pivot or hopping step (depending on distance to net) would work wonders.

 

[LeeD]

If you get drop shotted, stand closer to NML than the backwall.

 

[10isMaestro]

If you get drop shotted, stand closer to NML than the backwall.

This might be a simple tip, but it is also a worthwhile tip.

People forget that there are quite a few dimensions to tennis, all of which can be altered and combine in several ways to produce certain effects. A ball can fly and bounce higher or lower, it can be sent wider or more toward the middle, shorter or longer and, of course, slower or faster. If you want to get to a shorter ball on time to have some options, you have to make a few adjustments, one of which is your court position. If you find yourself often running forward quite a bit to make contact, you're probably too far from the court on average; if you find yourself hitting late so often, you could be too close to the court on average.

Another thing is that you have to learn how to read your opponent. Only very few people can disguise a drop shot very well, or at least up to the point that they can use it repeatedly in a successful manner. Most amateurs telegraph that shot. You will see the continental grip early, the shorter set up, the higher takeback and, if they're good at it, they'll want to send the ball a bit higher so that it stop dead instead of skidding like a usual slice would, so you also can see them opening up that string bed around contact earlier than they would on a slice. People also tend to exhibit patterns, sequences of gestures they repeat, consciously or not. Someone who exploits drop shots often will have some tendencies that should also warrant suspiscion very early -- pick up on it! It's very hard to see very advanced players and professionals give up many details about their intentions, but a 3.5 to 4.0 player definitely would leave a few clues.

Now, if you want to get better at this, you have to look at tennis players and try to see if you can spot things about their posture, grip, preparation, etc. that reveal their shot selection before they make contact. You can also go through several points for one specific player at a time and try to see if some patterns emerge. To work it out, you try to find those patterns and telling cues and then test your knowledge with other footage -- i.e., see if what you spotted actually reoccurs all the time. If you can read high level players on your screen, you're probably more than well equiped to read your mates on the court.

 

[Moveforwardalways]

This is a common problem actually. It all boils down to how to play the junk ball. It's a 3.5 rite of passage.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

If you get drop shotted, stand closer to NML than the backwall.

Yes, this is exactly what I was suggesting in post #18.

 

[GuyClinch]

It happens to me too. Play up a little closer and make sure you split step.. The worst is the unintentional drop shot - you hit a good serve and the guy just shanks it back.. You have to be ready to pounce like you are expecting it..