Slicing a High Ball

[Roy125]

I have a one-handed backhand and I find high balls to that side annoying. I am perfectly fine at slicing low or medium balls, but those high balls give me much trouble. I unintentionally give a weak floater with those high balls when I slice them. How do I make my slice on high balls flatter and less floaty? In other words, how do I change my slice stroke on low/medium balls to adjust to the high ones?

I heard of a spanish slice before on this forum but I never actually found out what it was. I heard that it was helpful for these kind of balls though but iIm not sure.

 

[tennis_pr0]

Just change your swing path a bit. Slice down on the ball a bit to bring the ball down into the court instead of slicing straight across it. Also, if your balls are sailing long, try closing your racquet face more.

 

[Pwned]

Problems here too. I either do the floater or bite down too much on the ball and slice it into the net.

 

[tennis_pr0]

It's a tough ball to deal with, keep the motion short, and make sure you have good forward motion with the racquet instead of just the downward slicing motion.

 

[salsainglesa]

Top spin or slice, its easier if you hit te highball with a little sidespin...
30 percent sidespin... 70 percent top or slice

and aim cross court...

 

[dancraig]

Now that you know how difficult a high backhand can be to handle, use it against your opponents. Hit them a few and see how well they can return them. Sometimes you can draw an error or at least a weak reply.

 

[paulfreda]

For that high ball to the BH, change your grip to a SW and you will not have problems any more.
You just need to practice it.

A continental grip with a high ball to the BH is difficult because of the position of the wrist.
It helps to take it later back by the body but it will still be a weak shot for nearly everyone.

Try learning to switch to the SWBH grip.
Since the ball is high, it can not nave much pace as too much energy is in the vertical direction.
So you will have lots of time to switch.

 

[Noltae]

i gave up on a high backhand slice in favor of topspin - it maybe harder at first but a stronger shot to use in in most cases - at that stage in a point i think a high BHS is too defensive in that your opponent will surely hurt you afterwards - just a thought - difficult to do with too big a head size - again just a thought.

 

[Jay_The_Nomad]

YOu really need to punch through the ball.

Go practise high backhand volleys.

 

[skiracer55]

One thing everyone's missing here...

...is don't let the ball get up high in your hitting zone. That is, keep your contact point where it is for a medium height ball. So, essentially, go after it...play the ball, don't let it play you...and hit it while it's still coming up in your ideal hitting zone...

 

[Jaewonnie]

im like the master at that shot. Try pushing forward and down.

 

[GPG]

YOu really need to punch through the ball.

Go practise high backhand volleys.

this.

I hit high shots from the BH side as if they were volleys, they go harder and I feel more control while hitting

 

[LeeD]

Main thing is closed shoulders, closed stance, solid posture and stroke down and INTO THE COURT.
You can use conti volley grip, but you have to close shoulders more and hit outside of the ball 30% as said.
You can use a stronger eastern or sw grip, and hit almost directly under the ball, and that allows less shoulder turn, less closed stance, and flatter, less spinning ball.
Key here is lower net clearance. Since you have a higher ball to work with, you can clobber it downward, skim the net, and cause an effective skidding low shoetop slice at the opponent's baseline.
And what better ball to hard slice a dropshot DTL than something around top of the head heights to your backhand side?

 

[spacediver]

I've become better at this shot over my last two court sessions. I find that a confident posture really helps. It seems to be a pretty physically demanding shot, as you have to maintain a powerful contact while arm and shoulder are at a mechanical disadvantage.