the behind-your-head overhead shot

[takeuchi]

I can pretty much hit a great overhead when i take it on the bounce and i can get behind the ball and move into it. The overheads I have troubles with are the ones where the ball gets behind your head and if you were to hit it normally it would just go out. Usually happens on good lobs that have a good horizontal component to them. When you try to hit it in the air in front of you it would be too high, but if it were over/behind your head it would be perfect height.

How do you handle these overheads when you don't have any time to move behind it?

I read in a previous thread about a windmill motion?

7. If a ball gets too far behind you to hit any kind of normal overhead, use the straight-armed "windmill" or "sky hook" overhead, which allows you to maintain a vertical plane in your racquet face even with the racquet well behind you.

Any explanations of this or help otherwise would be great.

 

[Kana Himezaki]

These ARE pretty hard. You shouldn't be aiming for a normal overhead, just get it deep, usually with some spin to stay on the offensive.

What I recommend (and Tracy Austin, for that matter) is a sort of scissor kick. For these lobs, you'll probably have to be leaning backward, off your back foot. While hitting the overhead I find a sort of small scissor kick works, and I land back on the forward foot. You don't get a lot of power, but it's harder otherwise.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

On:
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If a ball gets too far behind you to hit any kind of normal overhead, use the straight-armed "windmill" or "sky hook" overhead, which allows you to maintain a vertical plane in your racquet face even with the racquet well behind you.

Any explanations of this or help otherwise would be great.
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Connors was an expert on this. You don't take any "trophy pose" as in serving, you just bring the hitting arm, while being pretty straight, from behind your body, over your head, to hit the ball.

Anyway, as always, get back first your right shoulder and step back with your right leg, then shuffle back with some crossover steps.

 

[Thanatos]

I use the sisscor kick and 9/10 times I successfully nail that overhead. It feels like you are going to fall backwards, but it's a very useful shot.

 

[takeuchi]

I'm not sure i completely understand the scissor kick. Is it just basically hopping from the back leg to the front while leaning backwards?

 

[TennsDog]

For scissor kick, you are leaning backwards and push off of your back leg. This will give you an extra boost both backwards and up, which is where you want to be. Then, as you are in the air, you swing you foreward leg back around the time of contact and swing the back leg forward and land on the leg that started out in front. Hope this helps you to visualize it. This is a great tool for tough overheads.

 

[takeuchi]

thanks for the explanation tennsdog. i think i can visualize it, but now that i think about it i was probably already doing it on the hard to get lobs. I will try it combined with this straight arm technique next time.