Using sidespin?

[S H O W S T O P P E R !]

I was playing at my court when I saw an old man play against his buddy. He was hitting the ball with a semi-western grip. What he did was pretty peculiar: he hit high-bouncing balls by bringing his elbow up to cover his mouth racquet back, and he just brings the elbow back and puts adds sidespin. I never saw it before and he won in straight sets with it. The ball, hit flatly but rotating at high speed, hit the ground and didn't move an inch. The ball also bounced maybe 4 inches up before going back down.

Have any of you seen sidespin before? Do you use it? I'm trying to learn it.

 

[TropicThunder]

that was really hard to understand, could you explain it a little better?

 

[S H O W S T O P P E R !]

that was really hard to understand, could you explain it a little better?

The guy used sidespin, which is like hitting regular topspin but he "brushed" the ball by the side which caused the ball to rotate like a top. The result was the ball losing a lot of energy and not moving from where it bounced. All the ball did was bounce and fall.

 

[tailofdog]

Choppers Heaven

I am 60 & play some seniors tennis. I run into a lot of guys who have been playing all their lives. Some have only been taught slice which they then added their own twist to. Some are self taught and have strokes that defy discription. One guy i have played against holds the racquet by his ear then bends so his head so the ball almost hits his face before he swings.
Make no mistake these guys are tough but, i think if you try to copy them you will hinder your development.
If you want get a BIG BUBBA or other super oversize racquet with big headspace. It will allow you more chance to chop slice & dice.
But, i would choose a more conventional style

 

[mitsuki]

I use sidespin, but only on touch shots. I'll use it on angle shots with topspin, but i usually use it on drop shots to make it harder on my opponent. On a good day, I'll hit all of my slice shots with sidespin.

 

[lob-ster]

sidespin?
i rotate my shoulders and hop away from the ball when i hit sidespin

 

[TropicThunder]

The only way I picture putting sidespin on a forehand like the OP says, would be on like a head-high ball that you put away with a right-to-left forehand swing; is that how that old man was hitting OP?

 

[Bud]

I was playing at my court when I saw an old man play against his buddy. He was hitting the ball with a semi-western grip. What he did was pretty peculiar: he hit high-bouncing balls by bringing his elbow up to cover his mouth racquet back, and he just brings the elbow back and puts adds sidespin. I never saw it before and he won in straight sets with it. The ball, hit flatly but rotating at high speed, hit the ground and didn't move an inch. The ball also bounced maybe 4 inches up before going back down.

Have any of you seen sidespin before? Do you use it? I'm trying to learn it.

The guy used sidespin, which is like hitting regular topspin but he "brushed" the ball by the side which caused the ball to rotate like a top. The result was the ball losing a lot of energy and not moving from where it bounced. All the ball did was bounce and fall.

What you are describing sounds like a 'squash' shot... which is basically a sidespin/slice shot. You'll notice a player will hit this shot on the forehand side, when a ball is almost out of reach. This shot is used instead of the topspin forehand which would place a player way out of good court position.

After the 'squash' shot is hit... it gently and slowly floats just over the net and skids very low on your opponent's side of the court. The slow/floating motion allows more time to get back into good court position... while the skidding makes it more difficult for your opponent to return. It's a great defensive shot as long as your opponent isn't covering the net. If they are covering the net... a lob (or a higher squash shot) over their backhand side is a more effective reply.

 

[tacotanium]

i do side spins. i can only do this on my 1hbh. so far no one has returned one of my side spin. but then again i hardly use it. it works wonder.

 

[SeekHeart]

I can do side-spins as well on by 1 bh which has a severe break to the side giving me an easy opening. On my forehand I can only do it on my right arm and not my left though it doesn't break as much as my bh.

 

[mitsuki]

I think i may be doing an inside out side spin thing. On my backhand, I make the ball curve to the left and to the right on my forehand.

 

[salsainglesa]

It also depends on the trajectory of the ball before it reaches your racket. One example of this is, in a cross court rally on the side of the advatages, you are exchanging backhands, and suddenly the ball comes to your forehand side, but still in this crosscourt trajectory, soyou hit a forehand to his forheand side. The ball already had a vector, towards that side of the court, that wont be lost, and will curve the ball outside to your left, even if you did the same stroke movement, and didnt change a thing. the incoming ball will always have an influence on the spin it can naturally have. a ball falling, bouncing up, going into you, or away from you.

 

[swimntennis]

I try not to put side-spin on all the time as that tells me my stroke is wrong (coming across the ball instead of over it). However, I do throw in side-spin occasionally just to change it up. It's quite funny actually. The one friend I play with has a tendency to set up too early on his forehand. So, I'll throw up a big floater with massive side-spin and watch him set up for an "easy put-away". The ball lands, moves a couple feet over to the left, and he whiffs. It never gets old.