hey guys in today's video I want to teach you the Carlos Alcaraz forehand drop shot
and you notice I'm standing on the backhand side and that's what makes Alcaraz drop shot
so special why because he likes to run around his backhand he has one of the best forehands
in the world and players on the other side of the Court are expecting a forehand blast
and very frequently instead of going for the forehand winner Carlos alcaraz will
pull out a forehand drop shot most of the time he likes to hit it inside out
now before we get into how to hit this specific shot that alcaraz likes to use let's talk about
some drop shot fundamentals and what you have to do on the drop shot whether it be a forehand drop
shot or backhand drop shot is go high to low you have to create under spin if you do this really
well you might even create backspin now what does that mean it means that when you hit a drop shot
the ball is not going to go through the court it's going to have a tendency to stop if you're
practicing Drop shots I like you to imagine your drop shot bouncing at least four times before it
crosses the service line you know that you put a lot of underspin on that ball and this is indeed
a quality drop shot also you want to have a low trajectory over the net you don't want to
hit that thing too high and let it sit up because it's going to be easier for your opponent to get
the ball so what is the best technique to hit such a shot well you have to hit the ball high to low
so in essence it's a technique that's very similar to a slice and let's talk about the differences
between a forehand drop shot and a backhand drop shot biomechanically the backhand drop shot is a
lot easier to execute than in fact most players have an easier time hitting a backhand drop shot
compared to a forehand drop shot now why might that be the case because we can keep the wrist
in a more natural position on the backhand drop shot while on the forehand we do have to bend the
wrist back and what I call the L shape and a lot of players at the recreational level
don't have enough control in their wrist and I like to let the wrist go and now they lose
their chances of hitting a successful drop shot or a slice or a volley for that matter so all
those three Strokes are biomechanically simpler to execute on the backhand side
so what you have to remember is that when you attempt Drop shots you want to primarily do
this from your backhand side now this video is titled how to hit a forehand drop shot like Carlos
alcaraz in order for you to hit a drop shot with your forehand you have to practice it a lot and
on top of that you have to develop feel now what is feel where it's basically having the ability
to hit the ball softly with your hand having a loose hold of the Racket and absorbing the ball
that is the primary difference between a slice and a drop shot the swing path might be very
similar in some cases it might be identical but the difference lies in the fact that we
are going to absorb the ball on the drop shot and we are going to hit the ball on the slice
so to understand what I mean by absorption you have to imagine the racket head giving in at the
moment of contact with the ball it's a feeling of the racket not going through the ball it's
gonna go backwards in some cases this is something that's easier to do when you attempt to drop shot
Volley but even if you attempt to drop shot from the Baseline there has to be a lot of absorption
a lot of feel in other words if you want to have any success of winning the point with the
quality drop shot now when it comes to any drop shot it's also important that you hit the drop
shot in a continental grip and on top of that you want to have the racket face slightly open
this is something that differs from a slice so on the slice the racket face can be neutral
but on the drop shot you do want to have the racket face slightly open why because
that's going to increase your ability to make under spin or in some cases Back Spin
so those are some of the drop shot Basics and now let's talk about when to use a drop shot
so at the recreational level and also at the junior level Drop shot is often a bailout shot
when players are tired of the rally going on forever and they hit a drop shot just so the
point can end also shot selection is sometimes a big problem regarding Drop shots where players
use it in the wrong circumstance either they are in a defensive situation far behind the
baseline or of course from back here it's going to be very difficult to hit a quality drop shot
or they attempt to drop shot when their opponent is not in a defensive situation
so you have to remember that the drop shot is perfectly used when your opponent is in
distress ideally far behind the Baseline then the drop shot quality doesn't have
to be that high and you can convert the drop shot into a winner most of the time
so now let's talk about the specific shot that alcaraz likes to use which is an inside
out forehand drop shot hit from the backhand side of the court so anytime you're hitting
the ball inside out but especially on a drop shot what you have to imagine is that the angle
of the racket face will be the determining factor in which direction your ball is going
to go so when we attempt to hit the ball inside out we can't have the racket face
be positioned parallel to the net we have to angle the racket face slightly backward
in order for the drop shot to go inside out now generally it's always better to hit your
Drop shots Cross Court it is not wrong to hit your Drop shots down the line by any
means but if you don't hit your drop shot well enough and you aim it down the line it's going
to be very easy for your opponent to run the ball down and put it away for a winner
in your attempt your drop just to go Cross Court or inside out you have the trajectory in your
favor where even if the ball is not so short it will still exit the court at a steeper trajectory
and here's why alcaraz's forehand Inside Out drop shot from the backhand side is so
effective because when he runs around his backhand the player is expecting a super
aggressive forehand and the drop shot is a very easy way to hit a winner and this
is what you have to understand when you run around your backhand you have to be in a good
position in the court and only that you have to get there fast enough if you decide to run
around your backhand doesn't matter if you're attempting a drop shot or a forehand winner if
you get there too late and you're still moving to the side and attempting a drop shot you will
be completely off balance and there's a high likelihood you're going to commit a mistake
you have to get there with plenty of time position yourself firmly into the ground and
now you can attempt that forehand Inside Out drop shot also keep in mind that court positioning is
crucial when attempting Drop shots from anywhere in a court but especially from the backhand side
you want to be inside the Baseline and ideally as close to the net as possible the further away you
are from the net the more difficult the drop shot becomes so now that we know when to use
a drop shot now we're going to talk about how to use a drop shot so you're going to be somewhere
between the Eastern forehand grip and the Western forehand grip and you want to disguise your drop
shot by going into your regular preparation on the forehand and now what's going to happen as
you go into your take back somewhere in the racket drop area you have to change your grip
now the difficult thing is going to be change the grip just with one hand you're gonna have
to flip the racket into a continental grip somewhere in your racket drop and now here's
the important thing as you start approaching the ball you're going to come from a high position
to a low position this is how a drop shot is performed you have to hit high to low on the ball
now context is super important in tennis and the technique is going to differ when we get different
contact Heights so what you will see from some players is that when they attempt to hit a drop
shot on a ball that's below the waist they will also go down the ball but then they will go up
on the ball so it'll look like a u-shape it goes high to low and then back up to high of course if
you go straight down on a low ball there's going to be absolutely no chance to get the ball over
the net so when the ball is below the waist it's very necessary to have a shape of the racket that
goes high to low to high but here's the thing I never ever want you to attempt a drop shot that's
below the waist why because naturally when you go up on the ball that ball is going to have a
tendency to sit up more so when is the best time to attempt a drop shot when the ball is
at least at your waist or above now you can hit the ball with a high to low swing path which will
naturally give you the lowest trajectory and your best chances to hit a drop shot winner
so how do you practice the drop shot well there are a few things to consider first of all you
shouldn't practice any shot especially the drop shot in match play situations this is not going
to work you have to practice your Drop shots in a non-match play situation whether you're taking a
lesson from your coach whether you're hitting with someone whether you're playing on a ball machine
or actually on the tennis wall it's a really good way to practice your drop shot which brings me to
the next point the most important thing that you have to consider when practicing your Drop
shots is the speed of the incoming ball when you attempt to hit a drop shot of a very soft and slow
ball this will naturally make your swing bigger you won't be able to absorb the ball and it will
make it very difficult for you to hit a drop shot so in whichever scenario you're practicing make
sure that the ball that you're drop shotting off of has sufficient Pace then you can work
on these so important absorption of the incoming ball and that high to low swing path I'm going to feed
myself a ball with plenty of pace and plenty of height I'm going to try to hit my drop shot
into the Target by absorbing the ball and Swinging high to low in a continental grip
and on the first try I got it into the Target now I want to tell you one thing about myself
as a player when I was younger playing in juniors I had horrible feel I had terrible
Drop shots and as a matter of fact I had terrible volleys and terrible slice my game was all about
serving big and hitting big forehands and big backhands from the Baseline but I can tell you
that as I began to teach I was forced to hit the ball a lot softer to my students
I can tell you that now I actually have a very good feel I can hit really nice Drop shots I have
good volleys so it just goes to show you that with enough practice anybody can develop feel
here comes the most important part of this lesson a lot of you guys watching don't have good feel
do not attempt to hit Drop shots when you don't have feel you have to develop feel first I made
several videos where I show you how you can practice your feel there are many exercises
that you can do to develop that's so important soft and steady hand when hitting the ball if you
don't have that and you attempt Drop shots you're gonna make a mess out of them most of the time