do you remember when on your third time ever playing tennis i put you on the wall
do it again good it was like crazy right it was maybe a little bit too fast you weren't quite
ready for the wall but yet you mastered it because you're so gifted for tennis you're able to rally
on the first time on the wall then remember i got a little bit um let's say overconfident and i try
to teach you the slice remember that day when i teach you the slice backhand slice remember that
i think you do i remember that really and we were even recording i was trying to teach you the backhand
slice she didn't post the video that's why it was a disaster remember it went very wrong it was
very bad teaching and so this would have gotten negative views i didn't post it because it didn't
work my instructions didn't work i realized then that it was too early for slice but you
know i'm very competitive with myself i want to teach to the best possible ability that i have
so i would like you to try to teach you the slice today again also this slice is something that
will land on the territory of your enemy what do you mean it doesn't go elsewhere so it what it the
purpose of the slice is unpredictability of the ball you're talking about sidespin no like when
they do this yeah i'll show you stand around the baseline i'll show you different types of slices
what's the purpose of this slice the purpose of the slice anna is to take the pace out of the ball
and give your opponent nothing to work with exactly that's what i said oh that's what you said
well i think what what this is what you mean is side spin that's different from slice yes
it's a form of slice which is called side spin we're not going to learn that that we're not
going to get crazy today okay it's crazy enough we're attempting to to learn a slice so early on
a side spin will leave for later but sidespin is this watch this side spin see the ball see how the
ball jumps to the side i hate those okay so at the recreational level these are all accidental
nobody's intending to do that they're accidentally happening and uh at the high level you'll see
sometimes where players will intentionally do this but what you have to learn which is a good shot
to have is a under spin backhand which is a one-handed backhand that's why it's going to
be so tricky today because you have a two-handed backhand so this one i want to teach you to with
one hand even though you could hit with two hands too and we'll test that out but it's a one-handed
backhand slice and the advantage is watch watch this anna you see how low that ball is yeah you
see the second bounce now your opponent will have to bend super low and the chances of them
missing increase dramatically because of that especially at the recreational level because
most players will go hit a little bit too hard when the ball is so low they'll have to hit
way up on the ball and they very often hit long because of it yeah george george it's his breath
and butter the first slice yeah the slice the first one was slice the side spin okay he does it
all the time it's so hard to it drives you crazy so we say if we survive george then we're good
let's just well you know what you know what's great about today's lesson yeah not only i'm
going to teach you how to play the slice but i'm also going to teach you how to defend the slice
both ways okay so i'm going to slice the tons of balls to you and you're going to learn how to play
those balls all right so let's get started with the backhand slice you can do a forehand slice
too but we're not going to do that because you know you don't really need a forehand slice but
the backhand slice because you have two hands you have a little bit less reach it sometimes comes in
handy to have a slice if you're on a defense or if you get a super low ball again you have less range
of motion with two hands the racquet is a little bit shorter you have less reach so it's more
convenient for extremely low balls to slice them so it's a good shot to have in your repertoire but
let's go we're going to start really slowly let's go up to the net right there go up to the net high
to low is the key because when you go high to low that imparts under spin high to low so if i
go look if i go high to low watch what happens to the ball see how it spins this way you see
that yes that's under spin so if i hit the ball like this if i go high to low i'll get under spin
okay it's really cool all right anna do you remember our viral video yes that was crazy
video right you did so well right off the bat it was an it was like a magic magical training
session so good that people thought we were lying yeah they said you were advanced player remember
what we did in that lesson we started from the contact don't take the racket see as soon as you
start going back you lose control so i want you to just get a good feeling for the ball so you're
going to start as close to the contact as possible so this is the contact here i want you to start
very close to the contact when you start going back all the way here keep holding the racket
you're going to get disconnected from the ball it's going to be very difficult to control it so
you start here and just think about what's going to happen from the contact to the finish okay
there it is and see how you're making pretty much all the shots right now
beautiful job yes remember that we started from the contact and just finished we're going to do
the exactly the same thing on the slice yes the mistake i did when i was teaching the slice the
last time we started a little bit too high and made too much of a backswing which made
the contact very impossible right right so now we're going to get rid of this area here we're
going to start here very close to the contact you want to slice from here watch here and we're going
to slice from here okay and i guarantee you're going to start making contact okay all right
i guaranteed it Anna you're still taking it back don't take it back start here start here and just
cut it from there here we go there you go anna come on this is crazy slices you're doing right
now you see this here we go there it is anna you see what i'm doing yeah i'm shortening the
backswing i'm making you more aware of the contact now here's ana listen one pitfall of this shot
is what a lot of these guys that you play against do is they use the wrist
yeah and now you get all kinds of accidental stuff happening right so don't come in
like this here keep the wrist stable watch it keep the wrist stable here like show me the
strings as you're finishing show the strings to the other side here we go no back swing
anna you're doing the wrist a little bit in the front
still a little bit of wrist
okay what i want you to do is this as you're finishing have the tip of the racket towards there
not forward this way see tip of the racket needs to be towards the outside as you're finishing like
this yes all right no back swing we're going to shorten the back part of the stroke and
therefore allow you to really feel the contact a lot better
don't take the racket back you see what happens immediately you frame it
i know that was a very bad move right there okay yeah here we go short to the contact and hit it
no good what do you think terrible well it was all frame right yeah it was all
like wrist and like elbow and all that watch again hold it start very close to the ball
and go like that you see that see how clean that is that's all you got to do okay
it's a smaller motion than i think well right now we're going to make it extra small don't play with
the wrist come on all right anna here watch this here i'm going to stand behind you elbow me elbow
me on the back elbow me hit me with the elbow come on hit me yeah come on hit it a little harder ow
okay not with the racket go again hit me with the elbow there you go that's what with the elbow this
is your elbow well i'm afraid come on just hit it there you go hit me with the elbow all right now
when you hit your slice i want you to think about getting the elbow across elbow across no take back
all right but why is it still so flimsy and wristy you're going like don't do that no
wrist movement just elbow you know who roger federer is yeah you heard about him right
they asked him once to give a tip on the slice and he said it's all about the elbow that's what roger
said and i was first confused by that because it's really not about the elbow because if you
like extend the elbow into the slice you shorten the range of motion after the contact and it
ends up looking like like this it looks really stiff but i know what he meant he's accelerating
with the elbow across the body so when you are imagining the stroke like what it feels
like to hit it it does feel like you're using the elbow so while you're not necessarily like
extending or or bending after the contact you're not actively doing any type of this movements here
with the elbow you are leading the way with the elbow so i want you to think about that
you know what the elbow is yes it's this thing right here okay so you go like this watch you
lead with the elbow right here that's what federer said okay this guy is the best here we go
all right now why so crazy hard do it slowly do two miles an hour there you go
two miles an hour because remember like any other shot when you accelerate fast
you have less control over what's happening to your stroke okay here we go do it slowly go
slowly better i want the speed limit right now in your slice is two miles an hour
if you go over two miles an hour you're in big trouble here we go
good and again anna you're hitting slices you understand what's happening now
this is absolutely insane good very good very good anna this is crazy right now insane
anna i'm proud of you this is this is absolutely crazy what you're doing right now
now you understand that like five minutes ago when we first started
you were like framing every single one
yeah right and now you see how they're going nicely all right now let's back it
up to the service line and naturally when you as you start backing up in the court
the take back will need to increase so
yeah but that's going to happen naturally you're still going i'm afraid it's not going to be over
the net it's going to happen naturally so you still start here close to the ball
here we go don't play with the wrist come on put the racket a little higher just a little bit here
do it again
anna
it's okay you have a little bit of forehand grip too going to continental there you go remember if
you go the more you go towards the forehand grip on the slice the more the racket face opens up
naturally so the more chance you have to hit it with the frame so while it is possible to
slice with a eastern forehand grip it's going to be number one a lot of underspin that's not
always good because it slows the ball way down too much it lets it sit up too high and
also you have the chance of hitting the frame so continental grip on the slice is the best
that was a little better lead with the elbow anna this is a beautiful slice yes
and are you looking at all where the ball is going or no why not follow the ball look where it's
going i mean you're gonna have an opponent on the other side so don't like hit and keep staring
that way and make it a little bit more realistic just looking at you i understand i've seen you
for ages you haven't seen me for a while yes okay yeah i've been gone i've been in germany all right
here we go i know that's too wristy i don't like it you just kind of scooped it with the wrist
i like it lead it with the elbow come on i know it's too wristy yeah
slow it down you're going too hard now slow down
honest it's like you are getting a little bit of slice because you're going down but like you're
too loose here remember not here here tip of the racket towards the outside you got what i'm saying
look how high you were going though don't go that high stay close to the ball you'll feel
the contact much better that's excellent do me one more and then we'll go all the way back
all right let's go all the way to the baseline actually give me one
doing what it's supposed to do absolutely give me one more come a little closer
too loose right here and it opened up in the shoulder okay but you can open up a little
bit i don't mind that that's okay that's fine i don't mind that it's okay to do it's okay to
go like this a little bit but what you got to avoid is snapping here with the wrist all right
best slice of your life unbelievable
do you see the difference how the ball stayed low all right now we back up to the baseline
to be able to get over the net excellent question now we're not gonna be able to get away with this
we don't have enough swing momentum not enough so now we're gonna have to go back a little bit okay
naturally uh what happens with players it starts happening on its own that's why i
like doing these progressions yes also you've been seeing so so let's just let's just continue
to stay here and see if you do it by yourself without forcing it okay it's okay come again
the racket face is too open so yeah so if you hit the slice with an extremely open racket
face you'll hit the ball too thin like this you see this so you got to close that racket face
again continental grip helps tremendously with that there we go anna that's a slice
leave with the elbow leave with the elbow it's okay what is
the elbow what is the elbow this is forgot again
so in other words don't allow this to happen here yeah this so it keeps it keeps this protected
in a way it keeps the here look it's just like messing up with me the distance is longer so i
feel like i have to send it there with this opening well maybe you're where
we uh went to the baseline a little too early it's quite possible that we have this that we have to
stay on the service line a little bit longer it's possible that we're going to test these four but
it's very possible we're progressing a little too fast but you see how it can mess up with me right
because we're increasing the distance not just you not just to everyone because with bigger
distance you have to swing a little faster any time you swing faster you lose control over what's
happening around the contact that's why when you're building strokes hitting slowly at first
is huge because you can feel what's going on much more and you have more control over it as well
i'll do it again
all right you know what let's back up let's let's take a step back and we'll go we'll go
between the service line and the baseline we'll go three quarter right here we'll try from here okay
oh my goodness the best slice i've ever seen from you that was sick right there it didn't
go through it was millimeter millimeter too low here we go tip of the racket to the outside anna
i know you made that one but i didn't like the technique here we go use that left hand anna the
left hand will can support your racket otherwise your arm is going to feel super heavy you hold
the racket by the throat here as you're preparing to start the stroke anna was it good did you see
it yeah because you keep looking that way you saw that i saw the trajectory yeah it's a slice
anna that's it yeah all right now you did a fantastic job today on this is crazy what you did
you learned slice yeah no it's not match ready by any means we have to practice it a lot but
here's what i want to try i wanna try one more thing we're not ready to go to the baseline yet
we realized that it's too difficult right now yes maybe even this is too far back i
want you to practice slices from the service line and i want you to get inside the service
line a little bit and do it off my feed i'm going to feed it to you and you're going to
try to slice it okay without dropping on the floor no it's going to drop on the ground
good anna turn the sideways a little more turn sideways sideways yeah turn sideways
come a little closer
beautiful job anna that's the slice
a little high but it's okay i like it a little too thin close that racket face
okay it's spinning a lot that's underspin on a wonderful slice
go a little bit more towards the middle
go again
not bad i want one that's kind of low
it's a little high there
anna wow wow are you kidding me
you don't know it was good it was the best slice i've ever seen you hit
by far the best slice of your life cool anna this is actually quite an amazing thing that
happened today i didn't think it would be possible but i was able to teach you the slice you know
what made the biggest difference controlling the contact being aware of the contact not starting
too far back here because then as you accelerate you kind of lose what's supposed to happen here
by being closer to the contact i think you got the hang of what a slice is all about
yeah and trying to go high to low on the ball biggest problem that you have is the wrist
is very active we can see this the way you're finishing it's going to take some practice we
have to keep working on that and but having said that there was an amazing improvement
in just a few minutes you were able to get some nice slices today all right great job