anna look we learned the slice yes but now i remember that story you told me
about that guy you were playing who was doing these crazy shots george in clinic yes yes his
bread and butter the first slice yeah the slice the first one was like 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 so today i'm gonna teach you how to defend against those type of shots okay okay
back up here a couple more
come on anna go here one more
all right here we go last one last one anna
all right is this what that guy does to you in practice your's are more nasty
it's completely unpredictable i put a little extra funk on there
but here's where here's where a lot of recreational players i'm out of breath
where a lot of recreational players get in trouble with these balls is in a few different ways so
number one they try to predict they try to make predictions of how the ball is going to behave
the problem with these balls its very unpredictable also a lot of times at the recreational level
these strokes are made accidentally so nobody can predict what's going to happen yeah the person
that hit the ball doesn't even know what's going to happen opponent doesn't know what's going to
happen so it's very unpredictable therefore you shouldn't you shouldn't try to predict and then
try to figure out what the ball is going to do afterwards you're going to get frozen with your
feet the thought process takes too long simply don't think about it don't try to predict what
the ball is going to do but keep your feet moving as long as possible and just keep your eyes on the
ball in real time try to track it in real time so as it's flying to you and then makes that curve
you track that curve in real time this is going to give you my feet with your feet and your eyes
your feet and your eyes the ball's coming you don't try to predict where it's going to go follow
it in real time as it goes there you go with it but then it usually goes opposite direction
it does but that's if you're predicting it then it goes in the opposite direction if you do it
in real time you follow the ball as it's flying so as it as it takes a turn you go with the ball
with the power of my mind i change the direction of the ball so what you got to do is not worry
about predictions and just go with real time okay also another reason why a lot of players
uh have a hard time with these type of balls is shot selection so they hit way too hard
so they hit too hard when the ball is low and they usually don't bend either and when the racket has
to bend this way when it drops below the level of the handle and now you hit it hard you have
a very disadvantageous position on the racquet head and you're going to hit up on the ball
most likely with the string slightly open and it's very easy to miss the ball long as a result of it
so what you got to do is remember our forehand topspin lesson remember okay we got to do forehand
top spin that is the solution to any low ball problem number one thing you got to do is bend
when the ball is low you got to stay low do this with me do a lunge right here do a lunge lower
back knee touching the ground on the low ball you got to really get like this now this is physically
exhausting and very very challenging physically but that's what has to be done you have to be low
when the ball is low and in addition to that you have to make a vertical
movement of the racquet head you have to go up with the racket as much as you can to be able
to put top spin on it now what you're doing with that ball you're not trying to hit a winner you're
not trying to do anything spectacular you're just trying to neutralize the ball get it back
in play with a decent amount of height and pace and then you try to do better on the next shot
so let me give you a few more and you try to do exactly that follow the ball in real time
you bend super low and you put a lot of spin on it
go again when the ball is low you stay low beautiful job ana
here we go
absolutely spectacular you see how easy that is
okay i'm gonna i'm gonna do that now here back up keep tracking keep moving your feet
good
don't get stuck when you're stuck you can't move anymore keep moving longer
better on a beautiful job all right let me see backhand
stay lower back up
okay one thing that's important come on up real quick
when you get one of these super low balls it's not going to be possible
to raise up so it's one of those those instances where you actually stay low
you understand what i'm saying so you can't really go up with your legs okay because you're so low
you can't get out of that position that easily okay so when the ball looks extremely low you
also have to stay low so basically it's like this watch you get a super low backhand and you go here
you just stay down here also what's interesting about this is that you can see the pros doing this
when that is the case when you're extremely low and you're staying
low you can't finish the shot all the way because the torso rotation gets interrupted
so you're gonna have a shorter finish as well but it doesn't change the fact that you're still
trying to put spin you're basically trying to stay alive you're not looking to get fancy trying
to be super aggressive you're trying to stay alive and that is what has to be done all right
here we go come on down down keep tracking the ball longer
go up anna
what are you doing what is that don't slice do a regular backhand
good
oh my goodness so good anna
now watch this come on track it
keep your feet moving you're stuck
don't get stuck keep moving
and i keep moving
better anna good job all right let me mix it up forehand and backhand okay back up
oh again come on regular forehand good
go up more lift that racket up
good anna
wonderful job go go go go go come on
come on anna
better just keep moving it's that simple keep watching the ball and keep moving
keep moving keep moving don't get stuck with your feet keep moving
better
okay you had to get out of the way
go again
last one give you a crazy one
keep moving all right one more it's going to be the craziest one i've ever done here we go
anna amazing when it comes to the low ball the most important thing is to stay low on a low
ball also maybe even more important is to keep moving because you saw how often you got stuck
keep moving keep moving you started studying the ball without moving trying to predict where it's
going and stuff like that don't worry about predictions follow the ball in real time and
keep moving the whole time follow the ball the whole time don't commit to the ball too early
those two things hurt players the most because when you're lower you have a better chance to
get the proper angle of the racket face and also when you actually hit the ball make the most top
spin that you can with your forehand and with your backhand eventually when we improve the slice a
little bit what we did in our last lesson we will be able to slice those balls as well because it's
a lot easier to slice a low ball than to hit it with a two-handed backhand like i said before
so as your slice gets better maybe a year from now a couple years from now you will be able to
slice those balls as well on the forehand slice its unnecessary you can always because you have more
length here you have only one arm it's very easy to reach those balls so it's not necessary
to do a forehand slice it is often something that rec players do it's kind of a lazy shot
so definitely on the forehand low ball you try to do topspin as much as you can on the backhand you
have a little bit more options all right do you feel better about the low ball next time you play
that guy you're going to be more confident yes yes all right nice work good job anna