Hey everyone, Simon here with Top Tennis Training,
and in this video I want to show you how to deal with those low balls in tennis
now often when we're playing someone who likes to slice a lot or if someone's playing with
an eastern forehand grip or even a continental forehand grip
and they kind of guide that ball the ball can end up bouncing on your side and then skidding through
especially if you're playing on a court like grass on a faster surface like
carpet courts or artificial grass now dealing with these type of balls is a nightmare especially
if you don't know how to actually handle those type of balls and give yourself the best chance
to actually get that back in and put it in an awkward position for the player on the other side
now often when we play against someone who likes to slice the ball a lot it might not look like the
ball has much pace so it's deceiving it's almost as if it's floating but then after the bounce
that's when it skids and comes through quite low so the first step in dealing with these type of
balls is knowing what to do with that type of shot if you receive one of those low balls and
you go for an aggressive flat shot even trying to hit a winner off it you're putting yourself
at high risk of making an error so you're playing low percentage tennis when you go aggressive on
those low balls so where should we aim this type of shot and what should your tactical intention be
when you're dealing with a low ball hey guys alex here and this part of the video has been sponsored
by tennis clash the new tennis game that's given me a lot of fun over the last couple of weeks
to try the game all you have to do is click our special link in the description below
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now inside the game you have the practice mode and you have the tour mode
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as you win matches your player grows in experience and improves their attributes
you also receive prize money that you can use towards buying new equipment to help you win more
this includes getting a new tennis racquet new shoes new strings new grips and so on you can also
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do is go to the description under the video click our special link support the channel
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i'll see you on court now if we think about the tennis court the high percentage tennis from the
baseline is normally cross-court now this is because the net is the lowest in the middle
by going cross-court you're going over the lowest part of the net but also by hitting
cross-court you have the most amount of space to miss by so if i hit it down
the line and i hit the ball slightly late the ball is going to go into the tram line
or even worse if i hit the ball cross-court and i hit the ball slightly late i'm still going to hit
it into the middle of the court and that's still an okay tactic when dealing with these low balls
the second step in dealing with these low balls is knowing which type of shot you should hit
to actually get that ball back in the court now you can hit flat
you can hit slice or you can hit aggressive topspin so you can use all three options but
if you choose to hit the ball quite flat you'll have to guide the ball and almost take a bit
of pace off just to get the ball back in the court if the ball's low and i'm hitting it flat
and aggressive the ball is going to most likely go into the net or go long because it doesn't
have that arc on the ball that we need to get over the net and dipping in before the lines
now if you choose to drive the ball with topspin this will allow you to be very aggressive with
the racket head speed during that contact zone this will allow you to go for more power
but still maintain that high percentage and this is because of that arc
we want the ball to go up off our strings we want the ball to lift up over the net so
we know that we're not going to hit the net and then we want the ball to dip in before the lines
and the only way to do this successfully time and time again is hitting aggressive topspin
now we'll get more into the technical side of hitting those aggressive top spin shots
in the next step but for now if you're hitting with that topspin
it will give you the chance to be more aggressive it will give you the chance to hit that higher
net clearance and if you choose to slice the ball this is also a great way with dealing
with those low balls because of the angle of the strings it allows us to then pick the ball up
and also impart our own slice that under spin so that when the ball bounces on the opponent's side
it stays low and makes it much harder for my opponent to attack me on the next shot
if they're dealing with a ball that's down by their ankles now for them it's almost like the
shot we've just dealt with we're turning that defensive shot that we've just hit
into a neutral or even aggressive shot so we're changing the dynamics of that point
simply by hitting that slice and the third step in dealing with these low balls is the execution
so the first step to executing it well is getting down low and maintaining that wide
athletic stance and maintaining that low center of gravity this will help you to get under the ball
this will help you to be balanced and this will help you to deal with those low balls
now notice in this clip how low alex gets with his body look at the knee bend right here now this is
crucial when handling a slice now as we get to the ball we want to maintain that low center of
gravity and this could be an open stance so if i'm going to hit an open stance forehand
i want to make sure that i'm getting down almost in that lunge position on my right
leg if i'm a right-handed player so i want to be in that position here so that when the ball does
come through i can easily still get under the ball with my racket face which is crucial if
i want to have that aggressive topspin so i'm getting to the ball early i'm getting behind
the bounce so that i can deal with a bad bounce i can deal with a fastball if it's skidding through
so i'm getting behind the bounce and i'm getting there as quickly as possible what you don't want
to be doing is seeing a ball that's coming through and skidding and taking your time and then rushing
at the last second you want to get behind the ball flight so that if the ball does bounce badly
or it comes through extremely quick you're ready to adapt and you're ready to still hit that shot
so we're getting there quick we're staying low we're having that wide athletic base when we're
in that position and we're making sure that we get the rack ahead if we're going to drive that shot
we're making sure that we don't have a massive swing there's no point in having a huge swing if
you're dealing with a low ball because for this type of shot the main intention should be that
you're getting your rack ahead down below the ball level this might mean that if the ball is
down by my knee my racket is down here so that when i'm actually making contact i'm coming up
from that low to high position with the rack ahead so it's getting the racket head
completely below the ball level so that when i'm actually making contact i'm brushing up
and if you're hitting the ball cross court a great way for you to think about this
is imagine the ball as a clock so we have 12 o'clock and we have six o'clock on the bottom
if i'm going cross court with my forehand i'll hit the ball from five o'clock to 11 o'clock so across
the ball and up the ball this will make sure that i hit the ball cross-court but also give it that
nice arc that we need to clear the net and and get the ball dipping into the core so brushing
the ball from five to eleven o'clock if you're going cross-court if you're going down the middle
or down the line you can then hit from six o'clock to twelve o'clock this is the same thing on your
backhand it doesn't matter if you're one-handed or two-handed backhand player you make sure that you
get down below that ball so that you can actually drop the rack ahead and then brush up at a point
of contact if i'm hitting my backhand court i'll be going from seven to one o'clock and if
i'm hitting my backhand into the middle or down the line i'll be going from 6 to 12 once again
if i want to slice that ball i have to open my strings much more than on a normal slice so if i
have a normal slice around shoulder level i might have my strings quite flat towards the net because
i can be aggressive on that slice and still clear the net but on those lower balls i have to really
open up the string bed and almost imagine i'm hitting that slice with my strings fully open to
the sky because this will allow me to have that under spin so it'll make it much harder for the
opponent to deal with but also will help me to clear the net now the swing path will change on
those lower slices on a mid height slice i might be going from high to low with my rack ahead this
is to cut down on the ball and be aggressive but on those lower slices i'll have to go from either
a medium position to a medium position to kind of guide that slice with the strings open or even go
from medium to high to lift that ball more if it's extremely low i'll have to go from a low
position with my racket head to a medium or low to high so you won't be using that high to low swing
path on a low ball because then you'll net the shot now another good way to deal with these low
balls is using that open stance and almost doing a lunge to lunge and this is something you see a lot
with the wta players when they're dealing with a fast global they'll get into that loaded position
on the outside lake so this is your right leg for the forehand and from here instead
of doing this and lifting up they'll go from this right leg lunging to left leg lunging
so it's almost like you're going from a right leg lunge to a left leg lunge so once again they're
getting the racket here right leg lunge left leg lunge this will ensure that they stay low
all the way through the contact point and don't lift up too early and lose their
balance the same can be done on the back end so i can go from that left leg loaded position
to a right leg loaded position this will ensure that i stay low and have that balance all the way
through the shot so there you have it how to deal with low balls in tennis i hope you've enjoyed
this video and learned something new if you have enjoyed it give it a thumbs up subscribe to the
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release a new video share this video with anyone who would benefit from watching it so someone
who hates dealing with those low balls send this video to them and hopefully they'll learn
how to deal with those low balls this might be a doubles partner or someone in your tennis circle
signing off simon from ttt all the best and see you soon guys
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