Great clip! Everything you pointed out is crucial. However, one thing you didn't mention, but made a big difference in my slice, is making contact closer to the plane of your body (i.e,. don't hit the ball too far in front). The further out in the front your contact point is, the more the racquet face opens up and the more the ball floats. Note, I don't mean you should let the ball get close to your body itself -- that would jam you.
The contact point is definitely a key. The cutting across the body motion would help you keep the contact closer as opposed to the traditional extended follow through
Excellent presentation on what I would call the "modern slice. My backhand slice has always been reliable and effective, but it is very "old school." I am interested in working on getting more bite on those high balls and trying to come across my body more as you suggested. Hopefully, this technique will not put more stress on my shoulder that has been dislocated a few times in skiing accidents,
Thank you Simon for all your instructional videos. They are truly helpful and inspiring. I was wondering, if you could also give tips that are less to do with technique but with situational decision making. I am not the slowest tennis player and usually also read drop shots well enough to get to most of them, BUT when I'm there 90% of the time, I don't know what to do with the drop shot, or in other words, what my response should look like. I understand that it depends on the situation and the specific ball, but in general I feel clueless with a drop shot, even if I reach it (comfortably). Thank you in advance for your response if you've got the time. All the best from Austria. Take care, Armin
I try for a smooth stroke on my slice. Thing is though that I'm hitting with about 60-70% power which means the ball clears the net but then sits up instead of skidding. How hard should you hit the slice? Do you hit it as hard as your topspin with a firm downward stroke? You use the word "aggressive" so I guess you mean to put muscle behind the shot.
It’s an aggressive shot when you want it to bite into the court. If you caress the ball, it may travel low but sit up as you say. Racket head speed is essential
Thank you for another great video. I had been playing tennis just for one yr so I always looking for drills to improve my game. Sometimes I get together with some friends but they don't like to do drills. They want to hit and hit. I believe in doing both to get better. What's your opinion? Thx
Hitting is good but you don’t get the chance to work on technique properly. Drills, hitting and point play should all be included in your training regime
@TopTennisTrainingOfficial Great video! Btw, I have also noticed that the racquet face is transitioning from open towards closed (actually to neutral, I guess) during the motion. Right? It is mostly obvious during Dimitrov's slice :)
Many thanks for your video, very well explained and very helpful as always ! I just have a question : how to do a defense backhand slice like Nadal ? You can see him doing it against Medvedev to win this point during AO final 22 : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Z0GkceJatJQ.html&ab_channel=AustralianOpenTV
That slice was extremely high to low, he barely extended his racket outwards. The focus was on chopping down the ball and creating maximum underspin to kill the ball speed. If you cut down on the ball and don’t extend outwards, you’ll see that shots possible with practice. You may never hit an angle as well as Rafa did, but you’ll get the length of shot
Simon, great lesson, most all coaches I’ve had contact with say to start about the same but at the end they don’t come across the body but flatten out the racket following towards the path of the leaving ball. Your way seems like more power and less thinking.
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No he does not "extend" the wrist, wrist extension means something use terminology correctly. Also using freeze framing as a teaching tool for something that happens not visible to the naked eye is asinine. His arm is not straight at contact and that was his point there is a bend in it.
