Tennis Backhand Slice Lesson | How To Slice Like A Tennis Pro in 8 Minutes - Tennis Slice Tutorial

Hit your backhand slice with that effortless spin and power, just like that. We are going to love today's video because we're going to be taking Federer from a back angle and Federer from a side angle. And you're going to learn the three phases to hitting that world-class slice, starting with the preparation. How exactly should you prepare and set your racket to get that maximum power and effortless spin. In the second section, we're going to talk about how exactly should you accelerate? What are the three anatomical motions that Roger Federer uses on his slice in the exact muscles that you should be using, which will provide you total clarity with exactly how the pro slice should feel. So you can do it the next time you step on the court. In the last section, we're going to talk about the contact and the follow through. And what's amazing about this video is not only during each phase are we going to use these multiple angles giving you total clarity, but each phase is going to provide you with a specific drill and a specific checkpoint that you can use the next time you step on the court to immediately implement and start developing that world-class backhand slice. So let's jump right in to the preparation. All right, world-class athlete. The first step to hitting that world-class slice is the preparation. So let's go ahead and pull out Federer from the rear and the side angle to master that preparation. As you'll see Federer, he's going to land a split step. Then he's going to execute his unit turn finishing usually in either a neutral or a closed stance. Now the specific checkpoint that you want to implement to get that perfect preparation of the hitting arm structure is to do three things. Number one, with your right elbow or your left elbow, if you're lefty, you want to have it parallel to the surface of the court. So from a rear angle, you'll see that the shoulder to elbow forms a straight line parallel to the surface of the court. From a side angle, you'll see the elbow is pointed towards the camera. The second checkpoint is the degree of the elbow flexion. You want to have your elbow at approximately a 90 degree angle when you take the racket back, as this is going to allow you to generate that satisfying racket head speed going down into the shot. The third and final checkpoint is with the wrist. You want to have the wrist in a radially deviated position and a checkpoint that you can immediately implement the very next time you step on the court to have that perfect preparation is go ahead and do a split step unit turn, get set, freeze, and then look, is my elbow pointed towards the side fence? Is my elbow at a 90 degree angle? And can I see through the choke of my racket just like that? By accomplishing these checkpoints, it's putting you in a position to get that massive acceleration. Which we're going to cover right now. All right. With that perfect preparation, you're now in a position to execute the three critical motions to getting that effortless power and slice on the shot just like that. So the three motions to mastering the slice and the exact muscles to use, let's go ahead and pull out Federer from the back angle and from the side angle. As you'll see when he initiates his slice, he's not initiating by tensing the wrist in, which is a really common mistake, but he's rather using his entire shoulder joint to go down around and forward into his slice just like that. So the real key differentiator between really low level slices and really high level slices is that with those pro slices, you'll see that they're using the lat and the posterior deltoid to execute three primary motions. And this is so key. The first motion that you want to execute using the lat, using the back shoulder is going to be that shoulder flexion. That's the arm going down by having the arm go down. That's what gives you access to that massive spin and allows you to do it with a lot of ease and effortless pop because you're using those bigger muscles. The second anatomical motion is going to be the extension of the elbow. You're going to be straightening that elbow into the shot to generate more racket head speed. The third and final motion to get that forward power going into the slice is you're going to horizontally abduct your shoulder. So putting all that together, it's basically going to look just something like this with the full slice. You're going to be making the arm go down. You're going to be making the elbow straightened and you're going to be making that arm go forward just like that. Now, how can you immediately start feeling these optimal muscles and getting that pro level slice? Here's two drills that you can implement the very next time you step on the court. The first drill that you can use with literally just your racket is, and it's going to automatically stimulate those bigger muscles of the shoulder, is what you want to do is create a slight tug of war, pulling with the left back this way and pulling with the right like that. You'll feel some stimulation in those big shoulder muscles. Once you start implementing that, doing some shadow swings, feeling those back muscles engaged, go ahead and drop feed yourself a ball and feel yourself use those big muscles. All right, world-class athlete for the second exercise, I'm going to be using this revolutionary new tool called the force grip, which is going to automatically stimulate those optimal muscles. So I'm going to go ahead and set it up high and focus on really using that back shoulder and that lat driving forward, down and around into the shot. I'm going to shift my weight into the front leg and really focused on pulling that arm down, stimulating those back muscles and feeling amazing. All right, with those two drills mastered, let's go ahead and close with that optimal contact and that optimal recovery. All right, world-class athlete, you've now mastered that preparation. You know exactly how to accelerate and have drills and checkpoints to follow. We're going to close with exactly how you should make contact, finish and recover just like that. So let's go ahead and pull up Federer from those two angles. Again, as you'll see when he accelerates, he's going to focus on using his whole shoulder joint to go down forward and around. And what you'll see is on most shots on neutral shots, the racket face will be relatively neutral. It won't be that open and it won't be that closed. You're going to go forward and make contact with the racket just like that. Now, really key with the finish to really get that insane amount of spin is at contact. You don't want to like stop and tense your arm like that. What you really want to do is keep accelerating like a knife through butter, using the lat, using the shoulder and swinging forward, down and around, finishing with the racket all the way towards that other side of the body. Just like that. When you accelerate using those big muscles, it's going to allow you to really hit out on the ball and it's going to feel absolutely extraordinary. So the next time you step on the court, here's the exact step-by-step process that I want you to follow. You're going to go ahead and do your split step. You're going to focus on getting in that closed or that neutral stance and making sure you've got that hitting arm checkpoint. So I've got the checkpoint. I've got that dialed in next. I'm going to split. I'm going to get set. I'm going to create that tug of war or I'm going to use my force grip. Click the link down below to get that force grip. Go ahead and create that tug of war, pulling with the right, pulling with the left, feeling it stimulated. Then go ahead and do a shadow swing using those big muscles, finishing through with fluidity and taking a pivot just like that. Now by executing this pivot, it's not only going to allow you to get more forward force into the slice like that, but it puts you in a position to recover very fast using a cross to then a shuffle step just like that. So that's what I want you to do is implement that shadow sequence, step-by-step, getting the prep, then doing the tug of war, doing the shadow, doing the cross. And then once you have all that mastered, go ahead and start feeding yourself out to the side, getting in that closed stance, pivoting, crossing back over. All right, world-class athlete. Thanks so much for watching this video. I hope you got a ton of value. I had an amazing time shooting it for you. I hope you were inspired. If you want to work with me one-on-one or get more advanced coaching, click the link in the description and head on over to my website. As always, I'll see you on next week's video. Let's go.