How to Handle High Balls in Tennis: 6 Pro Tips

Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. In today's video I'm going to be discussing six key ways that you can deal with high balls in tennis. So the first way in which we can deal with a high ball would be to let the ball drop and letting the ball drop is probably the most common thing that players do and it's also probably the safest thing that you can do and this is because letting the ball drop gives you more time to set up the shot and prepare for the shot and it also allows you to adjust your footwork and positioning into a correct place so you might find if you let the ball drop that you're able to time the ball a lot better and you're also able to make a safer shot from it instead of trying to step in and attack it but in general if we let that ball drop we're going to be hitting the ball from quite far back behind the baseline and we generally will be hitting this shot with an open stance or a semi-open stance and this is because as the ball drops there's going to be a lot of kick and if you're playing against a good player then there's likely going to be some heavy topspin onto that ball pushing you back behind the baseline and therefore we want to use as much power from the ground using our legs to drive up and into the shot therefore produce our own heavy topspin and power back cross court so that we don't give our opponent an easy short ball to then attack on to the next shot. So option number two on how to deal with a high ball would be to hit the ball at the apex and now the apex is that point where the ball has bounced and it's coming up and it's reached that moment before it starts dropping so it's almost as though that the ball is still within mid-air at that point that's when you would hit it so hitting the ball at the apex is tougher than letting the ball drop because you do really need to anticipate that ball quickly be quick with your footwork up to the ball be quick with your racket preparation and also be confident enough to really strike that ball with your whole body however a real benefit of hitting the ball at the apex is that because the ball was likely going to bounce quite high you're going to be able to hit a really flat shot and you might even be able to hit downwards onto the ball a little bit to really send that trajectory kind of quite low over the net with a lot of power and aggression and if executed well then this will really put your opponent under pressure and you can really start to dictate the point from that moment. So while hitting the ball at the apex is more risky than letting the ball drop you're more likely to have a better chance of really stepping into the court and dictating the point on your turn so if you're a player that likes to be more of an aggressive player and likes to really dictate points then this might be a great option for you and obviously on the backhand side it is generally a little bit tougher because we don't have as much range of motion on that backhand side compared to the forehand side however with enough practice of this taking a ball on the apex on the backhand side you will really start to feel confident with it and this is a really really good option too. I will say that on the one-handed backhand it might be even tougher because you will need a lot of upper body strength to really be able to hit a really great and powerful backhand at the apex with a one-handed backhand but if you look at players like you know Federer or Mourinho for example they are able to produce really really powerful one-handed backhand hit at the apex so the third way that you can deal with a high ball is to take the ball on the rise now this is really quite tough and I would only really recommend this for intermediate and advanced players to try because it requires excellent timing it requires excellent anticipation skills and it requires excellent footwork to be able to get up to that ball and you may also have to shorten your swing in order to find the correct timing and in order to control the ball if you want to take that ball on the rise however a real advantage of taking the ball on the rise is that you will be taking so much time away from your opponent by doing this so for example your opponent has hit a high deep ball trying to push you back trying to dictate the point on their terms and they expect you to kind of drop back and play that rallying ball back for them if you unexpectedly step into the court and take that ball on the rise then this shows them that you're a threat and they should be worried about trying this again and that you're not going to kind of get into their game of rallying back and forth so if you want to switch up the tempo and try and dictate the point and send a message to your opponent that you're not going to fall for their trap of trying to rally rally rally and kind of moon ball a little bit then this is a good idea and so the fourth way that you can deal with a high ball would be to hit a drive volley now i'm a really big fan of drive volleys and in the women's game it's a very very popular and common shot to see because in the women's game generally players are aiming to be more aggressive and get that first strike in again like with the previous two tips that i've given you you're going to need to have great anticipation skills great footwork skills and also great timing to be able to take that ball out of the air and time it properly so the drive volley is a great option for those players that are a little bit more experienced and also the players that have trained this shot because it's very very easy to shank a drive volley and send it to the back fence i would urge you guys to go out there and practice your drive volleys because it is a really really great tactic to use when that when your opponent hits that high ball floaty ball and you can really just step into the court take so much time away from your opponent and start to dictate the point on your terms and obviously with this drive volley i would recommend you to hit the ball into the space if there is a space to hit into or if not hit the ball into your opponent's weakness to really help you to set up that point and from there you're going to want to follow into the net like i said in one of my previous videos about attacking a short ball it's super important that if you're inside the baseline if you're around that service line hitting this drive volley then you really want to follow into the net afterward so the fifth option on how to deal with a high ball would be to hit a slice back so i've spoken about the slice backhand before and generally when we're in a rallying trading situation and you know your opponent's hit back a ball that you can hit around waist height then generally the swing path will be high to low to high again to really get that nice cutting motion also sending that ball to where you want it and keeping control on the ball however when we're dealing with a high ball we're going to want to bring our racket up high obviously we want to bring our racket up high and then cut more down towards the ball like this so it's exactly like what we do when we're trying to hit the tops and forehand for example we go low to high to get that brushing motion the same thing but the opposite away round works for the side so we're going to start from high to low to get that nice cutting motion down the back of the ball and if executed correctly this chopping slice motion will be a really really tough ball for your opponent to deal with down the other end and it will likely skid through the court so your opponent is going to have to be really really quick with their footwork and they're going to get a tough low ball down here that's really quite difficult to deal with so the slice is a great option if you want to change up the rhythm change up the pace and the tempo of the rally that you're in and kind of put your opponent under pressure and try something new in the match and on this slice ball you can do it on the forehand side as well as the backhand side and you're generally going to be in more of a closed stance position trying to transfer your body weight forward again into the ball and then depending on how good you've executed your shot you can then follow into the net afterwards and try and finish the point at the net so guys the last tip that i'm going to give you on how to deal with a high ball in tennis is to hit a half volley now i've put this one at the end because i think it's the least used and i think is really the toughest one to execute and i would only really recommend this for players that are advanced and so if you don't know what a half volley is it's essentially hitting the ball just after it's bounced so again for this type of shot you're going to need to have great anticipation skills great footwork to be able to get up to that ball in time to hit that half volley just off the bounce and in addition you're going to have to have really great timing you're going to have to know how to shorten your swings to control the ball a little bit more so this is a really tough shot to execute but i do urge you guys to go out and practice again and again like with the other options it's a great option because it takes so much time away from your opponent it puts a little bit of different rhythm onto the match and it will take your opponent by complete surprise so this is a good option again to mix it up a little bit but guys with all six of these different tips that i've suggested today on how to deal with a high ball i do recommend you just go out and try and practice each one see which one feels right for you see which ones you don't like see which ones you do like which ones suit your game style and guys i'd love for you to let me know which one is your favorite which ones you've tried in matches before or in practice and which ones going forward you want to try a little bit more so guys i hope you found this video helpful and if you did then please give this video a like and also subscribe to my channel if you haven't already for more tennis videos like this one to come and guys i'll see you in my next video