How To Deal with High Balls in Tennis - 6 Ways

We've all faced those players that push us further and further behind the baseline with those high balls and it can become a real nightmare if we don't know how to deal with them. So in this lesson I'm going to show you six different ways you can handle those high balls and actually turn the point around in your favor. Now the first method and this is the safest method is to move back and let the ball drop. Now in general when we get this ball and we move back we're going to go back cross court with this shot and we're going to hit the ball very high over the net to give ourselves time to get into a good court position. We'll be using the open or semi-open stance when we go back to let that ball drop because we want to use the ground force. This is true on the forehand side, this is true on the two-handed backhand and even on that one-handed backhand we'll be mainly using that semi-open stance from this position to drive up. The second option is to take the ball on the rise before it gets too high. So with this option by taking it on the rise we're taking time away from our opponent and we're in a much more aggressive court position because we'll be moving up inside the court. Now in order to do this one we want to shorten our swing slightly. We don't want to have the big normal forehand or big normal backhand swing we want to shorten the swings and make sure that we can time it out in front. In general with this option we'll be using a neutral stand so that we can transfer our body weight from the back leg to the front leg as we actually hit that shot. So some players will prefer to take the ball on the rise around chest height, other players will prefer to take the ball on the rise around waist height. Find your ideal zone and work on taking it around that spot. The next option is to slice that high ball. Now this works extremely well because you're basically changing the spin on that shot. Your opponent anticipates and expects you to move back and hit aggressive topspin and they almost wanted to get into that rally where they're hitting aggressive spin with a moon ball and you're hitting one back and they like that kind of play because this is what they're used to and this is what they feed off. Now by you slicing it you're completely changing the tempo and you're also changing the height at which the player will have to make contact. If you execute a good slice and you keep it very low it's going to be a very hard shot for that opponent to pick up on that next ball. Now in order to execute this properly you want to ensure that your racket head is above your point of contact. So if I'm making contact here I don't want my racket head here because then I'm guiding that slice. I'm hitting it more as a linear shot and it becomes more defensive. I want the racket head above that point of contact so that when I'm making contact I'm able to cut down the back of the ball. Think about when we're going for a heavy topspin shot. Our focus is on going from below the ball and brushing up and that's exactly how topspin is produced. Now in order to generate the underspin we have to do the opposite. We have to go from above to down. So we're cutting down the back of the ball producing that underspin. This is the slice shot. So on the forehand it's going to look like this. My racket's high and I'm cutting down the back of the ball and on the backhand the racket starts high. Higher than your normal slice and you're focusing on cutting down the back of the ball. The next option is to take the ball as a half folly. Now this is very similar to on the rise but instead of letting the ball rise up after that bounce you're actually hitting it right after the bounce. Now this requires exceptional timing. It requires you to really shorten your swings and it requires you to be in the right position. So you have to really get behind that ball and get behind the bounce so you're able to hit the ball just after it bounces. Now some players will prefer this especially when the ball is very deep because you're just using the pace of the other player's shot. Now by hitting it as a half volley the ball is still quite lively and you don't have to do too much with the racket to actually generate a pretty good shot. This shot is all in the timing. So if you time it well and you're able to take it just after that bounce you can use the other player's pace and actually take a lot of time away from them and put yourself in a very good position to attack that next shot. In order to pull this off remember that you're trying to make contact out in front of your body and in general we're using a semi-open or a neutral stance so that we can take that ball and stay balanced and stay low as we make contact. Remember as a half volley we're going to be very low when we make contact. It's going to be down here. So we don't want to be upright and we don't want to be in open stance trying to hit this type of shot. The next option is to hit a drive volley. So this means that the ball hasn't bounced yet and you've already hit that swinging volley out of the air. Now in order to do this we'll have to move way inside the baseline. We'll have to anticipate that high ball is coming and as soon as you see your opponent lifts that ball up that's when you start your move in so that you can actually take the ball out of the air. Now the timing on this is extremely difficult. This is for advanced players but with practice a lot of players will benefit from using this tactic. Now with the two hand it's quite simple because we have that top hand helping us. With the one-handed backhand this is quite tricky but you can still use this strategy. Focus on the early preparation. Focus on hitting the ball out in front of you and focus on still brushing the ball slightly so you can get some degree of topspin. The next option is hitting it at the apex. Now when you think about that high ball the ball is going to bounce. It rises up. It hits the apex and it starts to drop. Now hitting it close to or at the apex is almost as if you're hitting a stationary object. Think about the ball when it is in that dead spot. It's not moving up and it's not moving down. For that split second it's almost as if you're hitting a stationary ball. Now the timing on this is difficult but the major benefit you get by doing this is because the ball is so high you don't have to produce a lot of spin. You can hit it very flat and you can be very aggressive with this high ball. You have to use your legs. You'll have to drive into that shot and you'll have to time it extremely well but if you can work on this and you can master this hitting the ball at the apex those high balls will become a breeze for you. Anything that's slightly higher and you feel like you've got a bit of time you'll step in you'll hit it at the apex and you'll crush that ball. Now this works extremely well in the forehand because the forehand we have more freedom and we can hit the ball in that higher strike zone. On the two-handed backhand yes it can work but it is quite tricky. Now this is probably the hardest option for the one-handers out there because it requires a great deal of strength. If you think about Stan Wawrinka he does this quite often but he's a big guy. He's got a lot of muscle and he's got a lot of strength behind him. Shorter players and players who aren't physically as strong will really struggle to pull this off with the one-hander but if you work on it you may find that actually suits your game. And the final option this works if the player is hitting it to your backhand side and you don't want to hit a backhand you can run around it and hit an inside in or inside out forehand. Now to pull this off to get around that ball quickly focus on the early coil with the upper body and at the same time I'm pivoting around this left leg so my left leg stays stationary for a split second my right leg goes behind and I'm using that cross behind step to generate a space a lot of distance to then move around that ball. So it looks like this split step pivot step and get around that ball. So there you have it there are many different ways that we can handle those high balls attack them defend off them and change the tempo of the rally. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson and if you have enjoyed it please smash the like button it helps us out a lot. If there are any lessons you'd like to see from us in the near future please leave a comment under this video. Signing off coach Simon from TTT all the best and see you soon guys take care.