The modern tennis game is a power based one, from the baseline of the tennis court, in both Men’s tennis and ladies’ tennis. Players slug it out from their “Home” around the baseline, not willing to leave the safety of their “Home” to approach the net whether their volleys are relatively weaker. Being able to hit a tennis drop shot is therefore a very effective tennis skill and tactic to have. A lot of players think it is a prerequisite to have very good touch and feel from soft hands to hit a good tennis drop shot, but this isn’t true. In this article on Touch Mastery, Coach Ten Rapeepat reveals the 5 keys that will enable any tennis player to improve his drop shot, to take the opponent out of its “Home”, and to make the opponent’s Home very large.
Play a tennis drop shot only inside of your baseline.
This is a mental state to determine the conditions under which you shall be allowed to play a drop shot. If you are behind the baseline, the distance is too large to measure accurately to place it short, and the ball travels for too much distance such that the opponent has too much time to get to the ball to hit an effective reply.
Recognise a short ball early
In this photo, Coach Ten Rapeepat recognises a short ball and prepares to attack the shot by getting ready to step into court. The short ball and his court position gives him the mental “green light” that a tennis drop shot is possible.
Set up like you will hit a big shot to disguise your intention to hit a tennis drop shot
Note how Coach Ten Rapeepat is set up to strike the ball. The response of his Opponent to such a set up with a strong step in will be to prepare to defend against a hard shot. Right up to this point, the opponent does not anticipate the tennis drop shot.
Indeed, from this set-up, it is possible for Coach Ten Rapeepat to strike the ball, which he does from a similar previous situation.
Come under the back and bottom of the ball at the last moment
At the very last moment where Coach Ten Rapeepat has to hit the ball, instead of striking it, Coach Ten slides his racquets from behind to under the ball quickly, causing not only the tennis ball to lift or “air”, but also to impart vicious backspin slice on tennis ball.
Coach Ten Rapeepat hits a drop shot
Many players think that to hit a good tennis drop shot, the hands must be soft and the racquet must be slow. This is untrue. Notice from the blur of the image how quickly Coach Ten Rapeepat’s tennis racquet is coming through. Also note how open his tennis racquet face is. Ideally, the drop shot is hit relatively fast so that your opponent does not have sufficient time to react to the short ball and also so the tennis ball will quickly double bounce.
Air the ball such that the highest point is in your own court and dropping by the time it drops over the opponent’s side of the net.
Notice how steep the angle the tennis ball leaves Coach Ten Rapeepat’s tennis racquet. This allows three crucial things to happen.
Firstly, it allows the highest point of the tennis ball’s flight to be in His OWN COURT so that it is already on the way down before it crosses over to the opponent’s side of the net. If the ball starts dropping only when it has crossed the net, the opponent will have too much time after the bounce to be able to make a play on it.
Secondly, the high flight path allows the ball to land more vertical, rather than hit the ground with a large horizontal angle. This causes the ball to just “sit” on its spot after the bounce, rather than bounce forward, which significantly reduces the distance his opponent has to cover as the ball will bource towards him and allowing him to hit an effective response.
Lastly, an open racquet face to air the ball also allows Coach Ten Rapeepat to impart significant slice and backspin to the tennis ball. In this manner, not only does the ball “sit” on the spot, the backspin imparted causes the ball to stay low, forcing the opponent to have to hit “up” over the net, this his opponent’s only plays are a re-drop which he is expecting or a gentle push deep, both of which Coach Ten are anticipating resulting in an easy passing shot or on over his opponent.
Touch – Mastery Round Up of Key Points
Hitting an effective tennis drop shot is not as difficult as most tennis players think. What is important is to follow a defined set of conditions under which the shot should be hit: when you get a short ball, when you have good court position in or inside the baseline, when you are well balanced, disguise, and a trajectory of the ball flight is highest in your own court, and landing it on a point with backspin.
The Drop shot is most commonly hit by tennis players from the backhand, but it can be done on the forehand too
Touch Mastery – Tennis Touch and Feel Conclusion
Of course, as with improving any tennis skill, a lot of practice is required improve tennis drop shots. The best way to achieve Touch Mastery, improve your tennis touch and feel and to hit an effective Tennis drop shot is to engage the best private tennis coaches from the best tennis academies in Singapore to feed you baskets of balls while giving you feedback on your technique and disguise while you practice the shot repeatedly.
Coach Ten Rapeepat is the former Top 5 ranked player in the Under 18s in Thailand. He has been the tennis coach to tennis players on the ATP Tour Yuichi Ito and Warwrit Sornbutnark prior to joining TAG International Tennis Academy. To engage Coach Ten Rapeepat for a private tennis lesson to improve tennis skills, you may contact us at +6598395232 or email us at contactus@tagtennis.org or contact us HERE.
We hope you have enjoyed this article on how to improve your tennis touch and feel and your tennis drop shot. If so, please share it with your tennis playing family and friends too.
Sincerely
TAG International Tennis Academy
@ Winchester Tennis Arena
Where Champions Learn to Play
