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Overhead Smash

Tennis / Popular

Track and put away high balls with the overhead.

What coaches agree on

  • Make contact with the ball out in front of you and slightly to your hitting side, at about one o'clock, rather than straight above your head.
  • The moment the lob goes up, take the racket straight to the trophy position beside your head and hold it there. The overhead has no backswing, so you wait and then accelerate.
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  • Keep taking small adjustment steps the whole time the ball is in the air, so you end up behind it and it drops on your hitting side.

Common mistakes

  • Pointing up at the ball with the non-hitting hand, which leaves you facing the net with the strings turned up, so the racket can only travel straight at the ball with no racket speed.
  • Trying to crush every overhead flat and as hard as possible, which is where the balls sprayed long and dumped into the net come from.
Best Tennis Smash Drill
Intermediate

Best Tennis Smash Drill

Coach's take: Solid drill idea, just don't expect deep technique coaching from this short clip.

2.6
How to Handle a Lob in Tennis
Intermediate

How to Handle a Lob in Tennis

Coach's take: Teaches the part of the smash most players actually get wrong — the setup and tracking, not just the swing.

2.3