How to Play the Short Ball in Tennis | 4.5 NTRP Lesson - YouTube

shamir so i gave you a bunch of short balls what  do you think about those are they hard to handle  

some of them yeah some of them were  kind of hard because like you said  

i thought i was there but then i  was still reaching and then you  

had especially a tough time with  the low ones right with the slices

yeah you kept dumping it to the next i i  i just thought i would get there sooner  

but then it was shorter than i  thought so i didn't run enough  

yeah you know what the optimal way to  put away a short ball is if it's higher

because what happens on a lower ball let's say i  give you a slice and you try to come in and put  

that away it's very difficult to put away because  when you hit the ball lower the ball will have  

to travel on a curve it's going to go up and then  down there's simply less space when you're closer  

up to the baseline and you can just kind of sail  it that makes sense if you're further back in the  

court there's more space and the ball can fall  safely inside the baseline but when you're closer  

then there's a danger of missing it long also  if you don't put any spin on it and you got  

a low ball and you hit it hard you can miss  into the net that's what was happening to you  

a lot when i was giving you the slices

the optimal thing you can do when it comes to  killing short balls is taking them higher so at  

least the waist or above because now we can change  the trajectory right when we hit it at the waist  

it's going to go up and down but it's not going to  go up and down as much as if it's below the waist  

but optimally if the ball is  providing you with sufficient height  

you take it a little bit higher  at around the chest height and now  

you can absolutely destroy this ball because  the ball is going to be more of a downward  

trajectory and it's safe from flying along  you can absolutely destroy a ball like that

so if it's a low ball think placement if it's  a higher ball think attack in other words don't  

try to kill it when it's super low yeah yeah  i think to just get it in place don't go for  

a winner because people go for a winner when it's  too low and they make a mess out of it so there's  

a technique that's a little bit advanced because  you do need a lot of top spin on a super low ball  

when you're moving up if you watch the pros they  do kind of like a hopping technique where they hop  

on the same leg and that's to help the racket  go up rapidly on a low ball like that let me  

show you so when the ball is super low and the  players are moving up they will hop like this  

to help the racket go up because here's what you  got to do when you have a low ball like that you  

got to provide it with tons of topspin and you got  to go very vertical on it and it's overall going  

to be a more of a shot that you're going to play  out of your forearm it's more of a finesse shot  

and so you super quickly is scoop it up with  topspin and provide it with a lot of rotation  

so to keep it in so it can go in  inside the baseline okay oh yeah

and the reason why you want to do the hop step  is to help the racket go up because you want  

to be very vertical here okay you don't want to  go like a regular topspin where it's it's more  

at a diagonal this way it's almost like a topspin  lob where you're going straight up and to help  

this swing path where it's going straight up you  can do like a little hop off the same foot and to  

help the racket move up quickly okay so go back  i'm going to feed you super low okay and your  

objective is to get as much spin as possible  that's what you need on a ball like that don't  

think winner think get it in with as much spin  as possible placement here we go come on hop it  

you overhit that go more more vertical  more steep more steep yeah do it again steep  

i feed me a low one i want to show you how  to do it perfect oh samir what a feed man  

that was good i had to really fight  for that one i couldn't really set because when  

you set you can go like this there i kind of  did it on the run like this yeah but again  

same idea you want to do a little hop to  help the racket go up here try it again

there it is a little bit more height more spin more  acceleration upwards the key is very vertical  

more more this way shamir watch watch me again  i'm going to show you this way watch my racket  

you see how the racket is going straight up don't  go like this like a regular topspin ball you got  

to go straight up like a lob this see straight  up on this in other words it's on the same side  

yeah you're not coming around as much  you're coming more on the same side this way

you know what i mean the same side all  right now imagine hitting this way so  

normally topspin is going here okay okay don't  want to do that you want to go on the same side  

same side this is the ball you go on the same  side here got it just here that's why i told  

you it's more coming out of the forearm it's  like if i take my racket up up the net and go  

no you're still doing it wrong don't come around  look i'm here i'm blocking you you can't go here  

look you're gonna hit me you're going the  same side like this don't let this racket  

go across this plane absolutely oh okay watch  there you go that's all you need let's go here  

to here no okay it's a finesse shot  you're just lifting it up on the same side  

same side where you hit it from huh rafa does it  all the time they all do it on this particular  

shot jokovic does this better does it so don't  let it go no you can't if you do that you're  

gonna overhit if you come around all the way  you're going to overheat yeah do it again you  

hit it a little too much too much over on this  side stay off stay over here make it shorter  

it's more of a finesse shot you don't need a full  swing go again come on there you go that time is  

more yeah it's going to feel more like a flick  shot flick yes like out of here it's more out of  

the arm the body's really not doing anything it's  already the arm it's all yeah do it again come on  

come here there it is man that's it  here we go from here come on put it away

go again yeah you bring it  down a little more come again

good job nice that's excellent  shamir and now what about this one

okay that one actually was waist height so it was  a little bit easier you caught it well do it again  

there's the hop nice you got it and a high  one again slam this one shamir come on

that is so good man come on hop hop  up ah you got lucky there you see  

you didn't quite lift it enough you got lucky

nice one there good job samir and here's a high  one again slam this one so strong

another thing when it comes to these super easy  balls like the high floaty ones and they for  

example come to your backhand side it doesn't make  any sense to hit a backhand because it's much more  

difficult to put the ball away with the backhand  okay so you always want to try to run around those

like sometimes i hit a really good shot after  i hit that good shot sometimes the astro shot  

brings you into the court but sometimes it doesn't  sometimes you get a great shot from here but you  

have to kind of come up to the baseline and then  see how your opponent reacts and then you're  

you're already at the baseline to get to the short  walls easier than if you're already back here  

okay what you're talking about is um reaction  anticipation so i made a whole video on being  

proactive versus reactive yeah so it turns  out that all elite tennis players even like  

federer djokovic they play reactive tennis  so you can see this very easily when they  

are waiting for the other person to strike the  ball they are waiting until the ball has been  

struck and then they make a move it's very easy to  see just pick anybody on tv and the player who's  

standing with the back to the tv and take a look  when they make a move it's always after the other  

person has struck the ball so that's what i call  reactive tennis however there's an exception when  

it's an obvious situation what is an obvious  situation let's say you and i are playing  

i'll give you an inside out forehand like this  that's almost a winner and now obviously you're  

going to be scrambling and there's very very  little chance that you're going to do anything  

with that ball in that case i can be proactive and  i can start sneaking in and why would i do that  

because most likely what's going to happen you're  going to go like this you're going to reach you're  

probably going to dump it short and now if i'm  already in it's going to be a lot easier for me  

to get the ball like that i can put it away much  easier yeah however and this is not something that  

you have trouble with you actually do a really  good job with short balls but some players maybe  

a little bit lower a recreational level 4.0 and  below and they will panic okay so they will see a  

high ball for example they will run in like crazy  they will sprint up to a ball and now they end up  

having the ball get behind them a little bit and  the other position they have to play the ball  

like back here and all of a sudden they can't  hit a winner so it's really important that your  

movement matches the situation so obviously if  you're in control the rally and the ball is coming  

kind of high you don't even even have to sprint  to a ball like that you can just kind of gently  

jog or these small little steps to the ball that  you're in position but it's unnecessary to go  

too fast and put yourself in a situation where  you're overrunning the ball and jamming yourself  

okay it makes sense again not something that you  have trouble with uh but this is very often the  

case at the rec level the players panic and  they get in there a little bit too quick and  

end up getting the ball behind them i'm so glad  you bring that up because you do got to dance  

with the ball when you get that high ball you just  got to keep it in front of you you got to give it  

have a safe distance for the ball and now you just  got to dance and track it and follow it and make  

sure that once it's in the right place and you  set the balls in front of you and then you rip  

it rip it for a winter yeah let me show you what  i mean so here go on a bass line and i want you  

to do it wrong on purpose just for demonstrative  purposes now shamir run up there too quick and  

let's see what happens here's a short high ball  running there too quick well see that's another  

thing that happens to a lot of players that try  to take the ball right off the bounce yeah yeah  

on a high ball it's completely unnecessary it  makes the stroke super difficult when you try to  

take it off the balance so it's okay to actually  take it below the apex so you just come in there  

wait for the ball to drop below the apex and now  you have time to execute your shot try not to rush  

those high balls here try it again and do it right  this time let the ball come down a little bit  

there you go see how comfortable that is yeah  it's unnecessary to take any additional risk  

just wait for that ball to drop below the apex and  then you rip it actually feed me a highball i'll  

show you what you should never do on a short  ball is this let the ball get behind you here  

and that's what happens to a lot of players they  just run in there too fast by the time they get  

there the ball is back here and now they're in a  horrible situation they have no strength back here  

so you got do i always take sharapova as an example  you gotta have this super fast footwork and if you  

ever watch sharapova for example swing volleys  she's moving her feet and she's like stalking  

the ball like this she's moving like crazy and  she has unbelievable intensity yeah even on the  

easiest shots ever another thing that happens shamir is that players are nonchalant on short balls  

because they think the point's over they think  oh look it's a super easy ball yeah i got the  

point already one that they kind of relax and  that's why i always use sharapova as an example  

because pretend like the easiest ball is the most  difficult ball in the world even something super  

easy like this have a super fast footwork like  this and the intensity has got to be out of this  

world yeah because this is where you're going  to avoid all the mistakes that we talk about  

today by having a lot of intensity with your feet  and being at the right place at the right time

well shamir the thing is that a lot of  players they don't practice these balls either  

you know if they play from the baseline a lot they  just don't practice half court tennis yeah so i  

would all my students i spent at least 15 minutes  of every lesson at the half court feeding them  

high balls low balls swing volleys uh i i treat  this part of the court very seriously because it  

is there's nothing more frustrating than playing  an awesome rally moving the other person around  

and almost hitting a winner the ball comes back  super weak and then you miss that frustrating  

uh half court ball did all that work to get the  meat so you got you got to get the reps in you  

got to put yourself in all these different  scenarios and practice so that your body can  

recognize it in math situations yeah and you can  be therefore more consistent here do a couple more  

to finish off this video i want you to really  smack this one and kill the short ball shamir  

you actually overran that a  little bit i did yeah do it again  

it was right in the corner though see  that was a winner but i think it was  

a little bit riskier than it needed to  be yeah you know do it again more margin

that's another thing that's important to  understand a length is really irrelevant  

when it comes to half court tennis it's very  similar to the overhead you don't really gain  

much from trying to go long if you hit it  hard and it's short with enough angle it's  

going to be a winner anyway so angles are  are more your friends angles and don't worry  

about depth so much when you're hitting these  shots that's more of like bass line thinness  

that's baseline tennis and even there it's not  necessarily a right to try to go super long  

but that's another subject for another  day when it comes to the half court shots  

aim for just the service line area maybe a  little bit behind that corridor between the  

service line and the middle between uh the  service line and the baseline don't go past  

the middle of the service line in the baseline  yeah and it's playing with fire it's too risky  

and worst case scenario if it's not a winner the  next shot will be the put away absolutely there  

you go got a super easy volley all right  do a couple more and go put this one away

there it is and last one shamir

oh you let it drop a little bit you have to be  more careful take it just a tad higher here we  

go come on i remember samir to hit the brakes  when you get there okay hit the brakes right way  

before the ball you're gonna start slowing down  make this the shoe squeak okay i hit the brakes

okay maybe a little more angle but i like that one  

but maybe more angle pull the ball  off the court a little more yeah

hey there it is easy winner easy winner  all right very nice from here good job  

all right i got the racket tap down you do you  learned it man thank you shamir thank you  

oh no thank you no i think  you're playing really well thanks