This important weapon requires an aggressive approach but soft hands.
The drop shot might be a touch shot, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an assertive shot. When you hit a drop shot, you’re on the offensive. You need to execute it with conviction. To start, you must have strong court positioning well inside the baseline. If you’re close to the baseline, the drop shot is a desperation shot and unlikely to work. You must also set up as you would on other shots. Flex your knees, balance yourself and take your racquet back as you would on a slice backhand. Don’t let the racquet face dangle. This will give away your intentions and impair your swing. Use a Continental grip (to see what this grip looks like, go to our Grip Guide) and bring your racquet back with your non-dominant hand. This will aid your shoulder turn.
• There’s a difference between “down and out” and “out and down.” Your drop shot swing shouldn’t exaggerate the downward movement; you still have to hit the ball over the net. Open your racquet face slightly—I prefer the word “bevel” to “open” because “open” often causes people to open the racquet too much. Soften your hands as you swing and don’t accelerate through the shot as you would on a slice drive. But you still need to step into the shot and move your non-dominant arm in the opposite direction of your hitting arm, to keep you balanced.
• On an effective drop shot, the ball goes up before it goes down. Build a mountain, not a hill. If the trajectory of the ball is too low, the ball will bounce too far once it lands and give your opponent a lot of options. You want to pop the ball up over the net with underspin and have it drop down, so it has very little forward momentum. Keep your head steady throughout your swing and make sure you finish what you start. If you punch the ball or stop your swing short, you’ll have less control over the speed of the shot and its placement.
Ajay Pant is a USPTA and PTR Master Pro and the national tennis director of Midtown Athletic Clubs.
Photo by AP
Originally published in the April 2011 issue of TENNIS.