Tennis Overhead Smash - How To Hit The Perfect Smash In 3 Steps

Tennis Overhead Smash - How To Hit The Perfect Smash In 3 Steps.
The tennis overhead smash is a shot that you might not have to hit very often in your average singles match but in doubles, you might have to hit quite a few. If you serve and volley or attack the net, chances are your opponent will throw up lobs to force you back or discourage you from closing down the net too much.
Club players often get scared of being lobbed in tennis matches so they tend to stay just inside the service line, which helps them to reach the lobs easier but also gives your opponents more angles to work with to find passing shots. The closer you are to the net, the less space the opponent has to pass you. In order to be confident enough to close the net, you'll need a good overhead smash and in this video, we'll show you how to hit the perfect overhead smash in tennis in three steps.
Step One - As soon as you recognize that the ball is coming as a lob and will be over your head, the first step is to get side-on, sideways on to the net. This means that you pivot back with your right leg (left leg for left-handers) and turn your shoulders so that your left shoulder ends up facing towards the net. This ensures that you have a full unit turn and can generate rotational power on your overhead smash when you hit the ball. At the same time, you're turning the body, you'll start preparing your racket head by lifting it to your right side around head height whilst also using your non-hitting hand, the left-hand for right-handers, to help you prepare the racket but also get you coiled up fully with the upper body.
Step Two - Reaching a good power (trophy position) on your overhead smash. This power position will be slightly different from the serve power position because, on the serve, we are in complete control of the timing, so it's easier to have a longer swing path. On the overhead smash, however, we have less time to have a big swing because the ball tends to dip quite quickly, especially if the opponent has hit the lob with lots of topspin which will make the ball dip very aggressively. Since we have less time on the overhead smash, we want to keep the swing more compact which will make it much easier to time the contact point and ensure we hit the ball out in front of our heads. Most pros will keep their racket more on the right side of their bodies when they prepare for the overhead smash and this is the position we recommend reaching. During this phase, you'll also be tracking the ball with your non-hitting hand to help you judge the distance and find the ball. Imagine that you are going to catch the ball with your left hand in this phase and pull it away at the very last second.

Step Three - Getting into the correct position. The biggest key to having a good overhead smash is getting into the right position with your feet. This means that you use the correct footwork patterns to move back behind the ball and then move forward if you have time. It's always a better idea to get back firstly, to beat the ball and then move forward if you recognize the ball is shorter than you anticipated, rather than the opposite, moving forward firstly and then having to rush back to cover a deep lob. If the lob is not too deep and you don't have too many steps to cover, you can use the normal side shuffle. This is ideal to cover the lob when you only have to move three or four steps to the overhead smash.
If the lob is deeper or you have a greater distance to cover, then the crossover footwork pattern will be needed. This is where your front foot (left leg) will cross over the line of your back foot (right leg) and make big steps using this crossover pattern.
You'll be able to reach the deepest of lobs using 3-4 crossover steps even if you're really close to the net. Using side shuffle steps on those deep balls will take too much time and too many steps.
The final step to hitting the perfect overhead smash is then to make contact out in front of your body and really extend up for maximum power, also transferring your body weight into the shot if you can and time permits.

[PL-fhcz]

Simon - Another great video thanks. One shot I have never mastered - and you've never covered - is the tweener. I practise by hitting the ball into the court, bounce against a backboard to simulate a lob over my head. But, the tweener is a zero margin shot for me, I always hit the ball into the bottom of the net.
Please help...

[TopTennisTrainingOfficial]

Currently, we have 4 players who love to lob, angry at me for making this video. Let's see how this develops!

[goncalobmo]

Hey Simon, is it possible for you guys to do an analysis on the FH and BH from Dimitrov?
Keep up the good work, you are by far the best instructional channel out there!

[ItsQuarz-]

Great video Simon, most people have some problems with good smash, I think film help people

[klaw]

Great video! I frequently hit the overhead into the net. I’m surprised I have this problem because I used to play badminton competitively and the footwork, the racquet takeback and power position are practically identical to the tennis overhead.

What are some common fixes for people to stop missing into the net?

[hiroshizojirushi]

Thanks a lot for the tips, which help me greatly, but I still have a question regarding a situation I sometimes have to deal with: imagine I attack the net following a forehand down the line, then the opponent hits a cross-court lob, and I have to move not only backwards, but rather diagonal from the forehand side at the net to the backhand corner close to the baseline. Even if I turn to the side and try to use the crossover step, it is very difficult to move myself behind the ball to get the right position for the smash. Any advise for that? What footwork I should use? (and I don't want to hit a backhand smash, which will make me lose the point 90% of the time😂) Thanks in advance.

[TopTennisTrainingOfficial]

Who has the best overhead smash of all time? Sampras, Federer, Nadal or someone else?

[rushi]

Did I miss or u didnt talk about the grip - eastern, continental, doesn’t-matter? (Only reason I watched video)

[JGtennistraining]

Hmm. My sons Coach wants him to be more settled and have the head of the racquet slightly behind his head. I don’t know what to think.

[misirali]

I thimk your videos are unnecessarily long,

[teexavier]

Great video Simon. I have a big question on the racquet motion while hitting overheads. Is it completely the same as serving, where I will pronate before and after contacting the ball? If it's different, which part exactly it differs from serving? Appreciate your clarification.

[billbaxter]

Thank you guys fo the video ... I just have a question ... Do we use a contenintal grip (serve grip) or a normal forehand grip?

[tomdevo]

I've always had an issue with hitting the smash long, not so much into the net, I hit the ball to much like a serve, with zero wrist and hitting the ball forward

[gbballpl]

Simon, at the end, that is wawrinka & grigor during 2019 us open fan week? I was there! We should all get the chance to say hello to u when u visit different tourneys. Cheers.

[ganeshmaha]

👍thank you coach very useful class for me

[connorbyrnes]

Love your videos and you guys go me really great at tennis and I love the sport. Thank you for everything!!

[patrickweston]

Thanks for the great lesson. I struggle to relax and hit a well-placed overhead. I want to bounce it into the parking lot. Lots of easy points squandered.

[paull]

The key for me is step two keep trophy position in your right hand so I have enough time to hit the smash overhead. It solved why I always late to the overhead. Thanks so much.

[e.j.f]

I liked that you placed the 3 balls to show that any depth after that and the ball will probably land out. Very informative as often I wrongly hit balls that would otherwise go out as I am trying to have more court awareness and to know when balls will land out if I don't hit them. Thanks!

[aliashir]

First of all thanks for very informative video🙌 I've bee using and practicing overhead smash on the wall with forehand grip and masters it very well. However, I find out about continental grip later from your videos and fixed my serve (it took so many effort and double faults but worth it). So right now I have very aggressive smash with forehand grip should I change to continental grip anyway? Thanks coach Simon 🙏