Tennis Backhand Slice - How To Get More Power. The slice backhand is a great shot to have in your tennis game. Many club players think that the backhand slice is used only when you're pushed out wide, on the full run. However, this is far from the truth, if you are capable of hitting a good slice backhand, you can use it in many different situations in a tennis point.
Here are the three main ways to use a slice backhand in tennis:
1. When defending, especially on a wider backhand. If you can hit a low bouncing slice in this scenario, you can turn the point around, often going from defending to a neutral position or even into an attacking position.
2. When approaching the net. The slice backhand is a great weapon to use when coming into the net, this is because a slice stays low and skids through the court. Hitting a passing shot off a ball that is at knee or even ankle level is extremely hard, even for the very best tennis players.
3. To mix up play. Roger Federer uses this tactic often in his tennis matches. You mix up play using your topspin shots followed by a low bouncing slice shot. This forces your opponent to hit balls at different heights, with different spins. This is a great way to destroy your opponent's rhythm and timing in a tennis match.

To execute a well-hit slice backhand in tennis, you'll firstly need to use a continental grip on your slice. This will allow you to manoeuvre the racket head in the correct way.
When you're preparing for the shot, focus on taking the racket back over your non-hitting hand's shoulder, this is the left shoulder for right-handed players.
From this position, you'll be able to change the swingpath depending on the incoming ball. You'll need to work on the high to low swing, the high to medium swing and the medium to medium or low to high swings in order to hit slice backhands at all heights.

Once you're preparing the racket, the non-hitting hand plays a vital role in the stroke. Feel that the left hand is not only helping your prepare the racket but also pulling the racket back, loading up energy in your wrist and racket.
By using this method, your slice backhand becomes like a slingshot, in the preparation phase you're storing that energy, on the forward phase you release the elastic energy.

When we want to flick something, we use our thumb to pull back the middle finger and store energy in that finger.
If you try to flick without using your thumb, the power you'll achieve will be considerably less.
Once you hold back the middle finger and then release, you'll create more power and force on the flick.
This same principle applies to the slice backhand.
The racket head is your middle finger and the left hand is your thumb.

свернуть