Tennis Overhead Smash
The tennis overhead smash is one of the most explosive strokes in the game. At the professional level the overhead typically results in either a winner or their opponent barely getting a racquet on the ball. Pete Sampras put his flare on the overhead smash in the 90s by leaping into the air to crush the ball, the equivalent to a slam dunk in basketball. The majority of overheads are hit up at net, however an overhead can be hit from anywhere in the court given the right ball.
When you come up to net there are two ways your opponent can attempt to get the ball past you. Your opponent can try to hit a passing shot that goes around you, or a lob that is hit over your head. If you want to be effective up at net you must develop an offensive overhead.
Tennis Overhead Smash: Grip
The overhead is hit with the Continental grip. There are a couple reasons why utilizing the Continental grip makes sense. First, the Continental grip allows your arm and wrist to pronate naturally through the ball on the overhead, which results in more power and options on the overhead. Second, when you play up at net you have limited time to react to the ball so utilizing the Continental grip for serves, overheads, and volleys allows for you to react to the ball without having to utilize time to transition to a different grip.
Tennis Overhead Smash: Preparation
The overhead smash and serve are mechanically very similar; however the overhead is simplified due to other variables at play that can complicate the stroke. The following are steps in the preparation phase that are instrumental in developing a fundamentally sound overhead.
Tennis Overhead Smash: Read Your Opponent and Watch the Ball
The first thing you want to do is focus on your opponent’s racquet face and body language to anticipate the type of shot that will be hit. Players typically hit overheads off of balls that are hit high in the air that are over their head or bounce over their head, also known as lobs. Some key items to look for to anticipate the lob are the opponent stretching out or reaching to hit the ball on the run or an open racquet face with their upper body leaning back.
Tennis Overhead Smash: React to the Ball and Move into Position
As the ball is being hit by your opponent you want to split step. As you begin reacting to the lob you want to turn your body sideways and with you non-dominant hand on the throat and the hitting hand on the grip of the racquet begin moving to set up for the ball. More often than not, if it is a decent lob you will be moving back to get into position to play the overhead. You can move back in a couple of different ways. The most common way players move back is with a side step, similar to what you would do recovering back to the court. Another way players move back on the lob, especially if they need to cover a lot of ground is with the cross step. This is similar to the initial drop steps a quarterback would take prior to stepping in and throwing a pass.
Overhead Smash: Set Up
Once you reach the optimal point on the court to hit the overhead, which will be to receive the ball out in front in the plane that you would release a ball to throw, you want to have your shoulders and hips turned and loaded. Your non-dominant arm will be extended up into the air pointing at the incoming ball to allow for you to keep your head up and track the ball into your strings. Your dominant hand will do the move of an NFL quarter back by taking the racquet back toward your ear as if you were going to throw a football. At this point your hand should be holding the racquet loosely so that the racquet head drops behind your head.
Execute the Tennis Overhead Smash
Once you have set up for the overhead it’s time to execute. Just like a quarterback or pitcher would throw the ball, you want to step forward so that your weight is transferred into the ball. As you begin accelerating your racket head forward, as if you were throwing your racquet at the ball, make sure to keep your arm and hand loose to provide increased racquet head acceleration and natural pronation throughout the complete overhead motion. Your contact point is out in front of your body in the same plane you would release to throw a ball with your hitting arm fully extended. Your body weight and motion should continue in the same direction as you hit the ball after contact.
Overhead Smash Follow Through
After you make contact with the ball your racquet follows through, traveling down across your body, finishing around hip level. By now this may sound like a broken record, the follow through is the same on the serve as a quarterback’s or pitcher’s throwing hand finishes after releasing a pass or pitch.
Tennis Overhead Smash: Pro Tip
The overhead motion is simplified when compared to the service motion. The overhead motion requires the racquet to move into the trophy service pose immediately, without looping or dropping the racquet head. This is due to having limited time and to help time the ball being hit out of the air.
Tennis Scissor-Kick Overhead Intro
Now that you know how to hit an overhead smash, lets discuss the tennis scissor-kick overhead. There have been times in tennis where my movement on the overhead has kept me up at night. Have you received a lob from your opponent that you felt like you could get but you just weren’t able to get there quick enough or elevate high enough? I describe this feeling as my credit card jump. When you receive a lob that is hit particularly well you need to move quickly and at times elevate to hit the ball. To do this you can utilize the scissor-kick overhead to give yourself a better chance to prepare for the ball and take it out of the air.
Tennis Scissor-Kick Overhead Footwork
The scissor-kick overhead is very similar to the standard overhead smash when you consider the upper body movement and initial reaction, however the footwork is different. On the scissor-kick overhead you want to drop back like a quarterback does in football. You can do this by utilizing the cross step. After you split step and turn your body you can step across your back foot with your front foot and then step back with you back foot. This cross step can be repeated as many times as you need to cover ground quickly.
Scissor-Kick Overhead: Set Up
Once you are ready to hit the overhead you want to set up and load. To load up you want to step back with your back foot and load your weight onto it so you can push off and jump into the air. Once you are in the air the scissor-kick of the legs allows you to rotate your hips and shoulders around into the shot. When you land you should find yourself on your front foot.
Upper Body Motion
The upper body movement on the scissor-kick overhead is similar to the standard overhead smash however it is worth going over. I want to start off by saying that there are different ways to hold the racquet while you are getting into the position and there is wiggle room on what you want to decide to do. You can have your arms up in the trophy pose while you move, using your non dominant hand to track the ball into your strings, or you can hold the throat of your racquet with your non dominant hand in a position similar to what a quarterback would look like holding the football on a take back. The argument for doing the second option is that you can move quicker to the ball with your hands around chest high than with your hands around or above head level.
Once you are getting ready to set up and load your weight on your back foot your upper body should be in the trophy pose. As you push off your back foot for the ball your racquet will drop back behind you as if your arm was loaded up to throw a ball with your hand loosely laid back. As your racquet accelerates up to strike the ball your non dominant hand will naturally begin to drop.
Tennis Scissor-Kick Overhead: Pro Tip
There is a lot going on during the overhead. Try to think about the big picture and relate the motion back to throwing a ball. This may help make sense of it all, since you would probably prefer to only focus on one or maybe two things at a time.
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