Developing Touch:
Two Kinds of Drop Shots
Dave Hagler
If you have been watching professional tennis, especially on clay, you've seen a lot of dropshots. Dropshots can be an effective weapon for men, women, seniors, but also for juniors.
There are coaches who do not like the idea of teaching drop shots or even to younger players, probably due to concerns that players may become too dependent on them.
If someone is slicing just to save steps, that's not optimum. But if slicing or hitting dropshots makes the opponent do something they aren't good at, I say do it.
In this article let's explore two ways to develop your drop shots, one using more feel, the other using more spin.
Spin Directions
Let's start by understanding spin directions. Players hit harder and with more topspin than in the past, and as a result most people play farther back. So court position and the spin of the incoming ball make hitting dropshots a more viable choice.
It is actually easier to hit a dropshot when the incoming ball has topspin. This is because you don't have to reverse the direction of the spin on the ball.
Let's say you are watching a match from the side of the court, somewhere near the net post. If the player on your left hits a ball with topspin, it will be spinning in a predominantly clockwise direction.
If the player on your right returns the ball with topspin it will then spin counterclockwise. But if the player on the right hits with topspin and the player on the left hits with underspin, the ball will spin clockwise in each case.
Grips
When it comes to grips, I don't believe in absolutes. But I do believe you need a feel for your trigger finger if you are going to have good touch.
On a forehand drop shot you probably want something close to a 1--1 or an eastern backhand grip, with the index knuckle and heel pad on bevel 1.
For a backhand drop shot the grip is probably somewhere near a 3--3, or eastern forehand grip with knuckle and heel pad both on bevel 3. I find that players who try to hit backhand drop shots with eastern backhand grips generally have terrible touch.
If your grip moves from Continental towards Western, your racquet face closes. You may use a closed racquet face when you hit a half volley drop shot on a rising ball, but it is generally reasonable to think of drop shots as an open faced skill.
This is why you need to learn specific drop shot grips. But like I said there are no absolutes. Experiment a bit with the suggested grips, but the grips that seem natural are usually what you will want.
If you have a two handed backhand, you will almost certainly want to split your hands prior to the take back on your backhand. Using your non-dominant hand to bring the racquet head up and back facilitates radial deviation or cocking of the wrist of the dominant hand. This helps relax the dominant arm.
Touch and Feel
To hit consistent dropshots, you need touch and feel. It's not easy to define touch in tennis or other sports.
In basketball, people talk about shooter's touch, but what is it? It's argued that some players utilize a combination of trajectory and spin so that if the shot hits the rim it has a better chance of going in.
In tennis touch is the ability to take an incoming ball and take pace off so the shot is slowed. A player with touch has the ability to control the speed, spin and trajectory of a sliced groundstroke, volley, drop volley, lob volley, or an underspin or slight topspin lob.
A player who can hit 120 MPH serves to either corner, or take a ball with pace and drive it to a desired target has control, but not necessarily touch. These are the types of players who are often vulnerable to drop shots and also find them psychologically and emotionally demoralizing.
Two Drop Shot Variations
There are 2 ways to slow the speed of an outgoing shot when hitting a drop shot. One is with soft hands, allowing more give when the ball comes in. I call this drop shot feel.
Drop shots hit primarily with feel tend to have primarily underspin and tend to travel in a straighter line after the bounce.
The other way to slow the ball on a drop shot is by using a combination of underspin and side spin. I call this drop shot spin.
These are the drop shots that tend to curve, especially after the bounce and even to move backwards. The differences are subtle and sometimes hard to see with the naked eye.
But feel drop shots will tend to have a slightly flatter more forward and slightly flatter swing plane. They tend to look softer.
The swing plane on spin drop shots will be somewhat more downward and look more aggressive. The swing plane also moves more across the body. This is how players introduce the element of sidespin.
Both variations have applications in matches. Feel drop shots may work better on slower incoming balls. Spin drop shots are often necessary when the incoming pace and/or the bounce height is higher.
I teach all my players both variations, then encourage them to try them out regularly in practice, then in matches. My suggestion is that players at all levels do the same. A few successful drop shots at the right time sometimes is the difference in the outcome.
