Watch WMV video. (162 KB)
When your opponent hits a short ball to your backhand side, you have three main options in terms of basic swing path and footwork:
- Get there early enough to stop, set up, and use any stroke you like, including heavy topspin. You could hit an approach shot in this situation, but you would usually go for a clean winner, which might be deep and hard to a corner, angled sharply toward the crosscourt "side pocket," or a drop shot.
- Get there in time to slow down a little and use a skip step or carioca step to glide forward through the stroke while facing mostly sideways. You could go for a clean winner, but you would usually slice the ball down the line as an approach shot. Hitting flat would be reasonably easy, too, but hitting a heavy topspin with this footwork would be difficult.
- If the ball is so short that you don't have time to set up or turn sideways with a skip step or carioca step, the easiest stroke to execute is a relatively flat one with a short backswing. Running forward at significant speed complicates the timing and calculation of your point of contact with the ball so that a heavy topspin, which requires a longer swing, becomes quite difficult. A slice can be executed with a shorter backswing than a heavy topspin, but a backhand slice is tricky when you're running and facing the net. With a little practice, you can place the mostly flat stoke deep down the line pretty reliably, which will put you in good position to win the point with a volley.
