Photo Lesson: How to Hit the Overhead Smash

Just like on a serve, you get power on an overhead by starting with a deeply bent elbow and loose wrist on the backswing, letting the racquet hang down behind your back. From this position, you'll be able to generate great racquet-head speed as the arm straightens and the wrist naturally whips upward and forward. Having the body weight moving forward as seen here contributes additional power. The left arm's pointing duties are done at this point: It needs to start getting out of the way of the imminent swing.