Drop shot

Drop shot
Tennis shots
  Forehand
Backhand
Serve
Volley
Slice
Lob
Smash
See also:
Ace
Topspin
Backspin
Flat
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A drop shot in tennis is slicing, putting a backspin on the ball just over the net. A good drop shot travels such that the opponent is unable to run fast enough to retrieve it.

A good drop shot requires great touch. The ball should bounce low and near the net, sometimes using underspin (or backspin). Often if the backspin is great enough, the bounce of the ball will be shorter, and in some extreme cases will even cause the ball to bounce back towards the net. Sidespin may also be put on the ball so it kicks sideways upon contact with the ground. A bad drop shot, however, can be chased down easily by the opponent who will then have the advantage. The secret is having "soft hands." Making one's grip slack at the moment of impact will allow the racquet to absorb more force and make the ball less powerful and less likely to bounce high. A soft drop shot is known as a dink.

The notion of skimming the net might be misleading. Keeping the ball as low as possible over the net is very useful, but the trajectory of the ball is quite "arched" and may better be thought of as a small lob.

Drop shots are good as an element of surprise, when the opponent is expecting a normal shot and is not ready to run forward to retrieve them. Therefore, a technique of hitting a drop shot is to disguise the shot.

The characteristics of some court surfaces make drop shots particularly effective; grass and clay are good examples. On grass, the ball tends to bounce lower than other courts, which makes it harder to retrieve a drop shot. On clay, the slow surface tends to encourage players to stay far back and engage in rallies from behind the baseline, which in turn increases the distance the player must cover to reach a drop shot near the net. Drop shots on hard courts can be useful, although to a lesser degree. Drop shots are also useful when the wind is blowing in the opposite direction of the shot; this allows spin without hitting the shot too long.

A drop shot hit with a volley is aptly coined a drop volley. This stroke was mastered by one of the greatest serve and volleyers of all time, John McEnroe.

History

For many years the 1940s player Bobby Riggs was considered to have had the greatest drop shot of all time, off both his forehand and his backhand.

The drop shot became unpopular in the 1990s, but has experienced a recent popularity due to its success rate. The drop shot is most commonly used by clay court specialists, such as Rafael Nadal, Guillermo Coria, Marcos Baghdatis and Juan Carlos Ferrero. Even players who previously never opted to use the drop shot, such as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Maria Sharapova, now occasionally execute the shot. It is a generally accepted belief that the term "drop shot" comes from its ability to make the ball "drop" right into the opponent's side of the court. Marat Safin and Rafael Nadal are known for their ability to chase down drop shots and returning them with one of their own, requiring great touch.


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Drop-Shot — Drop|shot, (auch:) Drop Shot [ drɔpʃɔt], der; [s], s [engl. drop shot, aus: drop = Tropfen, das Herabfallen u. shot = Schuss, Schlag] ([Tisch]tennis): Stoppball …   Universal-Lexikon

  • drop shot — loc.s.m.inv. ES ingl. {{wmetafile0}} TS sport nel tennis, colpo smorzato che si dà alla palla per farla cadere subito dopo la rete Sinonimi: drop. {{line}} {{/line}} DATA: 1940. ETIMO: comp. di drop caduta e shot colpo …   Dizionario italiano

  • drop-shot — dropˈ shot noun (tennis, etc) A ball made to drop close to the net immediately after clearing it • • • Main Entry: ↑drop …   Useful english dictionary

  • drop shot — n. 1. shot made by letting molten metal fall in drops to solidify in a container of water below 2. Tennis, Volleyball, etc.Tennis Volleyball a shot hit lightly in which the ball drops just over the net with very little bounce …   English World dictionary

  • drop-shot — (izg. drȍp šȍt) m DEFINICIJA sport 1. u stolnom tenisu i badmintonu loptica koja se vraća neposredno uz protivnikovu stranu mrežice; skraćena lopta 2. u tenisu, udarac po lopti odmah nakon njenog odskoka s tla ETIMOLOGIJA engl …   Hrvatski jezični portal

  • drop shot — n a shot in a game such as tennis in which the ball is hit softly and falls quickly to the ground …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • drop shot — drop ,shot noun count a shot in tennis in which the ball falls suddenly so your opponent cannot reach it easily …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • drop shot — ► NOUN ▪ (in tennis or squash) a softly hit shot which drops abruptly to the ground …   English terms dictionary

  • drop shot — drop′ shot n. 1) spo a ball or shuttlecock so softly hit that it falls to the playing surface just after clearing the net, as in tennis or badminton 2) spo a ball so softly hit that it falls suddenly to the ground just after striking the front… …   From formal English to slang

  • drop shot — noun a soft return so that the tennis ball drops abruptly after crossing the net • Syn: ↑dink • Hypernyms: ↑return * * * noun 1. : a delicately hit ball or shuttlecock that drops quickly after crossing the net or dies after hitting the front wall …   Useful english dictionary

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