The Slice Backhand

The slice backhand is often used when the tennis ball is either too low or too high to be effectively hit with a topspin one or two-handed backhand. This section contains free tennis instructional videos that focus on the techniques that high level tennis players use to hit their slice backhands.

1 Pivot and Shoulder Turn
The pivot and shoulder turn is the first thing all professional tennis players do when they hit a slice backhand. The racket will start to come back because your shoulders are turning sideways — don’t use your arms to get the racket back during this step!

2 Take Your Racket Back
The pivot and shoulder turn only gets you partially sideways. You need to continue to turn your shoulders to get fully sideways and use your arms to get the racket all the way back.

3 Step Forward into the Court
Stepping forward into the court will get your weight moving in the correct direction for the forward swing, which happens next.

4 Swing to Contact
Unlike the swing to contact on other shots, your racket will be moving down to contact. This is what creates backspin (also called underspin) on the tennis ball.

5 Follow Through
The follow through allows you to complete the slice backhand in a smooth, relaxed motion.

  • Garrett Hartsock

    I have a fairly decent slice backhand but my coach says that I use it to much. He always says that my 2hander is a lot stronger and that I shouldn’t hit so much slice. Could you tell me when to use the slice backhand?

  • http://monserratedesi.shikshik.org/2012/07/09/backhand-slice/ Backhand slice | Monserratedesi

    [...] The Slice BackhandThis section contains videos that will teach you how to hit a slice backhand. [...]

  • Matthotradat

    Thanks, Will, great stuff

  • Mach4System

    kim clusters uses it as well

  • Mach4System

    Kim Clisters sorry about typo