Offensive Lobs & Smash
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Everyone loves the perfect lob, but it’s a high risk shot. Too high or hard and it’s out of bounds. Too low or slow and the opponents can smash it. But place it just right, and you score a beautiful point or set yourself up for a rally-winning shot.
Lob Strategies:
Disguise your lob - A good offensive lob looks like a dink before it is hit. The same basic paddle movement and prep is involved. You want to draw your opponent towards the net before sending it over their head.
Don’t lob from the baseline - A baseline lob gives your opponents too much time to set up and attack your lob.
Lob from the kitchen - A well-timed lob from the kitchen can make your opponents scramble and open up an offensive position for you.
Key Technical Skills:
A dink-like lob - The difference between a dink and a lob is the rate of acceleration and the swing path at contact.
Add topspin - You can add consistency and make the ball drop sooner in the court. Add topspin by keeping the paddle face neutral and brush up the back of the ball.
Aim crosscourt - Cross court is better than down the line because it gives you more room to keep the lob in bounds while putting it as far away from your opponents as possible.
The lob is hard to get right but rewarding when you do.