In Part 1 of Learning From Novak Djokovic we talked about mastering the return of serve and the importance of continuous improvement for your tennis game. Now it’s time to learn more from the world number 1 in Part 2 of this series.
More Lessons From Novak Djokovic
1. Use The Backhand Down The Line
More and more players these days run around the backhand in order to hit big forehands. We all face these kinds of opponents at every level of the game.
In order to stop somebody from hurting you with big forehands from the backhand side of the court you need to master the backhand down the line!
Novak’s backhand down the line is most likely his best and most dangerous shot. He can decide to go down the line from almost any position with his backhand and it is very difficult to read when he will go down the line.
This gives him a huge strategic edge over his right-handed opponents because they cannot afford to run around their backhand as much since this will leave the court open for Novak’s down the line backhand!
Check Out Novak Some Phenomenal Backhand Down The Line Shots
As you can see in the video, his opponents are usually not prepared to get all the way over to cover a good down the line backhand from Novak. Additionally, he keeps them guessing with his drop shots. Overall he makes great strategic use of this shot!
So How Can You Develop A Great Down The Line Backhand ?
A great one-handed backhand is essentially a result of great backhand technique!
In reality there is very little difference between a cross-court backhand and a down-the-line backhand.
The tennis court is less than 20 degrees wide and the main difference between these two shots is the angle of the racket face at contact. This difference is minimal though and therefore the real key to developing a great backhand down the line is developing great backhand technique.
Once you master backhand fundamentals you will be able to hit great down the line backhands with ease. If you are interested in developing your backhand fundamentals I highly recommend an online stroke analysis. With the analysis I can pin-point the fundamentals that you need to work on and these have proven to be extremely efficient!
Click Here If You Are Interested In An Online Stroke Analysis
2. Incorporate The Drop Shot On Your Stronger Side
One thing that we could already see in the previous video is that Novak tends to hit a lot of drop shots with his backhand as well and he has a lot of success with these drop shots.
Why are these drop shots so successful ? First of all Novak’s excellent backhand and his ability to go down the line forces his opponents to retreat relatively far behind the baseline. This of course makes it a lot easier for him to hit successful drop shots.
This is also the reason why I usually recommend for players to develop a good drop shot on their stronger side. So if you have a great forehand, a forehand drop shot should be fairly easy to incorporate into your game and vice versa.
And in fact that’s exactly what we see the top players do. Novak tends to hit drop shots with his backhand and Roger and Rafa tend to hit more drop shots with their forehand!
Many recreational players on the other hand make the mistake of hitting drop shots from their weaker side because they are afraid to hit the ball on that side. This is usually not very effective though because your opponents are not afraid of your weak side and therefore they are not as far behind the baseline!
Have A Look At Novak Hitting A Great Backhand Drop Shot
As you can see Novak decides at the last second to hit a drop shot and that makes it really tough to see it coming.
The second reason why Novak’s backhand drop shot is successful so often is that he has great disguise on his drop shot!
This is something that you can easily practice of course. You need to practice turning the same way that you turn for your backhand and only when you begin your forward swing do you open the racket face for the drop shot. A great way to practice this movement is in front of the mirror without actually hitting a ball!
Allright. That’s it for now. Let me know your thoughts below as usual
