| In a way, I guess it could be said that the topspin | | | | As I said before, this stroke will be almost the same as |
| backhand is a sneaky stroke, but you're not playing to | | | | your regular backhand. The big difference is that when |
| lose are you? The topspin backhand is perfectly legal | | | | you bring the racquet across your body, you bring it to |
| and in fact is almost a "must have" for your tennis | | | | a position below where the ball is going to be. If the ball |
| arsenal. You'll want to use topspin if your opponent is | | | | is coming in low, you may even have to bend your |
| far from the net like on the baseline. If you can use | | | | knees so that you can get your racquet even lower. |
| your topspin backhand, the ball will make it over the net | | | | When the ball arrives, go ahead and make a swing at |
| and then curve down and hit the ground fairly close to | | | | the ball. You will actually be swinging up at the ball. This |
| the net, but on his side. This will force him to run like | | | | puts topspin on it which will cause it to curve towards |
| crazy to get to the ball and hopefully, he won't be able | | | | the ground. After you make contact, go ahead and |
| to make a return. | | | | make your follow through and don't forget to look |
| A lot of the topspin backhand is just like the regular | | | | momentarily at your contact point before you watch |
| backhand, but you will be holding the racquet with a | | | | the balls trajectory. |
| different grip. The proper grip to use for the topspin | | | | The end result of the topspin is that the ball is spinning |
| backhand is called the Continental grip. In the Eastern | | | | in such a way that it curves to the ground. I'll say it |
| grip the "V" between your thumb and forefinger will be | | | | again, it's not sneaky, it's called strategy. You want to |
| centered on the #1 bevel on the racquet handle. In the | | | | hit the ball where your opponent can't get it and the |
| Continental grip, this "V" is moved all the way to the | | | | topspin backhand might just come in handy for that. |
| left on the #1 bevel. | | | | |