The "Right" Spin for an Approach Shot

I'm a little under the weather, so that is why I am not posting as frequently as usual.

We left off last time with question: How do you get your opponent moving backwards with your approach shot?

The obvious answer is With good depth.

But there's more to depth than where the ball lands. A topspin shot has greater depth than an underspin shot landing in the same spot.

Why? Because of the difference in the way these two spins make the ball bounce.

Topspin kicks the ball upward and forward for a high, long bounce that amounts to a bound.

Underspin is backspin that kills the bounce, so that the ball loses forward momentum and bounces relatively straight upward, though underspin shots don't generally bounce as high as topspin shots do.

You set up closer to the bounce point when returning underspin than when returning topspin. In other words, you set up shallower when returning underspin than topspin.

The surface makes a big difference. On grass and other slick surfaces (which ordinarily are very fast ones, like wood), an underspin shot skids more when it bounces. When the ball skids, it doesn't bite into the court and get forward momentum converted to upward momentum. Underspin shots bounce farther and stay lower on fast, slick surfaces because of this.

Which is why underspin approach shots became the rage back when most of the Pro Tour was played on grass: with underspin you kept the ball low and got almost as much depth of bounce as with a topspin shot.

But it's long past time for the parrots to learn a new song. Very little tennis is played on grass or wood anymore.

That depth of bounce on a topspin shot looks mighty good to a tactician planning an approach shot today.

True, topspin bounces higher than underspin. But so what when your opponent is behind the baseline? How many opponents hit down at you from behind the baseline? And, though most players like high forehands, they hate high backhands.

Which happens to be the side we normally target with our approach shots anyway.

No, this doesn't mean that topspin is the "right" choice for an approach shot. It just means that, more often than not, it will be the better choice. There are still situations when underspin would be better. These situations tend to occur most often on the fastest surfaces and at the top of the game though.

More later.

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