Tim Henman's tips on playing a backhand slice – Tennis News
Former British number one, Tim Henman, who ended his career in 2007, featured in an interview and explained some tricks of playing a delicate sliced backhand shot in the modern era.
Henman stated in an exclusive interview to the Tennis Space, “The racket is going from high to low. So it’s the opposite of topspin when the racket is going from low to high. I think you want to make sure that your backswing is
not too big. And you need a long follow-through. You don’t want to chop down on it too much as you need to make sure that you’re still going through the ball, and not just coming down and putting too much slice on the ball. Make sure you get a good shoulder
turn. If you’ve got a court where the ball stays quite low, it’s going to be quite an effective shot.”
Every shot is every crucial in such a competitive world of tennis. Each player is looking to pound on his rival with and force them to play at their wrong side which is a backhand in most cases. Hence, the youngsters and experienced
personnel should know the art of tackling such situations and placing a slice backhand return is one of the most difficult shots in the textbook.
The ability to measure the exact weight on the shot in an art and not all the players can come up with an inch perfect backhand slice at each occurrence. 38-year-old Henman told the reporter of The Tennis Space that keeping the
slice shot low is vital for its success. Players use extreme grips these days and a slow dipping return will make it difficult for them to adapt quickly, hence, commit an unforced error.
Henman further added that a backhand slice can be categorized as offensive as well as defensive. Most players in the modern era are groomed with a double-handed backhand; hence, their ability to accurately hit a slice is bound
to be lesser than those who use a single-handed backhand.
Moreover, same grip is used for volley and slice backhand. It is crucial for players to practice this shot and bring it into play during long rallies to get on top of the point.
Henman enjoyed a comparatively successful career in the field of tennis; climbed to his career-high ranking of world number four in 2004. He gathered $11,635,542 as prize money in his entire career and was counted amongst the best
defensive players of his era.
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