After working with a 72 year old student for the past two years I have come to realize you cannot ignore your “bread and butter” – your best shot. This particular student had a naturally strong backhand he could hit effortlessly and consistently, but his forehand had much to be desired. At his request, our focus would be on improving his forehand, developing more topspin, and utilizing the “modern forehand” i.e. footwork. The ultimate goal would be to create an easily repeatable racquet path producing a shot with more margin for error which would result in more consistency.

Now the strategy was sound, but being the perfectionist type, my student insisted on spending most of our teaching time working on his forehand. And, 90% of his practice time between our lessons focused on the forehand which began to present problems. After hitting a gazillion forehands the past few months he could no longer hit his best shot, the backhand slice. His natural killer backhand had begun to deteriorate – very disconcerting for him, and pretty much put a damper on the improved forehand, not to mention his fragile psyche.

So, the last few weeks we have begun splitting the hitting time between the two shots, and slowly but surely, he’s getting that killer slice back. So the moral of this story, whether you are working with a pro or not, practice all your shots, especially your “bread and butter”.

During a somewhat mundane, workmanship match played out from the baseline, when commentator Patrick McEnroe exclaims “the droppah!” you can tell he is genuinely excited.  A shot more commonly used in the infancy of open tennis, the drop shot has recently become more prevalent in the modern game of power tennis.

Andy Murray, Roger Federer, and many clay court specialists have worked this shot into their repertoire. Although some opponents – especially those who can’t hit one – consider this a cheap shot, not worthy of one with solid groundstrokes, it’s still a winner, just like the 90 mph forehand down the line. A true touch shot, the dropper – when used with discretion – can throw a baseliner off their game, resulting in constant muttering and creative exclamations.

Even doubles players can make great use of this shot, especially if your opponents like to stay back on the baseline. After your return of serve, wait for a short ball, act like you’re hitting a normal groundie, and at the point of contact soften your wrist and let your racquet head slide under the ball.

The keys for a successful drop shot are disguise and discretion. You can turn a backhand slice into a drop shot and your opponent won’t read it until it’s too late. But hitting this shot from behind the baseline is a recipe for disaster.  Be patient, wait for that short ball, and give your opponent something else to think about with “the droppah!”