TennisOne - Hitting Off the Back Foot

Years ago, if you took a lesson, you were probably taught to keep your feet on the ground. You were taught to step in and transfer your weight to your front or left foot on your forehand (if you are right-handed). More recently, if you took a lesson, you might have been taught to transfer your weight from the right foot to your left foot on the forehand (if you are right-handed). Your pro might let you come off the ground a bit as long as you shifted your weight to the front foot.

But is it necessary to step in or transfer your weight forward? When might you hit off the back foot or even step backwards? Is it sound to have negative weight transfer? One of the assumptions for creating power is to step forward into the ball. But stepping forward is not a major source of power. Rather, power initiates from loading off the back leg and angular momentum generated from your lower body and core.

Although stepping in frequently helps you hit a solid ball, today’s pros regularly hit off the back foot on the forehand and to a lesser extent on the backhand as well. Not to spread any misconceptions, hitting off the back foot should not be used all the time but rather it is useful in neutralizing or defensive situations.

You won’t want to hit off the back foot in most attacking situations. So, you must consider whether you are ten feet behind the baseline, ten feet inside the baseline, whether you have a low ball or a wide ball. Clearly there are situations where you should step in. Let’s address the cases for stepping in and hitting off the back foot. Let’s address the latter first. In this article, I will specifically address a right-handed player hitting a forehand groundstroke. But the same applies to a backhand or lefty.

There are several situations when you really should avoid hitting off the back foot. The first is on a short ball you can attack, e.g., an approach shot or an outright winner inside the baseline. Hitting off the back foot elevates your shot. When you attack, you want to give your opponent less time but elevating your shot increases the ball height of trajectory. Second, hitting off the back foot frequently gives the club player a little less power. Any time you want to attack, you should drive through from the right foot to the left.

There is one more situation you clearly want to get down on your front foot. Most passing shots should be struck lower than the typical groundstroke. Therefore, it is very important you stay down on the passing shot. It is actually quite natural to do so since most approach shots and volleys are either hit aggressively or with slice and hence, stay down lower than a heavy topspin groundstroke. So your contact point on the passing shot tends to be lower than usual.

Tennis is a game of attacking, defending, and neutralizing. It is also a game of spin, height, and percentages. If you are several feet behind the baseline, you rarely can hit an attacking drive. One of your best options is to add height to your shot so it goes deeper as seen in Figure 1. A problem with adding height is that, for many people, they will hit out. So they end up hitting softer in the form of a high moonball by opening up the racquet face.

Instead of moonballing, try keeping your swing path the same but change the elevation of your swing by driving off your back foot. Your shoulders should not be level to the ground but the front (left shoulder for a righty) shoulder should be higher than the back shoulder as if you are climbing up a hill sideways. Your weight should be on the back foot and you should hit upwards as shown in the video of Guga below. If you simply open your racquet face, you will lob or hit long. So you are not trying to push the ball upwards but drive it with extra height while keeping the spin and pace.

Most shots should start with loading on the back foot. In a great forehand, power is created off that foot. As the player tries to add spin and pace, the force of the swing often results in the front foot lifting as the racquet accelerates upwards.

To hit aggressively and high without changing your swing pattern, first visualize yourself on a small hill with the net at the top. Then you are naturally going upwards. If you add topspin, you can aggressively strike the ball without changing your racquet swing relative to your body. On the other hand, many intermediate club players try to open the racquet face to add height. The open racquet face leads to a less aggressive push. Without changing your path of your racquet swing, simply lifting the front foot and elevate your shot. You can still swing aggressively to add pace and topspin. It won’t be an attacking shot but it is an excellent neutralizing shot. In effect, you can hit a loop (heavy topspin higher than the normal groundstroke) or hit a high neutral drive.

Regarding court position, there are three basic situations where it is advisable to hit off the back foot:

In the first case, you are wide of the court and need time to get into the court. You need to hit your crosscourt groundstroke higher than normal to gain time.

Second, if your opponent hits a deep ball off the baseline and you are forced back. Adding a reverse follow-through to hitting a bit off the back foot will neutralize your shot effectively.

And last, if you are deep behind the baseline. Lifting the front foot elevates your shot without changing the racquet path relative to your body.

The Open Stance Gravity Step

The gravity step is one of the fastest ways to recover back into the court. When forced wide, plant off the outside foot and drive the ball. On your forward swing, your inside foot will lift off the ground which allows you to quickly shift your weight back into the court. Often the pros when forced to move wide will use this footwork pattern with an extra step off the outside foot which acts as a brake.

Haas takes a small skip step with the right foot and creates only a small gravity step. Note that Safin adds an extra braking step but his inside foot lifts and his body leans farther back to the center of the court after his shot. He actually brings the left foot up and almost into the planted right foot which creates a leaning or gravity effect.

Think of a speed skater pushing off with the outside foot and lifting the inside foot. A great drill is to do one-legged alley hops. Practice laterally jumping across the doubles alley. When you jump to the right, land only on your right foot. When you jump to the left, land only on your left foot. Let the non-landing leg hang up a little in the air and push off the one foot back across the alley. Then do the same but bring the foot in the air closer to the planted foot. You will feel greater force back across the alley and hence, recover more quickly back into the court.

The open stance gravity step is not a negative or backwards-moving step. Rather it is a lateral weight-transfer movement. The following two techniques involve negative weight transfer.

When your opponent drives deep into the center of the court and you are forced backwards, learning how to use this backwards movement can make your shots more effective. Many people try to either hit off a square or closed stance where they lift the front foot but fail to complete their shoulder and hip turn. Others simply try to open their stances and get down low. But that also loses power. By simply lifting the front foot and moving it backwards, you can create more space and time to drive the ball. You also don’t sacrifice your angular momentum, a key source of your power.

Note he is fairly planted on the right foot and only the left foot swings back to create angular momentum and give more room to hit. I call it the negative turn step since he simply takes a negative step back and then turns off the loaded right foot.

It is amazing that few intermediate and beginner club players will use this technique. Even at the 4.0 level, many club players don’t use it since they were not taught it. Simply by stepping backwards on the left foot, you can create a solid groundstroke.

A variation of the negative turn step is the spin step where right foot on the forehand swings forward and the left leg swings back. Very athletic players do this footwork in mid-air. You can see how Justine Henin
moves backwards with the spin step. Note how she turns her shoulders and hips which allow her to flow continuously back into a recovery.

Here’s how to practice the reverse step: first practice moving backwards with your racquet in the unit turn or backswing position. Then as you are moving backwards, drop a ball slightly behind your normal contact point. Step backwards on the right leg (for a right-handed person), hit the ball, and let the left leg go farther back. You should turn your shoulders and hips fully from the right to the left like Justine.

The last variation is what I call the climb step. Use this footwork to help add extra height to the looping groundstroke when you are ten feet behind the baseline. The purpose is to avoid hitting a short ball. Your alternatives from that far back are either to play an unaggressive moonball or to hit normal – and often short unless you can really let it fly.

Let the front leg swing up. Some people like to use a stair climb variation: lift the front leg and bend the knee like climbing stairs. Guillermo Coria shows a great example of the bent legged stair climb as he moves backwards.

Others will use the straight-legger, where the front leg straightens out in the air. Jim Courier shows how he straightens the leg. Note at contact he is leaning somewhat back.

In this case, he isn’t ideally playing the shot since he is only two feet behind the baseline and doesn’t need to create the extra elevation. As big as Andy Roddick hits, he often uses the straight-legger to help him hit upwards and recover back into the court. Both the straight-legger and the stair climb serve similar purposes to elevate the neutralizing groundstroke.

Here’s how you can practice this footwork. Stand only on your right leg (for righties) and hitting a forehand off it. Second, extend the leg slightly up in the air to keep your balance better. Finally, add loading on the right leg.

Unfortunately, many people especially junior players use the stair climb variation on most of their shots. Therefore they don’t really have a ball they can drive through the court. On the women’s tour, you will see few of the big hitters use this footwork since they are trying to drive through opponents. It is important to develop habits where you also step into the ball but know when you should do so.

The Backhand

Very similar principles apply to the backhand. Justine Henin often drives the ball very powerfully off the back foot. Also Carlos Moya shows us a backwards-moving climb step.

It is important to realize that different situations require different technique and footwork. Some players try to step into every ball, or hit from an open stance every shot, or hit every ball at a certain height. Those are tactical and technical mistakes.

It is also important to realize that hitting off the back foot should not be your main course of action. However, many juniors under 14 years old don’t have the size or power to drive through the ball and often must push the ball upwards off their back foot whether on a neutral or attacking rally. Regardless, it should be an important technique in your game especially on neutral baseline rallies. Remember, tennis occurs in a changing environment where every ball is slightly different.

Doug Eng EdD PhD coaches men's tennis at Tufts University. During the summer, he directs at the Tennis Camps at Harvard. He has received divisional Pro of the Year honors from the PTR and USPTA and several national award.

Doug completed the USTA High Performance Coaches program and frequently runs educational and training programs for coaches. Doug also writes and speaks on tennis and sport science.