Home › Puzzle › Your lob is short and they are about to smash. Where do you go?
Your lob is short and they are about to smash. Where do you go?
Short lob means smash incoming. Both go deep, get low, and read the racket.
You lobbed too short and the net player is setting up a smash. What do you and your partner do?
Short lob means smash incoming. Both go deep, get low, and read the racket.
Why
A short lob is a mistake, and the recovery is to recognise it instantly and defend the smash that is coming. Both players retreat toward the glass. The smash will either come off the back wall or bounce out over it, and get low, watching the smasher's racket and shoulders to read the direction. The most common smash from a comfortable position is cross-court to the glass, so the defender on that diagonal is the one most likely to get a playable rebound. Standing still or moving forward turns a defensible situation into a lost point.
What this means at your level
Beginner
If your lob is short, run back toward the wall and crouch. The ball is coming hard; let the glass slow it.
Intermediate
Watch the smasher's shoulders as they set up. Turned toward the side glass means an angle is coming; square means cross-court to the back wall.
Advanced
The reply to a smash that comes back off the glass is a high lob, every time. You have no other ball, and a high lob resets the point you nearly lost.
Common questions
You lobbed too short and the net player is setting up a smash. What do you and your partner do?
Both drop deep, get low, and watch the racket. Short lob means smash incoming. Both go deep, get low, and read the racket. A short lob is a mistake, and the recovery is to recognise it instantly and defend the smash that is coming. Both players retreat toward the glass. The smash will either come off the back wall or bounce out over it, and get low, watching the smasher's racket and shoulders to read the direction. The most common smash from a comfortable position is cross-court to the glass, so the defender on that diagonal is the one most likely to get a playable rebound. Standing still or moving forward turns a defensible situation into a lost point.
Why not rush the net to cut off the smash?
Rushing a smasher means taking a fast ball at your body from close range. Get deep.
What should a beginner do here?
If your lob is short, run back toward the wall and crouch. The ball is coming hard; let the glass slow it.
How does this change for an advanced player?
The reply to a smash that comes back off the glass is a high lob, every time. You have no other ball, and a high lob resets the point you nearly lost.
Puzzles like this one
The ball is at your feet at the net. What now?
A ball below the net cannot be attacked. Block it deep and wait for one above the tape.
beginnerBoth of them are at the net. What is the highest-percentage ball?
Only the lob moves a net pair backwards. Everything else invites them forward.
beginnerThe ball is coming off the back glass. When do you hit it?
Move back with the ball, let it pass you, hit it in front of your body.