Hi Tomaz,
I’m deeply following your teachings and it has been helping my game tremendously. I had a question about the short lob. It seems to me that one of the problems with hitting this smash is that you get your racket up and commit to the smash, but then it drops too low, so you crouch down and this must somehow throw off the angle of the racket so it dumps into the net. In this situation, where you have the overhead backswing, but the ball gets too low, instead of crouching, would it be better to step to the side so that you can swing out to the ball?
If you have set up for the smash in some kind of a trophy position, then the stroke is already “programmed” well ahead. You will not be able to suddenly switch to a groundstroke.
You have to commit to executing a smash, even if you have to crouch a bit. The key is not to hit it hard but to recognize that you are suddenly in an uncomfortable or awkward situation and that your goal is now not to hit a winner but to put the ball in the court reliably.
So you will need to slow down the stroke and control the ball well and play out the point.
Hi Tomaz,
I think I worded my question incorrectly:
I was actually trying to ask if one should hit the low smash a little more to right side. I think in another video you said that one difference between the serve and smash is that you are closer to the net, and so you can take the ball more to the right side instead of more above the right shoulder. I was wondering if it would help to position yourself to hit the smash even more to the right side when you get the short lob and you have to move forward and it drops too low.
4 Comments
Peter Chen
May 16, 2026Hi Tomaz,
I’m deeply following your teachings and it has been helping my game tremendously. I had a question about the short lob. It seems to me that one of the problems with hitting this smash is that you get your racket up and commit to the smash, but then it drops too low, so you crouch down and this must somehow throw off the angle of the racket so it dumps into the net. In this situation, where you have the overhead backswing, but the ball gets too low, instead of crouching, would it be better to step to the side so that you can swing out to the ball?
Tomaz
May 18, 2026Hey Peter,
If you have set up for the smash in some kind of a trophy position, then the stroke is already “programmed” well ahead. You will not be able to suddenly switch to a groundstroke.
You have to commit to executing a smash, even if you have to crouch a bit. The key is not to hit it hard but to recognize that you are suddenly in an uncomfortable or awkward situation and that your goal is now not to hit a winner but to put the ball in the court reliably.
So you will need to slow down the stroke and control the ball well and play out the point.
Peter Chen
June 9, 2026Hi Tomaz,
I think I worded my question incorrectly:
I was actually trying to ask if one should hit the low smash a little more to right side. I think in another video you said that one difference between the serve and smash is that you are closer to the net, and so you can take the ball more to the right side instead of more above the right shoulder. I was wondering if it would help to position yourself to hit the smash even more to the right side when you get the short lob and you have to move forward and it drops too low.
Tomaz
June 9, 2026Yes, certainly, the lower the ball at contact, the more to the right side you need to hit it.