The bandeja: the shot that keeps you at the net
The bandeja is not a smash and it is not meant to win the point. It is the shot that lets you answer a deep lob without giving the net back, and it is the clearest sign of a player who has stopped playing tennis.
What it is
A bandeja is a controlled, sliced overhead played at around shoulder or head height, out in front of your body, with the racket travelling across and through the ball rather than down on it. The word means "tray", after the flat, waiter-carrying-a-drink shape of the swing. It sends the ball deep and low, usually cross-court, and it keeps you exactly where you were: at the net.
When to play it
The rule is not about how high the ball is. It is about where it will land and where your weight is going.
- Lob landing behind the service line, you moving backwards: bandeja.
- Lob landing in front of the service line, you balanced and moving forwards: smash.
A smash hit from deep is a low-percentage shot that also hands back the net when it comes back. The bandeja gives up the chance to end the point in exchange for keeping the position that wins the next four.
How to hit it
- Turn early and travel side-on. If you are backpedalling square to the net, you have already left too late.
- Point at the ball with your free hand. It fixes your spacing and stops you letting the ball drift behind you.
- Contact in front of your head, not above it, at about shoulder to head height.
- Slice across the ball, high to low, finishing low and across your body. The face stays slightly open.
- Land moving forward, and recover to the net.
Aim deep and cross, at their side glass. Cross-court is the longer diagonal so you get margin, and it keeps the ball away from the middle where the down-the-line counter comes from.
Bandeja, vibora, smash
They sit on a spectrum from control to risk:
- Bandeja: flattest swing path, most slice, most control, lowest risk. Your default when you are pushed back.
- Vibora, "viper". Hit more to the side of the ball with heavy sidespin and slice, a touch more aggressive, contact slightly higher. It kicks off the side glass and dies rather than sitting up.
- Smash: flat and downwards, only when the ball is short and you are balanced.
The mistakes
Hitting it too hard is the big one: a bandeja that flies sits up off their back glass and comes straight back at you. Second is letting the ball get behind your head, which turns the shot into a scoop. Third is standing still after it: the bandeja buys you a second, and that second is for recovering to the net, not for admiring the shot.