Home › Puzzle › How do you know a lob is coming before it is hit?
How do you know a lob is coming before it is hit?
Open racket face, body sinking under the ball: lob. Read it at the setup and take the first step back early.
You are at the net. What is the earliest reliable sign that the opponent is about to lob rather than drive?
Open racket face, body sinking under the ball: lob. Read it at the setup and take the first step back early.
Why
A net player who waits to see the ball leave the racket is always a step late on the lob. The signs are earlier: as the opponent sets up, an open racket face and a body that sinks to get under the ball mean a lift is coming; a closed or vertical face with a level swing means a drive. Reading these lets you take a first step back, or forward, before contact, and a single early step is the difference between a comfortable bandeja and a scramble. It is a skill built by watching the hitter rather than the ball for the half-second before contact.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Watch the opponent's racket, not the ball, as they get ready to hit. If the face is tilted up to the sky, a lob is coming: start moving back.
Intermediate
Pair the read with a small backward shuffle, not a turn. Turn only when you are sure; the shuffle keeps you ready for the drive too.
Advanced
Good defenders disguise the lob with the same preparation as the drive. Against them, read the last moment: the racket slowing and the face opening at contact. It is still earlier than the ball.
Common questions
You are at the net. What is the earliest reliable sign that the opponent is about to lob rather than drive?
The racket face opens and the body drops under the ball. Open racket face, body sinking under the ball: lob. Read it at the setup and take the first step back early. A net player who waits to see the ball leave the racket is always a step late on the lob. The signs are earlier: as the opponent sets up, an open racket face and a body that sinks to get under the ball mean a lift is coming; a closed or vertical face with a level swing means a drive. Reading these lets you take a first step back, or forward, before contact, and a single early step is the difference between a comfortable bandeja and a scramble. It is a skill built by watching the hitter rather than the ball for the half-second before contact.
Why not the ball is hit softly?
By the time you can judge the pace, the ball is on its way and the step back is late.
What should a beginner do here?
Watch the opponent's racket, not the ball, as they get ready to hit. If the face is tilted up to the sky, a lob is coming: start moving back.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Good defenders disguise the lob with the same preparation as the drive. Against them, read the last moment: the racket slowing and the face opening at contact. It is still earlier than the ball.
Puzzles like this one
They lobbed you deep. Smash it or play the bandeja?
Deep ball, high hands: bandeja. The shot exists to keep you at the net, not to win the point.
beginnerThe 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.
intermediateYour partner got pulled wide. Where do you stand?
The pair moves like one body. When your partner is pulled wide, you take the middle.