How to hit an overhead in tennis in easy to follow steps

Learn how to hit the tennis overhead with easy to follow instructions.
You will learn the grip, the footwork and all arm, shoulder and wrist actions to play a successful overhead.
If you’re interested in having your tennis strokes analyzed, click here: www.meikebabel.com/stroke-ana... to book your analysis!
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[@MeikeBabelTennis]

If you struggle with your overhead I'll show you how to hit a solid smash in this video.

[@gvonmal]

Just discovered your videos in the last 24hrs, they are excellent!! Extremely clear and exceptional instruction and techniques. Thank you

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Awesome! And Welcome!

[@NT-hr3nl]

Your various videos about all the different strokes are the best on the internet. It is extremely clear and informative and helpful. I learned so much and excited to take the instruction out onto the court.

[@sogeartworks-ke6cl]

Excellent! Thank you,

[@hungngotrong8752]

Great video. Thank you!

[@tcphothapaeree9489]

This video helps me a lot thank you

[@phamco4209]

Really enjoyed! Thank you very much.

[@pauljohnston]

thanks, Meike. Great video and delivered with such a wonderful down-to-earth style.

[@buckyphillips6732]

Great tennis video on the overhead!

[@carloslopezgomez3737]

Very useful, I'll práctice, starting tomorow. Thank you!!

[@followme9330]

Excellent videos and nice explaining

[@user-tp5rq9ox3l]

Thanks for explaining difficult shots in such as easy to follow way!

[@orangecoolius]

your videos are pure gold, thank you.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Thank you so much!

[@followme9330]

❤Teaching like a pro

[@georgezhao6314]

excellent

[@nathanmiller6051]

Thank you

[@gms9073]

Great mantra.

[@user-ik8di5xq6b]

Excellent instructions and right to the point . Far away the best tennis video instructions.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Thank you so much!

[@djjacobino]

Excellent I ll try ¡¡

[@tomvuong1838]

Your video is always the best, easy to understand, really simple and straight to the point. Love it!

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

That's exactly what I'm aiming for, so glad you like my video and teaching style!

[@cameronbasil8663]

Thanks

[@bournejason66]

So much nuggets packed in this 13 min video. Do you use wrist snap on serve as well ? If not, how do you decide when to use it since the two, serve and overhead, have a lot of similarities.

[@victoraguilera4927]

Awesome

[@carnivalgods4573]

Great explanation on preparation and footwork. Very helpful. Can't wait to practice this. Right now I move with the grace of a Land of the Lost sleestak trying to chase down a solar eclipse after happy hour.

[@sabriazzouni4522]

This is the best

[@MyCvid]

Excellent as always!

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Glad you think so!

[@Gabay54]

Love the learning aid comment, "make a roof" . . . it works for me.

[@morganlam3408]

This is fantastic instruction.... so clear Thank you!

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Glad it was helpful!

[@skrozz1]

you have such an insightful way of breaking down the mechanics of every facet of the swing, and show the different angles which is so helpful to understand it all, thank you so much for creating this video :)

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Glad you enjoyed it! Feel free to recommend my channel to your tennis friends!

[@legaspirio]

Well explained, thanks a lot.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Thank you!

[@dardoporta5346]

I have enjoyed this video a lot. Great dedication and excelent explanation of each detail.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@studfinderball]

Certainly for back court spin the overhead in with the continental service motion. But midcourt a swatting motion with a semi western or even eastern grip works great.

[@MichaelHallGray]

I think it was Vic Braden who said that an overhead is just like a serve. That was helpful for me.

[@RaviKumar-iq6nb]

You are highly gifted and talented. Your lessons are terrific. It never fails to improves our game. Thanks

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Thank you so much, that's very kind of you!

[@evamiller3338]

Super tolle Videos Meike. Ich bin ein Coach in Kanada aber habe in den 80igern in Hamburg Tennis gelernt und gespielt.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Dankeschön. Wo coachst Du jetzt?

[@FairwayJack]

good stuff

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Thank you! Feel free to subscribe and recommend my channel to your tennis friends!

[@Fernwald84]

When you back pedal you can do more than "hurt your tush". One of my tennis buddies lost his life doing this because he fell backwards and hit his head on the court (a clay court, incidentally). So back pedaling is a dangerous maneuver. One place you do have to back pedal is switching from an offensive net position to a defensive one, where the drop step is inappropriate. In this case you want to be sure to be on the balls of your feet so that you have some resistance to falling backward in case you stop unexpectedly.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

That's terrible but I've also seen some bad head injuries bc of that.

[@marvintenniscoach7335]

One of the biggest issues that I see is that as soon as the player recognizes the Lob, they stand tall. It's an intuitive response for a ball received above your head. Even though they may turn, staying wide and low is imperative to make those adjustment steps. It's probably the single biggest issue, even with relatively good players.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Great observation and yes, I agree!

[@Better_Call_Raul]

Not sure what "staying low" means. Watching Hingis hit overheads, 07:00, she is quite upright.

[@marvintenniscoach7335]

@@Better_Call_Raul compare that to rec players, no. She's got her knees bent, her feet active She's not standing upright like rec players do.

[@vishalkron1259]

Great video! Can you analyse Iga Swiatek's forehand like you analysed Ash Barty's serve? I would like to know how she generates so much topspin and speed and about her fundamentals in general. Thank you

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Yes I will if I find good footage. I will start to look right away! Thanks for the suggestion.

[@thomasmedeiros5722]

One key issue that I have noticed is that many players have difficulty judging the fall of the ball and “ getting under it” to effectively hit their overhead. I played lots of organized baseball as a kid and catching fly balls becomes second nature as it is a essential skill. When coaching Junior or High School tennis I often use a baseball glove to have players catch fly balls/ lobs in a drill to build judgment and moving skills. I really emphasize the use of the off hand to point up towards the lob because it’s similar to using your glove hand to catch a fly ball over your head. My players who played sports like baseball and basketball brought lots of crossover skills to tennis that made them easy to coach.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

It's sometimes a vicious circle. You don't like overheads and don't want to practice them. That's a great drill you're mentioning.

[@degerertenerten7307]

I wouldnt imagine a female tenis instructor to be that good. Shame on me. You are the best. Top notch class. Thanks alot.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Thank you

[@jillwaters9641]

This one just popped up this morning. Love the every. Where is this?

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Denver

[@FairwayJack]

enjoyed

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Great, let us know how it went!

[@alexz.5008]

That "V" feels so familiar. Hello from Vandy.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Go ‘Dores!

[@davitong]

Good to hear you say that “I’m a big fan of using my wrist”. In recent years, the promotion of “forearm pronation” to generate smash power turned “wrist” action into second fiddle which is a shame.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Yeah, you have to have both and know how to time them correctly.

[@hongh5543]

Very clear and useful instructions! Thanks Coach Meike! One question: on the contact moment of overhead, we usually pronate like topspin serve , right? However, can we cut the ball, like slice serve, especially when at deuce court hitting the ball cross court? Thank you!

[@hongh5543]

You have illustrated the situation at 10-11min in the video. Great! I typed before watching to the end. However if it would be great if you could provide more detail on the brushing since the wrist movement is different from snap.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Yes, if you go inside out (as a right-hander aiming to the ad court) you do pronate. And you do brush by the "right side" (if a sphere has sides :-) for a slice like you would on the slice serve. That's why it's so important to have the proper grip. Thank you for your question!

[@rakshitakshit1204]

Beast

[@johnp6478]

What about letting the ball drop and then hitting it? Some of senior players might need this technique.

[@jsrss]

Enjoyed the video. In your serve video (or maybe it was one of your forehand videos), you warned against snapping your wrist due to the risk of injury. Is the risk in the overhead diminished because it is a much rarer shot in your opinion?

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Less so because you don't hit it as often. The different trajectory and pace (much slower than a ground stroke) are more important.

[@tennisteuton]

Great video. So you basically can hit an overhead even from close to ground line, when the ball goes that far? when do you decide to let it bounce and take it as a "normal" ground stroke?

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

depends on how balanced you are. If you can aggressively hit an overhead, hit the overhead.

[@tennisteuton]

@@MeikeBabelTennis Well, today, thanks to this video, I was able to hit a couple overheads more than usual. Instead of giving up too early on the ball or trying to let them bounce and hit them as a weak drop shot, my mindset has changed to embrace the smash and try to make it happen. Thanks for making this video!

[@rk41gator]

Don't need a partner to practice your overheads! My biggest takeaway. Now I just need to find that backboard.

[@chevybabe1999]

It's the deep ones where shuffle steps won't get me in position. What do you suggest for footwork drills to remedy that?

[@ronmorgan8214]

If you are getting deep lobs regularly, try staying near the service box line so you will have less distance to move to reach the overhead position. Sometimes you just congratulate the opponent for a god lob. No need to risk hurting yourself by chasing a deep ball which may be unreturnable anyway.

[@neygercey7899]

What about backhand smashes?

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Toughest ball in tennis but I can make a video :-)

[@tennisteuton]

Nothing quite spells out "this point is mine" than a successful overhead!

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

True!

[@tenniswalsh4546]

What does under the ball mean?

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Good question! On the overhead what I mean by that is that you want to get your body under the ball. As kids we did a drill where our coach would lob us and we had to head the ball back (with a motor bike helmet on). super fun and you learned to have the ball over your hitting arm and shoulder and not too far way from you.

[@tenniswalsh4546]

Thanks for reply, must try it out

[@tuynguyen4053]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@CredereNemo]

I love the pickleball lines. 😂

[@mehdiamraoui4423]

Please how can we make à good loeb ....

[@jasonloeb331]

I AM A GOOD LOEB LOL

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

I have two older ones: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnavep2lg6asZqc kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXO5e36prpJ1fKs

[@vi1853]

Thanks

[@johnandjennifers.9392]

Thank you! Great video.

[@MeikeBabelTennis]

Thank you and thank you for subscribing!