Trying to develop a slice and ended up getting a singlehanded backhand

I wanted to try to develop a slice today. I ended up only getting one decent slice to clear the net.

My dad finally joked, "You don't look like you're setting up a slice at all! Actually, you look like Sampras setting up a topspin backhand! Why don't you just hit a topspin one?"

I was unconvinced. Did I really look like that? So, I loosened up and said "Sure, feed me a ball."

I drove that ball, singlehanded, right down the line. :armed: I continued for a couple more shots and most went and felt fine.

Can someone try to tell me why I failed so miserably at getting my slices to clear the net, but somehow managed to produce relatively decent topspin singlehanded backhands?

I know I was very loose when I hit the shots.

If your slices looked like topspin backhands to your dad, maybe you were not starting with the racquet up above the ball. It may help to have two hands on the racquet at the start of the stroke, to help you begin the stroke in a consistent location. It's also possible that you were not following through on the stroke. (It is possible to get a bit of a slice with a very short stroke, but this requires a lot of feel and it's not as reliable, imo).

Depending on how aggressive you want your slice be, you may also want to experiment with putting your weight forward more into the shot, the way you would with a normal groundstroke.

good luck! :)

the slice is more of a up to down sort of stroke. The average topspin id down to up.

What everyone else said, most likely you were not starting high on the shot.