Returning deep forehand clears

I think here's your answer right here. There's no one specific shot you MUST play in that position, it all depends on how fast you can get to the clear and where your opponent is on court.

Key to your answer is, the faster you can get to the deep forehand corner, the more shot options you have to choose from. You already said this is the ideal way to handle the situation and you're right. There's really no way around it.

I know that this used to be my problem because once the opponent recognizes you are very weak in your deep forehand/backhand corner and you can only play drops from those positions, all they have to do is play a good attacking clear into these corners and wait at the net for your reply.

 

This grip.

Use a really low stance. Use the scissor steps to get out. Try to time the last step with impact. Up with elbow early and big arm rotation. Remember to be relaxed in the arm and don't stress.
After impact lock your wrist, just like in backhand. Remember to force your core turn and face forward around impact. Requires some physical fitness.
This is what I've been taught for drive / clear from deep forehand. I'm not very good at it either, but getting low and using the scissor steps helped me a lot. I used to try to cover the forehand rear with just one step out which made me unable to get help with body, so I could only drop.

 

do you mean chasse or cross-over step? I don't think scissor step applies here.

 

Sorry I messed up the terms. I mean when you start with left foot behind your right as to entangle them. What is it called then?

 

To make things clear, there are two types of clears. The defensive type and the offensive type. The one you describe sounds like the offensive type, where your opponent shoots a flat, fast and hard to reach by just jumping from your current position clear. These are best used when you want to press your opponent backwards and is supposed to be a shot I make your opponent run more.

My take on this is that if you are late you should respond by clearing back as you'd want to recover. If you are fast enough, a stick smash might surprise the opponent or a cross court drop shot. Variation is the key here though and you need to decide which tactic is the most appropriate one at the time.

Also, once you've made the shot, I recommend chasse step and not scissoring. If you scissor and your opponent plays back to the forehand corner or the backhand corner you'll find it hard to return these in a good way. Generally, I only use scissor at the forehand corner when I want to do a deciding smash. Otherwise always chasse.

 

I think a specific shot in this situation is nonsense and useless. Why? Because your opponent can predict your shots in this situation. Every good to advance player should try to read the game of his opponent and his patterns of returning shots, but be careful and don't use this to obviously, because you can be fooled, which is also some tactical thing to use.
If you feel under pressure in this situation, I would clear, longline to get time or crosscourt to get more time.
Try to do some drills, lose weight, get quicker and increasing overall fitness are the answer and not the shot, which you should perform.

 

He's not asking for a "specific shot" which he's supposed to use everytime, but tips on which types would be useful.

And I beg to differ about what you are saying in the end. Getting quicker is just a PART of the answer. It doesn't matter how high your fitness level is, there will be situations where you will be pressed, be it a professional or amateur, and you HAVE to decide which shot you want to make. This is a part of the tactical thinking which every player must have in order to play well.

 

But he was asking for what "kind of return", which I understand as a "specific shot" in the 1st post. What should it mean else?

To the rest I agree.
At least we don't know his level of play and everything about this situation he gets in, where he stands, move and acts. Yes, this could happen to everybody, in every level, but we don't know and we cannot say if it's in a pretty normal way or a weakness, due bad footwork or something like that.

 

No, it's a grip that generates more power than the neutral grip forehand, the index finger is supposed to be there in that grip.

Anyway regarding the footwork. What I meant was obviously cross over step sorry I got the languages mixed up. I feel that the cross over step is better for defensive forehand than any other step since it covers more ground quickly, and it's easier to keep your balance point low with it. Chasse is (to me at least) a more explosive step when the lift is relatively high, it's often accompanied with a jump. Cross over when you have to take the ball very close to the ground.

As for the forearm vs wrist, I think it's the wrong way of looking at things. If you can, you should utilize all the muscles in your body. But if you're pressured I don't think you can pronate the forearm enough, so you'll be forced to use the wrist. It's the same thing as when you do a (desperate) backhand shot when the ball is far ahead of you right? You can't use your arm or even underarm in that situation, all you have is your wrist to generate power.

As for the drop to the middle. I think it's valid, but it needs to be a quick drop and you need to get back into court really fast.

 

I'm curious lordrouge, aren't you mixing things up? The way you're describing things sounds as if you're pressured by an attack lob rather than a clear. Remember that you're often at mid-court or almost mid-court when a clear comes, be it defensive or flat and fast. I'd understand your reasoning if you for an example would play a hairpin and then your opponent would do a fast lift / attack lob deep into your forehand or backhand corner.

 

Well, yeah I was speaking more generally about being pressured into deep forehand corner (including lobs over your head). My bad!
If you are in the middle and already prepared, a clear shouldn't be a difficult shot to return even if it's an attack clear. I think the issue in such a situations is in the underlying factors... like if your previous clear was short, that you were deceived by his stroke, or that the opponent is a lot faster than you back court. Don't you agree?

And yeah, chasse step is a lot more logical in this situation. Now I see why you guys argued against me haha. When you see pros get pressured 'a little bit' by a clear to their forehand, chasse out and cross court slice is very common and can also put you ahead in the rally. I don't think you have to use that much underarm or wrist in the shot, it's mostly about timing and intercepting the shuttle early.