What's an easy way to learn and understand topspin?

Question

I can hit great flat shots, but have a hard time understanding the mechanics of topspin. Can someone help me with a simple way to add topspin - or maybe a drill to practice? Thanks!

Answer 1

Topspin is created by brushing the racquet up against the back of the ball, while a flat shot is more of a pushing through. This motion is created by using a low-to-high swing. What really helped me was to imagine that I was hitting the ball across every main-string (longest strings in the middle horizontally)
Practice hitting the ball as usual, but try to focus on making the ball spin foreword.

Answer 2

When I was coaching Tennis, I gave the students the concept of hitting the ball from low to high like they were trying to swipe just the back of the ball in that motion. Jimmy Connors was noted for his flat shots and I had students that had too small of a margin for error on the ball going either into the net or over the baseline. By training them to clear the net by more than twelve inches and getting the ball to land behind the serivce line they became tournament ready for their first matches against other schools. They had to start out with type of motion slowly like hitting in slow motion before that became a regular part of their tennis game. It took a lot of practice.

Answer 3

Yea I had the same problems as you, all my shots used to be flat. But to get topsin you really have to swing low to high, when you hit flat your not bringing your raquet from low to high your either hitting medium to medium or high to high. Okay well i have a drill to practice spin on your backhand what you do is put both hands the regular way you do(stand on the service line) than drop a ball or have some toss the ball and than take your right hand off the racquet and swing with your left hand remember to brush from low to high. Oh yeah and something that also helped get more spin is hitting in front of you but also bringing your raquet low than swinging high

Answer 4

Topspin is tough to learn if your used to hitting flat shots. Bend the wrist back, come forward with racquet low, make contact in front as your racquet brushes up the backside of the ball. http://www.geocities.com/[e-mail]/tiparchive9.html
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