Countering an Inside-Out Forehand

Going strong to the forehand side can keep your opponent from hitting his favorite shot.

One of the most popular weapons in today’s game is the inside-out forehand. Even at the club level you find many players who use this shot to control rallies. They camp on their backhand side and punish the ball with hard forehands until you make an error or hit a weak shot that they can put away. The common defense against this strategy is to try to find a way to get the ball to your opponent’s backhand. Unfortunately, as he continues to move into that part of the court it becomes like threading a needle. It’s too small an area, which causes you to commit errors and keeps him on the side of the court he likes.

The trick to combating this is to go strong to your opponent’s forehand side. This means hitting your backhand down the line with authority or ripping your forehand crosscourt. Now, it might seem antithetical and unwise to go right into your opponent’s strength, but this is a smart tactic for three reasons: First, your opponent is not as comfortable running to that side of the court and reaching to hit his forehand. It’s his big shot, but he’s more effective backpedaling to set up the inside-out stroke with the ball close to his body. Second, by forcing him over to the forehand side, you’ve created an opening to his weaker shot, the backhand. Now you have plenty of room to find his inferior stroke and potentially take command of the point. Finally, by challenging and besting your opponent’s strength, you’ve gained a major psychological advantage.