The defensive lob is the most underused shot in the game and, consequently, relatively few players hit it well. How often have you seen players get pulled out of position and then reply with a weak lob that their opponent can easily put away? But you can make your defensive lob better immediately with one simple change: altitude. Hitting your lobs higher is smart for several reasons.
High lobs buy time: Defensive lobs are usually hit when you’re out of position and trying to gain time to recover. Lofting the ball higher keeps it in the air longer and gives you more time to get back to the center of the court.
High lobs are harder to smash: Since the ball gains speed as it’s dropping, high lobs travel faster on the downside than shallow lobs. And only players with excellent timing on their overhead will smash high lobs before they bounce. Instead, most players will wait for the ball to bounce before attempting an overhead. Many will even chose to hit a ground stroke rather than an overhead.
High lobs go deeper: The higher the lob, the deeper the ball will tend to land in the court. And deep lobs can be trouble for lots of recreational players. You may be surprised when you find out how many of your opponents are ill-equipped to handle high-bouncing lobs that land near their baseline.