One of the most common corrections I make with adult players has nothing to do with talent.
It’s the backhand.
In my last adult camp, I had a woman with a beautiful game overall. Her forehand was clean, her movement was solid, and she understood the flow of points.
But there was one problem costing her matches.
Her two-handed backhand kept hitting the net.
When it did go over, it barely cleared the tape.
At the solid intermediate level, that’s a problem. And if you’re an opponent watching that weakness, you’re going to notice it immediately.
Let’s get one thing straight right away.
You’d rather hit long than hit the net.
This applies to both your forehand and your backhand.
Why?
Because if I’m playing you and I see the ball consistently landing in the net, I’m directing every rally to that side of the court. Short balls. Deep balls. Everything.
Those become free points.
A ball that goes long can be corrected with spin and margin.
A ball in the net ends the point instantly.
The Backhand Contact Point Is Different From Your Forehand
Another issue many adult players misunderstand is the contact point.
Your forehand contact point is usually further in front of your body, depending on your grip.
But the two-handed backhand is different.
Your ideal contact point should usually be around your front foot, not far out in front and certainly not behind you.
Two problems happen when the contact point is wrong.
Too far in front
Your body falls off balance and the swing collapses.
Too far behind
Your elbows collapse toward your body and the racquet can’t swing upward.
Both situations often send the ball straight into the net.
The Real Culprit: Tight Arms and Frozen Wrists
When I watched this player more closely, something else stood out.
Her wrists weren’t moving.
Her arms were tight.
When your arms and wrists become rigid in tennis, your swing loses its ability to lift the ball.
Then I noticed something even more important.
Her racquet take-back was almost perfectly horizontal to the net tape.
(The white tape on the net is actually a guide I personally watch when I’m hitting.)
Her racquet almost never dropped below the ball.
And that’s the real issue.
What the Pros Do (That You Might Not Notice)
If you watch professional players today, you’ll see a circular take-back on the backhand.
The racquet loads high.
But something subtle happens next.
Their hands and wrists stay loose, and the racquet head drops below the ball just before contact.
That drop creates lift.
It happens very fast, so it’s easy to miss.
But without that drop, the ball has no upward path.
And without an upward path, the ball hits the net.
Why Video Helped Solve the Problem
Once I noticed the pattern, I put the player on video.
When she watched herself, the problem became obvious.
Her racquet stayed level.
It almost never dropped below the ball.
Once she saw the difference between what she was doing and what she should be doing, something clicked.
That’s often how improvement happens.
You finally see what your body is actually doing.
Groundstrokes Need Lift
Remember something simple about tennis.
Groundstrokes are balls that bounce on the ground.
You’re not standing right next to the net.
You’re standing 39 feet away from it.
That’s a lot of distance.
So the ball needs lift.
Your racquet should move below the ball and upward through it, finishing around the opposite shoulder.
This upward path creates:
• margin over the net
• depth in the court
• topspin that brings the ball down
Without lift, the ball stays flat.
And flat balls land in the net.
Stop Collapsing Your Arms
Another mistake I see constantly with adult players is collapsing the arms toward the chest at contact.
Instead, the swing should:
Lift upward
Extend outward
Finish across the body
Think about extending away from your body, not collapsing inward.
This extension helps the ball travel deep into your opponent’s court.
And depth matters.
If the ball lands deep, your opponent stays defensive.
If it lands short — or worse, in the net — they attack.
A Simple Drill to Fix It
Here’s an easy drill you can try.
Start close to the net.
Have someone drop balls to your backhand and simply focus on lifting the ball upward toward the opposite shoulder.
Don’t worry about power.
Just focus on creating lift.
Once that feeling becomes natural, move back to the service line and repeat the drill.
Now you’ll start adding more extension through the ball so it travels deeper.
Eventually return to the baseline with the same feeling.
The progression should be simple.
Over the net first.
Deep past the service line second.
Then find the effortless swing that works at waist height.
Why Simpler Coaching Works for Adult Players
There’s another point worth mentioning here.
A lot of tennis instruction today is built around complex language — things like torque, axis rotation, or biomechanical sequencing.
That kind of detail might make sense inside a biomechanics lab, a high-performance junior academy, or a room full of coaches trying to impress other coaches.
But most adult players standing on a tennis court don’t need a physics lecture.
They need one clear idea that helps the ball go over the net.
Adult club players are intelligent people. Many of them run companies, manage teams, or lead complicated professional lives.
But they also don’t have the luxury that junior players have — hours every day to break down a swing into twenty different technical components.
When adult players improve, it usually comes from something much simpler.
A clear cue.
A feeling they can repeat.
An adjustment that makes the ball behave differently.
That’s the approach I use.
If you’re looking for lessons full of complex terminology and technical diagrams, I’m probably not your coach.
But if you want to understand what your body is actually doing on the court — and how to correct it quickly — clarity usually wins.
And for adult players trying to improve while balancing the rest of their lives, clarity almost always beats complexity.
Final Thought
The backhand may not be the shot you hit as often as your forehand.
But it’s a shot you will hit all day long if your opponents smell weakness there.
So keep your arms moving.
Keep your wrists loose.
Let the racquet drop under the ball and lift upward.
When adult players finally feel that clean lift on the backhand, the shot becomes far more reliable.
This is something we work on constantly during our small-group coaching weeks in Mallorca and Marbella winter tennis camps], where players start to experience these corrections in real match situations.
And suddenly the ball starts landing deep on the other side of the court — where it belongs.
