Your opponent hits the ball hard into the front wall and that ball starts to come back to you. You can see the ball is above your hips, maybe it’s even above your head. What should you do?

You should let the ball go by and return the shot by hitting the ball off the back wall.

But you’re afraid to take it off the back wall. So you hit that ball without waiting for it to go by you. And instead of hitting it to the front wall, you hit it into the ground. You’ve lost your serve or given the point to your opponent. What went wrong?

What went wrong is that you forgot that the back wall can be your best friend.

Hitting a ball off the back wall can be scary. You think it will bounce funny and you’ll lose track of where it’s going. You think you’ll miss it coming off that wall.  You think your chances are better if you don’t wait for it to come off the back wall. You believe your chances are better if you stop it mid air.

Stopping it mid air often results in the ball being slammed into the ground mostly because of the way a racquet is held while hitting the ball. The ball may be high up and you jump, causing the ball to go straight into the floor. Or the ball is flying so fast through the air that you can’t hold the racquet correctly while you make contact with the ball. Again that ball slams right into the ground in front of you, instead of making it to the front wall so your opponent has to make the next move.

Patience is the key when dealing with the shots that should be taken off the back wall rather than in mid air. The patience comes from watching the ball as it goes past you and hits the back wall to bounce back to give you the perfect shot.

Taking that shot off the back wall can be very scary the first times you do it. It still seems so much easier to take the shot in the mid air. That’s the shot that will go into the floor. Taking the shot off the back wall gives you the opportunity to hit a winner right into the front wall, one your opponent might well not be able to return.

Have the patience to take shots off the back wall. Give yourself time to learn this skill. Start slowly by throwing a ball to that back wall and hitting it. Practice hitting the ball hard to the front wall so you can take that shot off the back wall.

You’ll be a much better player when you know the back wall is your friend.