Tennis Overhead Smash & Scissor-Kick Guide

The tennis overhead smash is the most explosive shot in the game — and one of the most demoralizing for your opponent when executed well. At the net, it is your primary weapon against lobs. This guide covers both the standard overhead smash and the advanced scissor-kick overhead — grip, preparation, footwork and execution — written by Randy Reynolds, certified tennis instructor and director of Tennis Nation at Reno Tennis Center.

The tennis overhead smash is one of the most explosive strokes in the game. At the professional level it typically results in either a winner or the opponent barely touching the ball. When you come up to net, your opponent has two ways to try to get the ball past you:

• Passing shot — hit around you
• Lob — hit over your head

To be effective at net, you must develop an offensive overhead that ends points.

Tennis Overhead Smash: Grip

The overhead is hit with the Continental grip. Here is why:

• Natural pronation — allows your arm and wrist to snap through the ball, generating more power and directional options
• No grip change needed — the same grip used for serves and volleys means you can react instantly to a lob without wasting time switching

Tennis Overhead Smash: Preparation

The overhead smash and serve are mechanically very similar — but the overhead is simplified because there is no ball toss to manage.

Read Your Opponent and Watch the Ball

Anticipate the lob before it happens. Key cues to watch for:

• Opponent stretching or reaching to hit the ball on the run
• Open racquet face with upper body leaning back
• Player off balance or behind the baseline

React to the Ball and Move into Position

As the lob is hit, split step, then turn your body sideways immediately. Two ways to move back for the lob:

• Side step — most common, similar to recovering back after a wide ball
• Cross step — used when you need to cover more ground quickly, similar to a quarterback’s drop back

Overhead Smash: Set Up

Once you reach the optimal position to hit the overhead:

• Shoulders and hips turned and loaded
• Non-dominant arm extended upward, pointing at the ball — keeps your head up and tracks the ball into your strings
• Dominant hand takes the racquet back toward your ear — like a quarterback about to throw a pass
• Hand stays loose — lets the racquet head drop naturally behind the head

Execute the Tennis Overhead Smash

Key points for executing the overhead:

• Step forward to transfer weight into the ball
• Accelerate the racquet head as if throwing your racquet at the ball
• Arm and hand stay loose throughout — tension kills racquet head speed
• Contact point: out in front of your body, dominant arm fully extended
• Body weight continues forward in the direction of the shot after contact

Follow Through

After contact, the racquet travels down across your body, finishing around hip level — identical to how a pitcher’s or quarterback’s throwing hand finishes after releasing the ball.

Pro Tip: Skip the Loop

On the overhead, move your racquet directly into the trophy pose — no loop, no drop. You have limited reaction time compared to the serve, so a simplified backswing is both necessary and more effective.

Tennis Scissor-Kick Overhead: Introduction

When a lob is hit particularly deep and you cannot reach it with a standard overhead, the scissor-kick overhead gives you the elevation and hip rotation needed to still take the ball out of the air aggressively.

Tennis Scissor-Kick Overhead: Footwork

The scissor-kick overhead uses the same upper body mechanics as the standard overhead — the difference is entirely in the footwork:

• Split step and turn sideways as with the standard overhead
• Use the cross step — step across your back foot with your front foot, then step back with your back foot
• Repeat the cross step as many times as needed to cover ground quickly

Scissor-Kick Overhead: Set Up and Load

• Step back onto your back foot and load your weight onto it
• Push off and jump into the air
• The scissor-kick of the legs in the air rotates your hips and shoulders through the shot
• Land on your front foot after the swing

Scissor-Kick Overhead: Upper Body Motion

Two options for holding the racquet while moving back:

• Trophy pose with arms up — non-dominant hand tracks the ball, dominant hand holds the racquet at head height
• Throat of racquet in non-dominant hand at chest height — allows faster movement back before loading into the trophy pose

As you push off the back foot, the racquet drops behind you as if loading to throw — then accelerates up to strike the ball as the non-dominant arm drops naturally.

Pro Tip: Think Throwing, Not Hitting

There is a lot happening on the overhead. Simplify it by relating the entire motion to throwing a ball — the footwork, the arm action and the follow through all mirror a strong athletic throw. Focus on one or two elements at a time rather than trying to fix everything at once.

For more free technique guides visit our tennis technique library.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Tennis Overhead Smash