If you’re new to tennis, it can sometimes seem like there’s a different name for every possible way of hitting the ball. Forehands, backhands, volleys, slices, lobs, drop shots, and that’s before someone starts talking about kick serves or tweeners.
The good news is that tennis is actually built around a relatively small number of basic shots. Once you understand those, most of the other shots you’ll see are simply variations used to create different spins, trajectories or tactical outcomes.
In this guide, we’ll take you through the main types of tennis shots, what each one means and when you’re likely to use it on court.
What Are the Main Types of Tennis Shots?
The main shots in tennis are the forehand, backhand, serve, return, volley and overhead.
These form the foundations of the game, but each can be played in several different ways. A forehand, for example, can be hit with topspin, slice or relatively flat, while a serve might be flat, sliced or kicked.
Here’s a quick introduction to the six fundamental shots:
Tennis shot | What is it? |
Forehand | A groundstroke played on the dominant side of your body |
Backhand | A groundstroke played on the opposite side of your body |
Serve | The overhead shot used to start each point |
Return | The first shot played by the receiver after a serve |
Volley | A shot hit before the ball bounces |
Overhead | An attacking overhead shot, usually played against a lob |
There are then plenty of other shots you’ll encounter, including slices, drop shots, lobs, passing shots and even the occasional tweener.
Let’s look at them in more detail.
Groundstrokes
Groundstrokes are the shots you’ll probably hit most often in tennis. They make up the majority of baseline rallies and can be used to defend, move your opponent around the court or create opportunities to attack.
A groundstroke is simply a shot played after the ball has bounced, usually from around the baseline. The two fundamental groundstrokes are the forehand and backhand.
Under the official Rules of Tennis, you need to return the ball before it bounces twice, so you can either let it bounce once and play a groundstroke or hit it before the bounce with a volley.
Forehand
For a right-handed player, a forehand is played on the right side of the body. For a left-handed player, it’s played on the left.
The forehand is usually one of the first shots you’ll learn and, for many players, eventually becomes their biggest weapon. Because you’re hitting on the same side as your dominant arm, it’s generally easier to generate racket-head speed and power than it is on the backhand.
Forehands can be hit in several ways. Most modern players use topspin, brushing up the back of the ball to create forward rotation. You can also flatten the shot out when attacking or use a forehand slice when you want to keep the ball low or change the pace.
The amount of topspin you naturally generate can also be influenced by your forehand grip. The Eastern forehand grip tends to make it easier to hit through the ball with a slightly flatter trajectory, while the Semi-Western grip is particularly well suited to the topspin-heavy forehands you see throughout modern tennis. The more extreme Western forehand grip can generate even more spin and handle higher balls well, although it can be more difficult for beginners to use.
You’ll also hear commentators talk about an inside-out forehand. This is when a player moves around their backhand to hit a forehand, usually directing it diagonally across the court.
Backhand
The backhand is the groundstroke played on the opposite side of your body to your forehand.
For a right-handed player, that’s usually the left side; for a left-handed player, it’s the right.
Backhands can be hit with one or two hands and, just like the forehand, can be played with topspin, slice or relatively flat.
The backhand is often considered the more difficult of the two groundstrokes for beginners. It can feel less natural at first, particularly when dealing with high or powerful balls, but a reliable backhand is essential if you don’t want your opponent to have an obvious side to attack.
One-Handed vs Two-Handed Backhand
The two-handed backhand is the more common choice in modern tennis. Using both hands generally provides more stability and makes it easier to deal with powerful or high-bouncing balls.
The one-handed backhand offers greater reach and can provide excellent variety, particularly when transitioning between topspin and slice, but it usually requires more precise timing.
I play with a one-handed backhand myself and love the extra reach and variety it gives me, particularly when moving between topspin and slice. But if I were teaching someone completely new to tennis, I’d generally start them with two hands. It tends to be easier to stabilise the racket and control the ball while you’re learning.
At professional level, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka are two famous examples of one-handed backhand players, while the two-hander dominates much of the modern game.
The Serve
Every point in tennis begins with a serve.
The server starts behind the baseline and hits the ball diagonally into the opposite service box. If the first serve misses, they get a second attempt; if the second serve also misses, it’s a double fault and the server loses the point.
Although beginners often think of the serve as one shot, there are several different types.
Flat Serve
A flat serve is hit with relatively little spin and is generally the fastest type of serve.
It’s the technique most closely associated with the huge serves you see at professional level, where the fastest tennis serves have been recorded comfortably above 140 mph.
It’s commonly used as a first serve because the direct trajectory allows players to generate plenty of pace. The trade-off is that there’s less margin for error, making it harder to land consistently than a serve with more spin.
Slice Serve
A slice serve adds sidespin to the ball, causing it to curve through the air and move sideways after the bounce.
It’s particularly useful for pulling an opponent away from the court and opening space for the next shot.
A right-handed player’s slice serve will naturally curve towards the left, making it particularly effective when serving wide from the deuce side.
Kick Serve
The kick serve uses heavy topspin, usually combined with some sidespin, to make the ball clear the net safely before dropping into the service box and bouncing upwards.
Because of that extra margin, it’s commonly used as a second serve.
A good kick serve isn’t necessarily about hitting an ace. The high bounce can push your opponent backwards or make the return awkward, giving you an easier ball to attack next.
Underarm Serve
An underarm serve is exactly what it sounds like: rather than using the traditional overhead service motion, you strike the ball from below.
It’s perfectly legal as long as the normal serving rules are followed.
You’ll occasionally see professional players use one when an opponent is standing particularly far behind the baseline. For beginners, however, learning a conventional overhead serve is much more important.
Return of Serve
The return is the shot played by the receiver after their opponent serves.
Technically, the return isn’t a completely separate stroke. You might return with a forehand, backhand or slice depending on where the serve goes.
What makes returning different is the amount of time you have.
Against a fast serve, there may not be enough time to take a full backswing, so players often shorten their swing and use the server’s pace to redirect the ball. This is sometimes called a block return.
Novak Djokovic is perhaps the best example of just how effective this can be. His return isn’t simply about swinging harder at the serve. His positioning, anticipation and compact technique allow him to neutralise serves that would put most players immediately on the defensive.
Against a slower serve, you may have more time to take a bigger swing and attack with a drive return. A slice or chip return can also be used to keep the ball low, buy yourself time or simply get a difficult serve back into play.
One thing you can’t do is volley a serve. The return must bounce before you hit it; otherwise, you lose the point.
Volleys and Net Shots
Unlike a groundstroke, a volley is hit before the ball bounces.
Volleys are normally played close to the net, where taking the ball out of the air gives your opponent less time to react.
They’re particularly important if you like playing aggressively, approaching the net or playing doubles. They’re also fundamental to the serve-and-volley playing style, where a player follows their serve towards the net and looks to finish the point with a volley.
As someone who likes playing an all-court game, this is one area where I think recreational players can sometimes miss an opportunity. You don’t have to be a traditional serve-and-volley player to come forward. If you’ve hit a ball that puts your opponent under pressure, moving into the net can often be the easiest way to finish the point.
Forehand Volley
A forehand volley is played on your forehand side, usually with a short, compact movement rather than a full groundstroke swing.
Because you’re already close to the net, you don’t normally need to generate much additional power. Good positioning and a controlled racket face are much more important.
Backhand Volley
The backhand volley is the equivalent shot on your backhand side.
Again, the movement should usually be compact. Rather than taking a big swing, you’re using the pace that’s already on the incoming ball and directing it into space.
Half Volley
A half volley sits somewhere between a groundstroke and a volley.
Instead of hitting the ball cleanly out of the air, you play it immediately after it bounces, often when the ball lands close to your feet as you’re moving towards the net.
Half volleys can be tricky because you have very little time between the bounce and contact. They’re often more about controlling a difficult ball than trying to hit a winner.
Swing Volley
A swinging volley combines elements of a groundstroke and a traditional volley.
Rather than using a short punching action, the player takes a much bigger swing at the ball before it bounces, often using a forehand-style topspin motion.
You’ll commonly see swinging volleys when a player receives a high, slow ball around the service line and wants to attack it without waiting for the bounce.
It’s a more advanced shot, but an increasingly common one in modern tennis.
Overhead Smash
An overhead, also commonly called a smash, is an attacking shot played above your head, usually in response to an opponent’s lob.
The action is somewhat similar to a serve, although you’re reacting to a ball that’s already in play rather than tossing it yourself.
When you’re close enough to the net, the overhead can be one of the most decisive shots in tennis. The aim is normally to hit down into the court with enough pace or placement that your opponent can’t recover it.
Topspin, Slice and Flat Shots
Not every tennis term describes a completely different stroke.
Topspin, slice and flat describe how you strike the ball and the type of rotation you create. That means you can hit a topspin forehand, a sliced backhand or a relatively flat groundstroke without any of them becoming entirely new shots.
This is an important distinction because the different names we give tennis shots often overlap. You could, for example, hit a topspin forehand passing shot: forehand describes the stroke, topspin describes how you hit it, and passing shot describes what you’re trying to achieve.
Topspin
Topspin makes the ball rotate forwards as it travels through the air.
Players create it by swinging the racket upwards and forwards through contact. That rotation helps bring the ball back down towards the court, allowing you to hit higher over the net while still keeping the shot inside the baseline.
After bouncing, a topspin ball also tends to kick upwards.
Rafael Nadal is probably the most famous example of what heavy topspin can do. His forehand combines huge amounts of rotation with plenty of pace, allowing him to hit aggressively while still creating plenty of clearance over the net. The resulting high bounce can also make life particularly difficult for his opponents.
This combination of safety and aggression is why topspin has become such an important part of modern baseline tennis.
Slice
Slice creates backspin by moving the racket forwards and down through the ball.
The resulting shot generally travels lower over the net and stays lower after the bounce than a topspin shot.
Backhand slice is particularly common. It can be used defensively when you’re stretched, to change the pace of a rally or offensively to keep the ball low and make it difficult for your opponent to attack.
It’s a shot I use a lot with my own one-handed backhand. Beyond simply getting me out of trouble, I find a good low slice particularly useful when I want to move forwards because it can make it much harder for an opponent to hit an aggressive passing shot.
Flat Shots
A flat shot is hit with relatively little spin.
That tends to produce a more direct trajectory through the court and can allow you to generate plenty of pace.
However, less spin also means there’s less rotation helping bring the ball down, so flat shots usually offer less margin over the net than heavy topspin.
In reality, very few tennis shots are completely spin-free. When players describe a shot as “flat”, they normally mean that it has considerably less spin than a typical topspin groundstroke.
Other Types of Tennis Shots
Once you’ve got the fundamental strokes covered, there are several other shots that become useful in different situations.
Some describe the way the ball is struck, while others are named after the tactical job they’re trying to accomplish.
Drop Shot
A drop shot is a softly hit shot designed to land short in the court, ideally just over the net.
It’s most effective when your opponent is positioned well behind the baseline. Instead of trying to hit through them, you suddenly take the pace off the ball and force them to sprint forwards.
Good drop shots often use backspin to help keep the ball low after it bounces.
The key is disguise. If your opponent knows the drop shot is coming before you’ve hit it, they’ll have a much better chance of reaching it.
Carlos Alcaraz is a great modern example. Part of what makes his drop shot so effective is that he can set up as though he’s about to hit another powerful groundstroke before suddenly taking the pace off the ball, leaving his opponent very little time to react.
The Lob
A lob is a high shot played over an opponent who is positioned towards the net.
Lobs can be defensive or attacking.
A defensive lob gives you time to recover when you’re under pressure, while an attacking lob is intended to clear your opponent’s reach and land inside the baseline.
You can also hit a topspin lob, which uses forward rotation to help the ball dip back into the court and then kick away after the bounce.
The Passing Shot
A passing shot is hit past an opponent who has moved towards the net.
It can be played down the line or crosscourt and doesn’t necessarily require huge amounts of power. Accuracy is often more important because you’re trying to place the ball beyond your opponent’s reach.
Passing shots are usually hit with a forehand or backhand, so the name describes the purpose of the shot rather than a completely different stroke.
The Approach Shot
An approach shot is a shot you hit while moving forwards with the intention of following it to the net.
The aim isn’t always to hit an outright winner. A good approach shot puts your opponent under pressure and makes their next shot difficult enough that you can finish the point with a volley or overhead.
Approach shots are commonly directed deep into the court or kept low with slice, making it harder for the opponent to hit an effective passing shot.
If you’re learning to play more aggressively, this is a useful distinction to understand. The approach shot and the volley that follows it aren’t really separate ideas: the first shot is setting up the opportunity to finish with the second.
The Tweener
Finally, we have one of the most entertaining shots in tennis: the tweener.
A tweener is played between your legs, usually when you’re running back towards the baseline after an opponent has lobbed you.
Instead of getting behind the ball and turning around to hit a conventional forehand or backhand, you continue running away from the net and strike the ball backwards through your legs.
Roger Federer produced one of the most famous examples against Novak Djokovic at the 2009 US Open, hitting a clean tweener passing-shot winner on his way to the final.
It looks spectacular when it works, but it’s definitely not a shot beginners need to worry about mastering.
There might be dozens of different names for tennis shots, but you don’t need to learn them all at once.
If you’re just starting out, focus on the fundamentals: forehand, backhand, serve, return and volley. Once those begin to feel comfortable, shots like slices, lobs, drop shots and different types of serve will give you more options when you’re out on court.
And that’s ultimately what learning different tennis shots is about. It’s not about having the biggest collection of shots possible. It’s about having the right shot available when you need it.
