How I Mastered The Pickleball Backhand Slice: A Coach’s Guide

Here I will be sharing my story on how I mastered the pickleball backhand slice. This groundstroke is one of my deadliest weapons on the court when used at the right moments. An effective slice shot stays low and skids through the court at a speed which makes my opponents yelp. The slice helps to add variety to my strokes and keeps the opponent guessing. By sharing some of my learning pointers in regards to the backhand slice, I hope to provide some useful insights for you to munch on and take your pickleball to the next level.

The Grip

When I first began my pickleball journey, the standard school of thought was that the continental grip should be used to execute a backhand slice. After much experimentation with the continental and eastern grip for slicing, I have concluded that the continental grip is indeed the best grip to use on the backhand slice. Think of holding your pickleball paddle as an ax or sword when hitting your next slice shot. The continental grip helps to make the cutting motion of the slice feel more natural.

The Concept Of Underspin

After grasping which grip worked best for me, I now had to dive deep in the concept of underspin. This is a key principle for executing a strong backhand slice. By hitting underneath the ball, we will be able to generate underspin which causes the ball to spin backwards and skid upon impact. It is important to note that hitting with too much underspin will cause our shot to lose power. So we must have the right balance of underspin and power in our shots by ensuring we hit through the ball instead of slicing underneath it too much.

The Motion

When executing my backhand slices, I focus on performing a high to low motion, this is the opposite to your standard groundstrokes. When we bring the paddle up high on our backswing, it will allow for us to have more leverage on our swing as we create space between our arm and body with a high take back. From there, the motion or swing path involves the paddle moving downwards to hit underneath and through the ball to send it across to the opponent's side with deadly underspin. Remember to stay focused in your training and practice your shadow swings. Don’t let emotion take over the motion.

To conclude, understanding the theoretical foundations of the backhand slice has been extremely helpful for me to enhance my training sessions. Of course, more important is getting plenty of hours on court to practice and build your ball sense and coordination. Do check out our other articles on more pickleball information and our group lessons to kickstart your pickleball learning journey.