How many times have you experienced the awful feeling of trying to catch up with your opponent’s shot when it flies from front wall to back wall and zips by you toward the front wall again? And what about that panicked feeling of what to do with the ball once you catch up to it? This should be a time when you could be thinking “Automatic Point for Me!” rather than feeling panicked about what to do. Here are a few tips to get you started in the right direction:
A missed ceiling shot is most often the cause for the above situation for experienced players. For beginners and some intermediates, it’s just an errant shot that flies too high in the court. If your opponent hits a ball that is obviously going to fly directly from front to back wall without bouncing, you should:
1. Take off running at top speed to the top line of the service box.
2. Pause there and look for the ball as it comes toward front court, getting turned sideways to be ready to hit a backhand or forehand shot.
3. Let the ball continue to come forward to the front of your stance and then move with it until you can contact the ball knee high or lower.
4. If you don’t have a sense of where your opponent is, don’t start trying to locate him/her now.
If you take your concentration and eyes away from the ball, you’ll surely miss the shot.
Shoot one of two shots:
– Directly into the front wall so that the shot “kills” (hitting below one foot into the front wall) and travels to a back corner of the court.
– “Pinch” the shot into the side wall so that it carries around a front corner of the court and dies.
BOTH of these shots should have a good chance to end the rally as long as you WAIT for the ball to be below your knees when you contact it. You can practice these shots by setting yourself up with these “fliers” on an empty court. If you practice your run and return over and over, that feeling of panic should leave you in an actual game situation and you’ll begin to think “AUTOMATIC POINT FOR ME!”

One of the toughest assignments in the game of racquetball is to successfully return a well-placed serve in the backhand corner. It is improtant that the receiver be able to neutralize the server’s advantage and get on an equal footing to play the point out. Notice that I didn’t say it is important for the receiver to “kill” the server return or hit a winner to end the point, although there are times when players look like they are trying to do just that. Remember that you are at a disadvantage: the server has great center court position and you are being forced to hit a backhand return from about 38 feet from the front wall. The better his or her serve is, the more you should be thinking defensive, not offensive play.

The best return to a tough serve is a ceiling ball. Ceiling balls force the server to run all the way to the back court from the service area where they will encounter a ball that has to be hit from shoulder height or higher. You should aim to hit the ceiling about 2 to 7 feet from the front wall. Use a full smooth stroke: make sure you don’t “punch” at the ball with your arm or you will not be consistent.

If the serve return can be hit with a good stroke before it gets to the back corner, or if it is hit hard enough and high enough to come off the back wall, you can begin to think more offensively. This is the time for a straight shot down the wall or a crosscourt pass shot to the opposite back corner. Make sure that you have time to actually set your feet and get back far enough to be in position to take the shot.

Remember to be SMART when returning serve. Force the server to back court and wait for another time to try and “kill” the ball in front court…and don’t forget to move into center court position as soon as you can!