A Straight Lob is a long shot played high, slow and tight to the side wall.

A Straight Lob is often used as an alternative to a Straight Drive from the back of the court when the ball is tight in the back corner (see our advice for dealing with those shots here!) and so it’s hard to produce a swing capable of hitting a Drive. The Straight Lob is a great option in this case as by hitting the ball high players can still get the ball and their opponent to the back of the court and get back onto the T-Position.

It can also be an attacking shot from the front of the court if you lure your opponent forward expecting a Drop Shot and thereby create space behind them in the back of the court. It can also be used from the front of the court when under pressure to again buy time to get back into a more comfortable position.

Like the Cross-Court Lob, it’s a great shot for slowing down the pace of the game.

Play good Straight Lob in three quick steps:

Get down low – Make sure you are down low as you are going to need to get your racket underneath the ball and hit the bottom of the ball.

Open Racket face – Make sure that your racket face is open as you are hitting the ball. If your racket face is closed, you will struggle to get the height you need consistently.

Lift the ball from low to high – When you play the Lob shot, use a lifting motion. Don’t rush the contact – you should be guiding the ball upwards from low to high.

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→ Check out our other related Length Shot pages:

Straight Drive | Cross-Court Drive

→ Recommended posts for those looking Lobbing :

The Importance of Lobbing, The Length Battle, Changing the pace of the game, Changing the racket face for shots in the back corners, Using the ‘wrong leg’ in the back of the court, Changing the grip for different shots