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The Back wall boast is a shot that you can use as a very last resort.
There are 2 occasions where a back wall boast can be really useful. The first one is where I physically can’t get behind the ball enough either to play a normal straight drive or a boast (off the sidewall).
So if the ball was here, and I could physically get my body in a position where I can play a normal sidewall boast, then that is certainly going to be my best option. There will be occasions however when you are really out of position, your opponent’s played the ball deep and you are really struggling to get there, let’s say I can only get to here. Now I might struggle to get a boast, but I could flick this ball off the back wall.
The other time a back wall boast could be useful, is when the ball is so close to the back, you can’t get your racket around to get the angle to get your boast in. Now here I can almost jam it against the back wall, and I can get a back wall boast . It’s the only way I’m going to get the ball that is that tight back in play.
OK, here’s the first point I want you take away when you are playing your backwall boasts. You don’t need to hit the ball had, you do need to lift it high. It’s all about getting the angle up onto the back wall to get it to the front wall. It’s not about hitting it hard.
In order to get help you get the angle and the height off the back wall, start your racket nice and low. It will help you get right underneath the ball. You might like to think of this shot as a lob off the back wall, which will take the ball nice and high to the front.
And if you are really cute, you can try to aim your back wall boast to come onto one of the sidewalls at the front. Realistically you are going to be in a bit of trouble when you’ve played your back wall boast. The balls going to be looping high, and it’s going to be a sitting duck at the front.
You are relying on your opponent making some kind of mistake, or some kind of spectacular movement recovery to get back into the rally. But if you can angle the ball into the sidewalls, which with a bit of practice isn’t quite as hard as it might seem, it’ll give you a lifeline.
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