It's rare to see that many loose shots from such great players as David Palmer and Ramy Ashour. But then, out of nowhere, comes the magic: an amazingly tight backhand drop-shot from the very back of the court by Ramy after a seemingly good tight and deep drive by Palmer that was hardly bouncing off the backwall. You are not supposed to hit a drop after such a slow, tight and deep ball as your opponent has all the time to observe your racket-preparation and body-language. The key for this shot is - as we already pointed it out by watching Nick Matthew and James Willstrop in a former post - to go down deep with the knees and bend extremely with your upper body, so that you have your eye sight as close as possible to the ball, a bit like ping-pong players. And to keep the deception factor, you will have to bend this way each time, even when you play a normal drive that could be hit with an almost straight bust - this way your opponent will have little clue to guess what type of shot to await. I know, it's hard work to bend this way each time, but you don't become world number one by simply being a 'genius'.
