From your sideways position, and after changing to a continental or eastern backhand grip with your right hand, take your racquet back while keeping your front forearm at about chin level and more-or-less parallel to the court. Use your left arm to draw the racquet back and to help you keep aligned sideways to the net.

As you position yourself under the ball, you can let your racquet drop almost straight down, to about 8 o'clock on an imaginary clock face (it needn't drop as vertically down as the one-hander). Your wrists should be locked, your front elbow high, and your shoulders tilted up toward the ball.

As the ball reaches your strike zone bring both arms up rapidly so the racquet is at 12 0'clock and hit straight forward as much as you can, driving the ball out toward your target. Try not to hit down. Think up and forward. If the ball is not too far over your head and you are able to catch up to it, step in and shift your weight onto your right foot as you swing up at the ball.

If the ball has been hit deep over your head, you will probably have to leap into the air to reach it. Jump off your left foot and land on your left foot, leaving your right leg facing the net for balance. On really deep balls, you may have to turn your back almost parallel to the net, leap off of your left foot and land facing the back screen on your right foot. In this latter case, your shot is probably purely defensive. If you have made a grip change, you might even remove your left hand from the racquet in order to give you more reach and leverage.

A common error on the two hander is overrunning the ball and letting it fall too low by the time of impact. This usually results in a netted ball. Keep your front hitting elbow up and try to judge the arc of the ball into a hitting zone that is above your head and aligned just in front of your right shoulder. You want to hit the ball at a very high contact point.

When do you use the backhand overhead? I suggest you use it any time you can, realizing that if you don't try the overhead for the lob on the backhand side you are going to have to run it down and hit it as a groundstroke or a lob after it bounces. This in itself is going to be difficult, and you will surely be on the defensive.

Your choice will be determined by the quality of the lob. If you can get your racquet on it by side-stepping or leaping, go for the overhead. If the lob wasn't hit with much topspin, your momentum on a failed overhead will take you back toward the ball and you might catch up with it after the bounce. I would rather see the attempt than the omission on a ball that lands only a few feet behind the player, because allowing it to bounce results in a defensive position.

In doubles, while at the net on your partner's serve, you'll get many opportunities to use the backhand overhead. Hit the ball either straight back to the returner or down the middle between the two opponents. If the lob is short, you can be more aggressive and hit at the net player's feet or down the middle. Don't try the risky sharp cross court shot to the net player's left.

Returners love to lob to the backhand side of the net person, especially on the deuce side. Take that shot away from her by showing that you have a solid backhand overhead, and you can start crowding the middle for more poaches.

Another time in doubles when you might use the shot is when your net partner on your left is lobbed and you cross over to intercept the ball. If it is high and moving away from you, then your only hope might be a leaping backhand overhead. Give it a go, you'll look good in attempting it and you might just save the point.