How do I counter drop shot and lob shot?

Solution 1:

According to Prima (aka those folks who make all the strategy guides), the Drop Shot is countered with a Top Spin, and the Lob Shot is countered with a Flat. The reason I likely had trouble figuring out the shot counter is due to a misunderstanding of how the counter system works. It doesn't prevent all knockback, it just reduces it:

The only way to avoid a ton of push back when trying to return these shots is to use the appropriate counter shot. Every basic shot type has a specific counter. While your character will still get pushed back a bit, it won’t be nearly as much as if you didn’t use the correct counter.