Volley Repair
Assume a right-handed player.
Problem: Often hitting volleys long.
Repairs:
Problem: Often hitting volleys long.
Repairs:
- If your volley motion pivots at your elbow (most common) or wrist (worse, but less common), your timing has to be extremely accurate in order to avoid an error. This type of volley motion makes your racquet move like a catapult, with the racquet angle constantly changing. If you're the tiniest bit late, your racquet face will be pointing up, and you'll hit long. Keep your elbow and wrist firm on your volleys, and punch out from your shoulder. For flat volleys, most often used when the ball is above the net, try to hit through the ball, keeping the plane of the racquet face vertical throughout the straight-forward motion. Turning sideways before hitting will make this much easier to do than if you face the net. Also make sure your elbow is well away from your body.
- If you are trying to apply backspin to your volleys, keep in mind that this will make the ball float farther in the air than a flat volley would. You need to aim lower or hit with less power.
- Hitting a backspin volley is much more complicated than hitting a flat one. You must match the amount of downward angle in your swing with a proportional amount of upward tilt in your racquet face. If you're hitting long, you need to either swing with a greater downward angle or, preferably, tilt less.
- Make sure you're not reaching back to contact the ball. It might seem as if this buys you more time, but in fact, you'll cut off angles more efficiently and with a far better hit if you move forward and meet the ball slightly out in front. Reaching back for a volley can result in a variety of errors, and it will rarely result in a strong volley.
- If your opponent has hit a heavy topspin at you, the ball will jump up off you strings more than a flat ball would, and you need to compensate by aiming a little lower.
- If you're hitting from below the net, realize that hitting hard and deep is much more difficult than on a high ball. Use some backspin, and try some drop volleys and angle volleys.
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