Rebound Net

[MaxT]

http://www.nextag.com/tennis-rebound-net/search-html

I am considering buying one to improve my volley in my driveway. Has anyone used this kind of nets? Any advice?

Thanks a lot.

[shojun25]

I don't think its worth it. If you can just go in a handball court near your area, it would be a lot cheaper than buying one of those rebound nets.

[Mark Rainey]

I got the gamma for my driveway for groundstrokes last year. It slows the ball down too much and I have not used it for months. Don't buy it.

[SystemicAnomaly]

Can any of these rebound nets be set up at an angle rather than vertical? I'm not referring to the Networth product that is vertical on the upper part (above the 3 foot height?) and slanted on the lower part.

Ideally, a tennis hitting wall will either be a parabolic shape or a slanted surface. An optimum angle for groundstrokes might be about 75 degrees (15 degrees or more off the vertical). Unfortunately, these are not all that common. The problem with a vertical wall (or rebound net) is that the ball does not rebound with a natural arc -- it drops down immediately off the wall rather than rising first. As a result, the ball often bounces twice before it gets back to you.

For volley practice, you would probably benefit from more of a slant than the 75 degrees that I mentioned for groundstroke practice. The following is an excerpt from an article on The Tennis Server (http://www.tennisserver.com/turbo/turbo_97_7.html):

"One final tip, if you take a thick board (about 10 feet by 8 feet) and lean it up against a wall at an angle of 45 to 60 degrees, you will have an excellent volley backboard. Hitting volleys against this type of backboard greatly enhances the underspin or slice that good volleys have. The balls come off this board at an upward angle and force you to volley down. Try it...you'll like it. In addition, its easy to set up this type of volley board in your garage or basement...convenient places to practice!"