volley tecnique, whats the truth?

[andyroddick's mojo]

i've always thought that on a volley when your dominant hand strikes the ball, your non-dominant hand should be on the opposite side of your body so you can properly balance during the shot. during a lesson with a coach in seattle he told me to try and put my non dominant hand next to my dominant hand during a volley, so they're close enough to pretend you have handcuffs on them. i've even seen pictures of roger federer with captions saying that his hand is on the other side of his body to keep balance. can someone tell me whats the deal here.

[magilligan]

I think it depends on which volley you're talking about. I know on a backhand volley it's almost like you're making a safe sign in baseball, fh volley I'm not so sure about, which is probably why I can't hit one!

[Tikiman53]

Well, I've been told that you sort of punch the racquet forward and catch the racquet with your nondominant hand in the end of your punch.

[The Vitamin L]

The way I was taught was to close in on forehand volleys and open out for backhand volleys like a bird.

[andyroddick's mojo]

i'm talking about the forehand volley.

does anyone remember that issue of tennis magazine where they did a critique of federer's forehand volley, and one of the captions in there was one pointing to his non-dominant hand and saying that he keeps it there for balance.

could someone post pics of some pro forehand volleys so i can see what the pros do.

[Rickson]

i've always thought that on a volley when your dominant hand strikes the ball, your non-dominant hand should be on the opposite side of your body so you can properly balance during the shot. during a lesson with a coach in seattle he told me to try and put my non dominant hand next to my dominant hand during a volley, so they're close enough to pretend you have handcuffs on them. i've even seen pictures of roger federer with captions saying that his hand is on the other side of his body to keep balance. can someone tell me whats the deal here.I don't think you should be thinking about taking your off hand all the way back because you won't prepare for a second volley in time. That flare thing you're talking about looks extremely awkward and I've never seen a good volleyer use it.

[Rickson]

The way I was taught was to close in on forehand volleys and open out for backhand volleys like a bird.I've seen Andy Roddick backhand volley like that on occasion so as I said before, I've never seen a good volleyer flare out his off arm.

[travlerajm]

I agree with Rickson on this. Why worry about your other hand? Just let it go wherever it naturally goes, and it will automatically help you balance.