why cross over on wide fh volley?

[luvforty]

just can't see it being less effective to take a little hop and just reach over with the right foot...... badminton style....

in terms of reach, cross over is actually less than stepping with the right foot.

[WildVolley]

The fastest way is usually to drop step. This requires pushing off on the outside leg and dropping the hitting side leg under the center of balance. If you can't reach the ball by this, then a cross-over is going to be fastest.

With the volley, the most important thing is going to be to get the ball back over if someone is trying to pass you. If you've already forced a weak reply on the approach, then choose the footwork that allows you to hit it with control and pace.

[boramiNYC]

the solidness of the racquet that is not swung is of utmost importance in volleys. the most effective way is by weight transfer using feet. with the racquet out on the side how else could you transfer weight forward? when body is open with the arm extended to the side the arm is not at its sweetspot either reducing solidness. it's best the pelvis is turned to the sideway. cross step achieves all these. sometimes just reaching in time can be useful but the more often you can put the arm in the optimal position using the legs the better.

[LeeD]

Open stance forehand volleys can work well, if you practice them a lot.
The reason for ANY lessons and advice is to help the beginner and the uninitiated. The crossing step helps close the shoulders, making for an aligned volley for more power.
Advanced volleyers can do whatever they want. Notice the old vids of ClintThompson volleying, he seldom crosses over, and hits his volleys with a wide open footstance.

[TennisCJC]

I only use a cross over on a really wide volley - like a lung volley. If I have time, I use smaller steps and don't cross over. It is a function of how wide I have to go. I will use the step out on the outside foot if only a medium amount of ground to cover. But, cross over covers the most real estate for me.

[LeeD]

Interesting if an open stance really can cover as much court as a crossover step.
For groundies, you hit open stance forehand on wide balls, but not on running forehands where you go for all or nothing.
But on a volley, you seldom have the TIME to choose whether it's wide, or really wide.
Either way, an openstanced volley is a more advanced volley, one that allows you to recover back to center of intersect just a second earlier than the typical old school closed stance volley.
WHERE you volley is more important than HOW you volley, it seems.

[Nellie]

because you want to move diagonally forward and into the ball

[luvforty]

you can move diagonally forward open stance also.... do a couple shadow swings in your living room... the open stance covers just as wide as the cross over, but is much quicker, to the ball and in recovery.

[boramiNYC]

It's not just the reach. Solidity of the whole structure of the body, arm, and racquet differentiates between good and bad volley techniques. the difference might not show when volleying soft balls, but when you try to volley really hard hit ground strokes, the inferior technique will become quite apparent in loss of power and control of the volley. When the technique is solid, you can volley hard hit shots like hot knife through butter.

[TheCheese]

If it's close enough that you can step with your right foot without losing balance, go for it.