Help Me with my volleys!!! (Video)

[LeeD]

Eiks... read your post #34 !!
You are soooo wrong.
Only you have mentioned backswing.

[J011yroger]

Originally Posted by EikelBeiter

They are pretty fast carpet courts. They play very nice, soft on the joints and they react good to spin balls. Love to play there

Next time, I am going to take vids of my volleys from the same angle you used, you can see what is going on so much better than from the angle I used.

This is just a little half court warmup, I don't have much volley stuff on video.

http://vimeo.com/3324860

J

[EikelBeiter]

Originally Posted by J011yroger

Next time, I am going to take vids of my volleys from the same angle you used, you can see what is going on so much better than from the angle I used.

This is just a little half court warmup, I don't have much volley stuff on video.

http://vimeo.com/3324860

J

It says you are hitting halfcourt to warm up the balls I always hit halfcourt to warm myself up From that angle it is hard to see what is going on indeed.

Those courts look uber fast. Are they?

[BullDogTennis]

WAY WAY WAY to much swing on the backhand volley. think of catching the ball, not hitting it. if your moving forward and try to swing that much at it its gonna go out 90% of the time.

[J011yroger]

Originally Posted by EikelBeiter

It says you are hitting halfcourt to warm up the balls I always hit halfcourt to warm myself up From that angle it is hard to see what is going on indeed.

Those courts look uber fast. Are they?

I left the balls in the trunk of my car and it was very cold, so they didn't bounce at all. So we hit half court for 10 minutes until the balls warmed up and bounced normally.

I played on them 2 winters ago when they were new, and they were very very nice medium speed, with nice grit to them. Now they are worn out, and I think the machine they use to clean the courts leaves some kind of slight soap residue that fills in the grit even more over time, so now they are SUPER fast.

J

[LeeD]

Homey...
You are trying to volley really slowly hit balls. For that, you have to step in more, stroke towards the target, get more sideways. Don't just chop at the ball, that stroke is for fast moving balls by players with good timing.
Biggest problem is forehand. You seem to want to get rid of the ball ASAP, when you should caress it towards your target with underspin, but not chopping slice.
Same with your backhand volley, but that stroke is more OK, as it's longer and smoother.
But arcing slow balls, always move your body towards your target. When you play, you'll hardle get anything like that, unless you play 2.5 levels. Fast moving balls, you shorten up the stroke, stay forwards, but be FIRM and try to caress the volley as long a time as you possibly can. Don't "BOUNCE" the ball off your racket like your afraid of guiding it.

[Rickson]

You're stepping backwards on your fh volleys when you should be stepping forward with your left foot. On your bh volleys, you should implement more shoulder turn and get that right foot in front of you instead of that half step you're doing. The bh volley becomes much more effective with your right foot solidly in front of you.

[Bungalo Bill]

Originally Posted by EikelBeiter

I see, well then i'm going to have to disagree with you

Reaction volleys (little time to react) are hit with the same grip. If you have time to spare there can be a little change in the backhand or forehand grip, but its a slight one

Even on reactionary volleys it does not mean a player is waiting in an exact continental grip. They could have some of their hand or a slight alteration in the grip.

[Bungalo Bill]

Originally Posted by J011yroger

Next time, I am going to take vids of my volleys from the same angle you used, you can see what is going on so much better than from the angle I used.

This is just a little half court warmup, I don't have much volley stuff on video.

http://vimeo.com/3324860

J

For those half-courts volleys you need to hit the ball with your elbow closer to the body for racquet head control. Your arm should be mainly fixed and you should be swinging mainly from the shoulder.

You were not bending your knees at all which caused you to hit the ball swinging from your lower arm and wrist.

On low balls you just dropped your racquet head and not your butt to get those balls. On one of the wide balls to your backhand side, you failed to use a step-out and instead you crossed over and sent your momentum to the side fence which hurt your ability to get back into position.

Step out with your right foot for forehand volleys and your left foot for your backahnd volleys first!

Watch this an start it at :56 which covers the footwork part of the volley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obz6e...eature=related

[Bungalo Bill]

Originally Posted by LeeD

All coach's would want us to balance our grips on volleys too, and they don't know what going on in the PRO events, therefore their students will never achieve PRO level.

LeeD, this is not a true statement. As a player develops and practiced good fundamental strokes, personal preferences and discoveries will influence what a player will gravitate towards. You cant say if a player doesnt do what a pro is doing they will never get to the pro level.

Besides? What pro are you talking about? Conners? Lendl? Agassi? Federer? Haas? Guga? Blake?

Each of these pros hit a forehand but they have their own unique style, grips, idiosyncrasies and so on. A pro that waits in a backhand grip for a return of serve may think everyone should wait while the other pro prefers to wait in a forehand grip.

Their is many more variables that go into a person making it to the pros besides genes!

And as far as coaches wanting their students balancing their grip for the volleys, why the hell not?

The Continental grip is the grip for volleys. A player will eventually alter their grip to put their hand in a more comfortable/stronger position for them. This is an individual thing and it sort of falls into a coached thing. The main point is to get them into the dominate volley grip and that is the Continental.

I dont know why you say things like the statement you made above.

Forget what YOU do. LOOK at vids of what the PROS do. EVERY good volleying pro uses longer, more turned, body moving more forward on their backhand volleys. For a reflex volley, they employ more underspin and less pace than the forehand volley.
Say what you want about yourself, but your volleys are NOT the same as a pro player's volleys.

You cant just look at the pros. You have to remember that pros have hours upon hours put into developing their strokes and styles. Players learning the game do not have this time and need to focus on the fundamentals to help them improve to a certain level. I certainly am never going to go pro because I a too old. However, I am smart enough to know that not everything a pro does is beneficial for my game.

First off, the pro game is much different and more precise than my normal club level game. It just is and knowing that there are certain things I can take from a pros game and certain things I really cant take.

[J011yroger]

Originally Posted by Bungalo Bill

For those half-courts volleys you need to...

Sorry BB, I wasn't posting looking for advice, I was just talking to Eik, and saying how much better the angle of his video was compared to mine for looking at what is going on with the volleys.

I didn't realize that wasn't clear.

J

[Nellie]

Originally Posted by Bungalo Bill

Even on reactionary volleys it does not mean a player is waiting in an exact continental grip. They could have some of their hand or a slight alteration in the grip.

At the PTR meeting last week in Hilton Head, one of the coaching seminars discussed that it was noticably faster to switch to a eastern backhand grip for wide forehand volleys / eastern forehand grip for wide backhand volleys, but that you needed to still move foreward into the shot.

[LeeD]

BBill, I'll give you those points...we should all START to volley with continental, and will soon revert to our own individual form of continental.
I did say the videos show a form of continental closer to the forehand side....ie...longer swing on backhand volley, short punch on forehand volley.
If the grip is perfectly balanced, the stroke would be too.
And if someone volleyed with conti towards backhand on FOREHAND volleys, then a longer, more forceful stroke with more body forward and more shoulder turn is needed. The opposite of most good player's volley grip and style.
Nellie... certainly I wasn't there. The notion of a grip change from Efore to Eback on different volleys just doesn't make sense. I don't THINK any good player does that. Not even extreme W grippers. They use the same side of the racket to avoid grip changes. And to switch from Eback to Efore for a forehand volley doesn't make sense, as the time you have should be spent with turning, moving forwards, getting the feet into position.
And if the puffball was coming slow enough for someone to grip change, then they should just up the competition level.

[Bungalo Bill]

Originally Posted by J011yroger

Sorry BB, I wasn't posting looking for advice, I was just talking to Eik, and saying how much better the angle of his video was compared to mine for looking at what is going on with the volleys.

I didn't realize that wasn't clear.

J

Oh, I dont read your posts. I just saw that one with a link. When I saw the volleys or half-volleys, I was a bit surprised given your "rating" they looked that bad.

Sorry.

[supertrex]

Do you relax your grip loose on volley for short angle?

And for deep volley do we still have to relax our grip and make our forward movement push/punch the ball deep in the court?

Just wondering coz I think ive been doing a bad volley all this time. My grip for Deep volley down the line is firm. then I try to relax on the short angles.

[LeeD]

I like to relax on the takeback, then SLIGHTLY firm up to make the strong triangle from racket thru wrist thru upper arm.
Consistent is good. Drop volleys relax hands and fingers.

[EikelBeiter]

Originally Posted by J011yroger

I left the balls in the trunk of my car and it was very cold, so they didn't bounce at all. So we hit half court for 10 minutes until the balls warmed up and bounced normally.

I played on them 2 winters ago when they were new, and they were very very nice medium speed, with nice grit to them. Now they are worn out, and I think the machine they use to clean the courts leaves some kind of slight soap residue that fills in the grit even more over time, so now they are SUPER fast.

J

I love those other courts on your other videos. What are they ... indoor green clay? Or is that canada ten ? Never played on clay indoors, I imagine it is a bit faster but with nice top spin options ?

[J011yroger]

Originally Posted by EikelBeiter

I love those other courts on your other videos. What are they ... indoor green clay? Or is that canada ten ? Never played on clay indoors, I imagine it is a bit faster but with nice top spin options ?

Yea it is Har-Tru, synthetic green clay it is faster than red clay, and when properly maintained slower than hard courts.

But the courts at those two clubs are so poorly maintained, that you get all manner of bizzare bounces, (or non bounces where the ball just hits the ground and rolls) and if they are not sufficiently watered then they become stupidly fast. Or if the top coat is not spread out evenly, you get spots that play like clay, and spots with no top coat, and it is just the hard packed down stuff, so the ball comes off much quicker than you would expect.

So at a nice club where it is well maintained, it is a pleasure to play on, but when poorly maintained, it makes for some ugly tennis (not that I need any help in that reguard). But either way, it is better than watching on TV, so we play on it

J

It's near impossible to "teach" a volley with written word, but here goes...

On both FH and BH you need to lay the racquet back and let your upper torso "do the work". You're "chopping" the racquet at the ball and down towards the court, I assume to create backspin. With a racquet face angled less than 45 degrees to the court, slice the racquet under the ball by using the pace of the ball... don't swing. After that, able to "cup" the ball control the volley... then try to add some punch by rotating the shoulders and torso.

[Rickson]

J011y, couldn't you take it easy on your opponent?