Critique my volleys? (vid)

L

LeeD

Bionic Poster
Looks like you forehand grip your forehand volleys, not good against faster moving balls. You chop at hit with your wrist, instead of stroking with your shoulders, so your shots are spinny, soft, and set up for the baseliner. Don't chop, instead lock the wrist, and elbow and swing thru the shoulders for more pace, less spin, lower non floaty volleys.
Your basic volley idea is flawed. You chop at a few high balls, then just slap a winner away. Instead, concentrate and hit all low skidding volleys with backspin into short NML, allowing the baseliner to hit sharp low passing shots.
Your backhand volleys are nothing more than a block. You need a longer high to low swing, and longer than your forehand volley swing. Again, don't use the wrist, lock it. Don't use the elbow either. Use the shoulder and body forward turned sideways to add pace to your volleys. You loop a sitter back every time there also.
Trick in volleying is to encourage the baseliner to hit his hardest, lowest passing shots near you, so you can practice against higher level balls. I suggested placing near the short NML depth position, so you can add more depth once you play a match.
That promotes depth control first, and foremost.
 
J011yroger

J011yroger

Talk Tennis Guru
Chill out, volley the ball, don't try to look like you are hitting with 'proper form' just because you are on video.

Pay more attention to how you hit the ball, and what the ball does than to how you look.

Just relax and play normally in your next video.

J
 
L

luvforty

Banned
volleys are one of those low hanging fruits that recs often fail to pick... it's much simpler than groundies, and will win you so many points, and put so much pressure on the opps.... it's a great asset.

so OP, other than hitting/blocking that ball back, you don't really know what's going on lol..... hand-eye coord is pretty good though, you manage well with lots of flaws lol.

the volley is not done with the racket head.... rather, you focus on the structure of the upper arm/forearm/racket... they form a big letter U, or a big L when elbow straightens sometimes...

now, imagine you put this big unit on a big piece of cardboard, and racket face is also flat on the board, so everything is 'on plane'.... FH and BH works similar.. for the FH the imaginary cardboard is on the inside of the arm, but on the outside for the BH volley.

now you hear Patrick Rafter saying volley with the feet, while Oscar says volley with the hand... doesn't matter.

your goal, is to bring this big heavy plane into a collision with the ball.. and try to keep the angle of the plane as constant and as long as possible from before the collision till after the collision..

this collision will require weight shift, so in fast exchanges, against a quick pass or against the net man in doubles, you don't need to add lots of pace... simply making the plane structure solid is enough. you can add some weight shift simply by lifting the lead foot (left foot for FH volley, right for BH)...

sometimes you have to add pace.... say putting away a floater.. for this you need lots of weight shift, typically some small adjustment steps followed by a big stabbing step with the lead foot.

if you keep this collision picture in mind, you will have the correct body language.

I'd say about 50% of the power comes from the weight shift, the other 50% comes from chest (fh) / bach(bh) muscle contracting.

the arm's job is to maintain the structure solid and on the same angle thru impact.... it does NOT swing the racket.

this will also help your slices from the baseline, both wings.
 
B

BirdWalkR

Rookie
LeeD said:
Looks like you forehand grip your forehand volleys, not good against faster moving balls. You chop at hit with your wrist, instead of stroking with your shoulders, so your shots are spinny, soft, and set up for the baseliner. Don't chop, instead lock the wrist, and elbow and swing thru the shoulders for more pace, less spin, lower non floaty volleys.
Your basic volley idea is flawed. You chop at a few high balls, then just slap a winner away. Instead, concentrate and hit all low skidding volleys with backspin into short NML, allowing the baseliner to hit sharp low passing shots.
Your backhand volleys are nothing more than a block. You need a longer high to low swing, and longer than your forehand volley swing. Again, don't use the wrist, lock it. Don't use the elbow either. Use the shoulder and body forward turned sideways to add pace to your volleys. You loop a sitter back every time there also.
Trick in volleying is to encourage the baseliner to hit his hardest, lowest passing shots near you, so you can practice against higher level balls. I suggested placing near the short NML depth position, so you can add more depth once you play a match.
That promotes depth control first, and foremost.
Click to expand...

Yeah I use something turned more to the eastern forehand on the forehand volley and continental on the bh. Thanks for the advice especially on what kinda of netplay I should be doing. I always just try to bloop it back until my opponent makes an UE or I get an easier shot

J011yroger said:
Chill out, volley the ball, don't try to look like you are hitting with 'proper form' just because you are on video.

Pay more attention to how you hit the ball, and what the ball does than to how you look.

Just relax and play normally in your next video.

J
Click to expand...

This is actually how I play at the net haha wasn't trying to do anything different honestly.
 
L

LeeD

Bionic Poster
Don't bloop it back, ever.... well a shoetop half volley might be a deep bloop.
Instead, volley low with pace, backspin, aiming shorter to assist the baseliner to hit better passing shots, all the while YOU practicing hard low volleys with short, barely clearing the net placements. Add depth for matches.
If you're standing just inside your own service line, it's almost impossible for anyone to cover any of your volleys close to the sidelines, as you take a way TIME from them to get to the ball. That is how you hit winners, not by slapping at the ball.
Watch the controlled method of volleying by the pros. No wrist, few blocks except for low backspin placements.
 
B

BirdWalkR

Rookie
luvforty said:
volleys are one of those low hanging fruits that recs often fail to pick... it's much simpler than groundies, and will win you so many points, and put so much pressure on the opps.... it's a great asset.

so OP, other than hitting/blocking that ball back, you don't really know what's going on lol..... hand-eye coord is pretty good though, you manage well with lots of flaws lol.

the volley is not done with the racket head.... rather, you focus on the structure of the upper arm/forearm/racket... they form a big letter U, or a big L when elbow straightens sometimes...

now, imagine you put this big unit on a big piece of cardboard, and racket face is also flat on the board, so everything is 'on plane'.... FH and BH works similar.. for the FH the imaginary cardboard is on the inside of the arm, but on the outside for the BH volley.

now you hear Patrick Rafter saying volley with the feet, while Oscar says volley with the hand... doesn't matter.

your goal, is to bring this big heavy plane into a collision with the ball.. and try to keep the angle of the plane as constant and as long as possible from before the collision till after the collision..

this collision will require weight shift, so in fast exchanges, against a quick pass or against the net man in doubles, you don't need to add lots of pace... simply making the plane structure solid is enough. you can add some weight shift simply by lifting the lead foot (left foot for FH volley, right for BH)...

sometimes you have to add pace.... say putting away a floater.. for this you need lots of weight shift, typically some small adjustment steps followed by a big stabbing step with the lead foot.

if you keep this collision picture in mind, you will have the correct body language.

I'd say about 50% of the power comes from the weight shift, the other 50% comes from chest (fh) / bach(bh) muscle contracting.

the arm's job is to maintain the structure solid and on the same angle thru impact.... it does NOT swing the racket.

this will also help your slices from the baseline, both wings.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the reply man so injecting pace comes from just transferring the weight basically?
 
corbind

corbind

Professional
Hey Bird it seems the balls are not bouncing much so wondering what was the temperature when you filmed this? Or are the balls just old/dead?

Although volleying is about the only skill I feel comfortable with not sure I'd be able to critique. That is except use a continental / hammer grip on both wings. You won't have time to switch grips at the net when playing doubles so best to just use conti grip.
 
L

luvforty

Banned
luvforty said:
injecting pace into the collision between the big U and the ball... with that picture in mind, you will know what to do :)
Click to expand...

a different way to describe this - you want the racket head going forward, at roughly the same speed as the elbow going forward.

that's how you inject pace.
 
5263

5263

G.O.A.T.
BirdWalkR said:
Hey thanks for the reply man so injecting pace comes from just transferring the weight basically?
Click to expand...

That has some truth to it, but your vid is at disadvantage because your are
split between hitting nice aggressive volleys and trying to keep the ball in play
with your hitting partner.
Imo it would help if you were free to volley as you would in a game. Yes, Pros
can hit nice volleys and keep it in play to a hitter, but that makes it tougher
for you to show us your real ability imo.
 
WildVolley

WildVolley

Legend
Your bh volley is just a block that is popping the ball up at the moment. You need to hit through it a little more with a slight outside to in motion and a little underspin for control. Best to still hit it back to the person at the baseline at this point, but I'd like to see a little more bite. Keep practicing.
 
S

snvplayer

Hall of Fame
Not too bad for your level (3.0?). You don't take big back swings, and make contacts in front. Always keep your body in front of your body.

Looks like your grip might be incorrect or you are not comfortable using continental grip. FH volley is definitely stronger than BH volley.

One big flaw I see is your footwork. They shouldn't be sliding and moving when you are making the contact. Another thing is how you move to the ball. You want to "intercept" the ball. It means that you need to move diagonally forward to go out to receive (or hit) the ball. A good example is the FH volley you make between 44-46 seconds. You should not be moving horizontally across, rather you should be moving diagonally forward.

You see the pros, they turn and take a step forward (given that they can reach the ball with this step).
 
T

TennisCJC

Legend
I make a few suggestions:

1. Use conti grip on both sides - you can shift BH grip a bit more toward EBH but basically conti on both FH and BH
2. Shorten the hand movement. You can hit a crisp volley with a 6" to 12" hand movement. You hand is moving much more, sometimes several feet.
3. Think catch or stop when contact the volley. Not punch. Less is more.
4. Open the strings a bit and use a small downward, and outside to inside motion. Contact outside of ball and go through contact to inside of ball. A bit of across motion but remember the hand only moves 6-12 inches
5. Hand moves in unison with arm and the stroke originates at the shoulder - no manipulation of the elbow or wrist - grip can be relaxed but arm/forearm/wrist/hand move as a unit from shoulder.
6. When you finish, the stringbed should be pointing almost at the target - just a bit inside of the target as you use a wee bit of across movement in the volley. Try a drill where you stop your hand to let the strings stop at a point where the are facing the target. Basically, stop with the strings facing the target. This will give you "still hands" and that's what you want at the net - no extra movemnt.

Drills:
1. Get you and your partner about 2-3 feet inside the service line and volley cooperatively to sustain a 20 ball rally.
2. Split court in 1/2 - service line to sideline. Start in position like drill #1 and play out volley points to a game of 11. You cannot win a point on the feed - feed has to be good not too high and not too low.
3. Partner at baseline and you with heels on service line. baseliner feeds ball, you move in to volley from a deeper position, then follow the direction of your shot and move closer to net. Baseliner hits ball back to you and you try to end the point on the 2nd volley. Basically, approach volley from deep position and end point on 2nd volley.
 
Last edited:
S

samarai

Semi-Pro
Your volleys are pretty bad, and it starts with the grip. Can't work on anything else till u get that grip straight. It might work in 3 and 3.5, but according to your other threads looks like u are ata 4.5 level since u r wanting to play college ball.
 
V

VeeSe

Rookie
Gotta work on both, but backhand volley looks especially ripe with opportunity. Try to get your body turned a little bit when you hit those (you pretty much stay forward facing the entire time), and your elbow should be straight by the time you contact the ball, forming an "L" or 90 degree angle between your racquet and your arm. Get your body weight into it while stepping in with the right foot.
 
UCSF2012

UCSF2012

Hall of Fame
Wrong grips, which make your volleys look very awkward.

That's a dedicated tennis coach you've got there. She's a keeper for that alone.
 
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