How to practice volleys against a backboard?

[ogruskie]

Volleys are easily the weakest aspect of my game. I can hit decent approach shots and get to the net, but I might as well give the point to my opponent. The ball can fly a foot away from me and I'd still miss it. When I do make racquet contact, the ball hits the frame and goes into the net. This is when I play against people.

When I play against a backboard, I don't really know how to practice volleys. Should I hit a forehand then charge to the wall? Or get right up to the wall and deflect balls?

If I hit a forehand, the ball comes back before I can make the proper transition from a SW grip to a continental.

 

[The_Steak]

If possible, go to your nearest athletic club and see if you can't rent a ball machine and set the pace high. Remember to check your form and technique and don't try to put too much power into your volley. At least for me, I just angle my volley and just make contact at the sweet spot.

 

[dennis10is]

Stand about 2 feet away from a wall and see if you can volley the ball back to your racket. Try to have proper form and basically have the ball come right back to your racket. It is harder than it looks. Do this with proper form, as much as you can, can then you can mix it up like forehand/backnahd. Your forearm should be burning after you can volley forever.

You get the general idea. This drill has no end to the variation. It can be very tough if you think about what you can do with it. You can move back to 3,4,5 feet. You can do half volleys, low volleys, high volleys.

You can graduate to uneven surfaces such as a brick wall. The rebound will be difficult to predict so you have to adjust quickly but not over react.

 

[Headshotterer]

use an eastern grip instead of sw
topspin doesnt matter when hitting walls

 

[150mph_]

use an eastern grip instead of sw
topspin doesnt matter when hitting walls

it does, if you topspin it (usually hits a higher part of the wall than if you drill it), then it bounces back a higher ball

 

[mel56]

Wall, Volley Tips

Stand about 8 to 9 feet away from it. Use your volley grip. Drop and hit the ball slightly crosscourt so it rebounds upwards so the next shot is a volley. Once started hit the volley normal but not to hard. You want the ball to rebound back and bounce so you can repeat the process. You want to use a v drill, so your always alternating between fh and bh volleys. You should work on control, as well as proper technique. You want to practice shoulder high volleys, waist high volleys, knee height or lower, half volleys, high volleys, wide volleys, gut shot volleys right at your body and reflex volleys. When you get good at practicing your volley on the wall, start working on not only hitting your volleys by stepping in, but off your back foot, on the run both to the sides and forward. Your only as good as your weakest shot. So you want to work on overheads, bh overheads, skyhooks etc. The idea is to to do this enough so you program in an automatic quality response. Unless you serve and volley or play a lot of doubles you can not get enough practice playing singles matches to really improve to much on your net game.