Putting Away High Volleys

[jimiforpres]

I have a decent net game but my biggest problem is high volleys. Whenever some hits a shot that is too low to take as an overhead but still pretty high I can never get the ball down into the court, they always seem to sail long. This is frustrating since these should be simple putaways. Can anyone give me advice on how to make these balls drop?

 

[Rapmaster]

Posted before done

 

[Rapmaster]

I'm assuming you're trying to hit a short angle with it?

If it's a putaway volley right and you are closed in on the net, take it a little more in front of you than usual and give it a slight push to the angles.

If it's a deeper, mid-court setup volley, try pushing it deep into the deep angles. These are pretty difficult to hit as a winner, remember that patience at the net is vital. Just because it's high does not necessarily mean it's a putaway

 

[Rickson]

I have a decent net game but my biggest problem is high volleys. Whenever some hits a shot that is too low to take as an overhead but still pretty high I can never get the ball down into the court, they always seem to sail long. This is frustrating since these should be simple putaways. Can anyone give me advice on how to make these balls drop?

My favorite volley is the high volley to the forehand. Too many people think that pros are slicing volleys and get into the habit of trying it on high volleys. Spike it down, it's damn easy. Don't think about using the serve motion, just spike it down. On the backhand side, it's the same advice, spike it down and don't slice it.

 

[Bungalo Bill]

I have a decent net game but my biggest problem is high volleys. Whenever some hits a shot that is too low to take as an overhead but still pretty high I can never get the ball down into the court, they always seem to sail long. This is frustrating since these should be simple putaways. Can anyone give me advice on how to make these balls drop?

On all volleys it requires little use of the wrist and elbow. A lot of volleyers volley with too much wrist and elbow movement. What I mean by elbow movement is form the elbow down a lot of the volley stroke movement is happening WITHIN these links.

On high volleys, much of what is learned on the serve (relaxed wrist) tends to happen too much on the high volley. As the racquet rises, the wrist lays back. However, since the ball is coming toward you and at a higher speed, the wrist does not have time to straighten and makes contact with the ball on an angle like this \ . With the angle of the racquet face like this and somewhat of a downward motion usually sends the ball long or to a place not intended by the player.

On volleys, whether high or low, you have to learn to move your arm from the shoulder first and foremost. You have to learn to eliminate excessive movement in the wrist and elbow links to control the ball. Sometimes, you need to isolate them to force you to move only the arm from the shoulder and learn to hit it cleanly.

For some, it may only take the way you line up the racquet face to the ball. I tend to lineup the top edge of the racquet and follow the ball with my edge until I cant anymore and make my volley. Some players raise their racquet so the bottom-edge is lined up or the face of the racquet is lined up.

On fast volleys, everything is more instinctive and reactive. So anything you can do to practice correct technique on slow volleys will spill over into your reactive volleys.

Also, practice your volleys against a wall. This will help you to learn to volley more from the shoulder, get lower from the knees, and use short motions to hit solid volleys.

 

[Achillesg]

Well, I am looking forward to thinking about some of those things Bungalo. Like the original poster, high volleys are one of my main problems right now. Same reason -I spray them long. Not only that, but I had no idea how to try to correct the situation other than I knew that it came from an open raquet face. I'm concerned that it's a function of slow reflexes. I've never seen this shot and its associated problems described elsewhere, so any addl help appreciated.

 

[Rickson]

Well, I am looking forward to thinking about some of those things Bungalo. Like the original poster, high volleys are one of my main problems right now. Same reason -I spray them long. Not only that, but I had no idea how to try to correct the situation other than I knew that it came from an open raquet face. I'm concerned that it's a function of slow reflexes. I've never seen this shot and its associated problems described elsewhere, so any addl help appreciated.

Why would your face be open on a high volley? Get on top of that ball and spike that sucka down!

 

[papa]

Although the stuff BB presented is top drawer, I see a lot of "finger pointers" that are simply out of position to hit the lob - its not that pointing the finger is wrong but some take it to the extreme and its the first thing they do. Getting sideways and getting the non-hitting elbow up, even pointing with it at the incomming ball, seems to get the body in the right position. Keeping it (non-hitting arm) on the racquet for a tad longer also gets the shoulders turned and in position.

 

[diredesire]

One of the best tips i ever got when i started missing high volleys (i'm talking about being 5 feet away from the net, and netting them, or being near the net and the volley sailing long) was to lead with the buttcap. This prevents the wrist from doing too much on a normal solid (perhaps swinging) volley. I tend to keep my motions very short and small when i'm presented with a difficult to handle high ball like that. A lot of modern strokes/baseliners use the swinging volley which is ok, but timing is a lot more difficult than they make it look.

I suggest thinking to yourself to lead with the buttcap at the net, and straying away from getting too wristy. The swinging/swiping at the ball leads to a very inconsistent result. You may be snapping a little too early, or a little too late, it's hard to be consistent about volleying because the shot coming at you is always going to be different, and you have only a little bit of time to prepare and react, it's best to keep it simple so you can keep the ball in play.

Cliff's notes: lead with the buttcap, punch, and do not swing/snap at the high balls. The majority of the time you treat this ball as a normal volley, just be sure to think of it AS a normal volley, people when reaching up and hitting this ball tend to swing down on it.

 

[Bungalo Bill]

Well, I am looking forward to thinking about some of those things Bungalo. Like the original poster, high volleys are one of my main problems right now. Same reason -I spray them long. Not only that, but I had no idea how to try to correct the situation other than I knew that it came from an open raquet face. I'm concerned that it's a function of slow reflexes. I've never seen this shot and its associated problems described elsewhere, so any addl help appreciated.

There are two other areas that it your problem could be happening in and that is the way you are centering your balance and your head dropping. First, if you are moving backwards this can cause the racquet face to angle improperly. The second, if your head dropping down during the forward motion at contact this can cause errors. Head needs to be still!

Start first with the exercises against the wall and learn to hit your volleys from the shoulder, this usually does the trick. This is the only time I believe the wall is better then the ball machine.

Make sure when you practice your volleys that you place cones in these areas:

1. Center mark

2. The T on the overlapping both service boxes.

3. Both wide corners of each service box.

These are the main volley points for everyone to master. You can also number each of them and have some (or yourself) call out which one to hit randomly. By using cones, you burn an image into your mind which will transfer over into your match play.

You can put cones in the baseline corners but going for a corner. I dont recommend this as you volley comes close to two intersecting lines. This is riskly. Instead move the cones more inside the court and away from the two lines so that you have room for error on those deeper corner volleys.

 

[Bungalo Bill]

One of the best tips i ever got when i started missing high volleys (i'm talking about being 5 feet away from the net, and netting them, or being near the net and the volley sailing long) was to lead with the buttcap. This prevents the wrist from doing too much on a normal solid (perhaps swinging) volley. I tend to keep my motions very short and small when i'm presented with a difficult to handle high ball like that. A lot of modern strokes/baseliners use the swinging volley which is ok, but timing is a lot more difficult than they make it look.

I suggest thinking to yourself to lead with the buttcap at the net, and straying away from getting too wristy. The swinging/swiping at the ball leads to a very inconsistent result. You may be snapping a little too early, or a little too late, it's hard to be consistent about volleying because the shot coming at you is always going to be different, and you have only a little bit of time to prepare and react, it's best to keep it simple so you can keep the ball in play.

Cliff's notes: lead with the buttcap, punch, and do not swing/snap at the high balls. The majority of the time you treat this ball as a normal volley, just be sure to think of it AS a normal volley, people when reaching up and hitting this ball tend to swing down on it.

Good tip, the hard part as you said is not swinging and using the wrist.