Reflexes on Net Volley

[kenshireen]

I am in the duece court at net and my partner is serving. I am lefty and am in a continental grip anticipating a cross court return to my BH side (across the middle of the net).
Sure enough the returner hits a cross court line drive about two feet above net level and about one foot beyond where I am positioned. I don't make a move for the ball. It's as if I am frozen.

In my mind I am asking myself could I have reacted quickly enough to stick my racket out and hit a BH volley. I know the ball was within reach. I would not have had to take a step.

I am 58 YO and need to understand whether my reflexes would have allowed me to put the ball on my strings. People watched the point and asked why didn't you move on the ball.

My reply was that I saw where the ball was going but that I didn't think that I could get my racket out in time to hit a clean shot.

Question: Should I have been about to react and if I did should I have been able to hit a clean shot rather than a deflected shot.
I was on my toes and know where the ball was coming.. OR do I need to anticipate better.

Any suggestions. This has happened several times.

Regards, Ken

 

[vin]

This may sound like common sense, but I find that my reflexes are much sharper when I have an aggressive attitude and I'm focused. I am still not completely comfortable at the net and sometimes find myself being afraid of losing the point up there. This results in me losing reaction time because I'm too busy being worried and on easier balls I stand back and wait for it to come to me. If I'm focused on attacking, I naturally find myself going after the ball and on difficult volleys I find my reflexes to be much quicker. I'm also 29 which means age probably hasn't had much effect yet on my reflexes, so I can't comment on the effects your age will have.

Hope that helps.

 

[Rickson]

I am in the duece court at net and my partner is serving. I am lefty and am in a continental grip anticipating a cross court return to my BH side (across the middle of the net).
Sure enough the returner hits a cross court line drive about two feet above net level and about one foot beyond where I am positioned. I don't make a move for the ball. It's as if I am frozen.

Does this mean you were in the Australian formation? You were on the deuce side, anticipating a crosscourt from the receiver, so your partner must have also been serving from the deuce side, right?

 

[kenshireen]

Not australian

my partner was servng from the duece side to the receiver on the duece side. I am LH and my BH is facing towards the center of the net. The person is RH and hits a crosscourt over the center of the net towards my serving partner.

Does that explain it better

 

[paulfreda]

Anticipation

My old coach taught me a drill that teaches that
one has much more time to react than one thinks
he does.

He would hit groundstrokes to me from the baseline
for me to volley.
At first I was NOT to hit the volley, but just yell out
BH or FH as soon as I knew what was coming. I would
get it right 100% of the time very quickly and I could see
that I knew where the ball was coming before it ever
got more than a foot or so off his raquet. Sometimes
I could know before he even hit it.

Then he let me start hitting the volleys, but still calling out FH/BH.
It felt like I had all day to setup and hit the ball.
In fact, everything seemed to be going in slow
motion and the ball looked like a basketball to me.

It was a very good learning drill. Try it.

 

[Bungalo Bill]

The reflex volley has a lot to do with how your feet respond. Slow feet, slow reaction.

As vin says, getting an attitude of assertiveness helps you stay on your toes and ready to move those feet the way you have to in order to get that racquet up and on the ball.

The sport of tennis has a lot to do with eye/feet coordination.

 

[Paunchy Gandalf]

Have you tried walking towards the net from the service line as your partner is serving? This will keep the feet moving and ready to splitstep as your opponent returns. I like moving diagonally...forward and towards the centre. The returner has to guess whether I will go all the way across to the server's side and, most of the time, they play safe with a d-t-l.

 

[kenshireen]

Have you tried walking towards the net from the service line as your partner is serving? This will keep the feet moving and ready to splitstep as your opponent returns. I like moving diagonally...forward and towards the centre. The returner has to guess whether I will go all the way across to the server's side and, most of the time, they play safe with a d-t-l.

Do you mean actually moving as he is in the process of serving.
Would this not be distracting for the server?

Ken

 

[Bungalo Bill]

Have you tried walking towards the net from the service line as your partner is serving? This will keep the feet moving and ready to splitstep as your opponent returns. I like moving diagonally...forward and towards the centre. The returner has to guess whether I will go all the way across to the server's side and, most of the time, they play safe with a d-t-l.

Do you mean actually moving as he is in the process of serving.
Would this not be distracting for the server?

Ken

Forward movement is allowed and not considered a distraction. So long as your movement is for the purpose of getting a good return, it is allowed. If you are blowing your nose loud or running around in circles, that would be considered a distraction.

 

[dozu]

a few things from my own experience:

1) you need more practice... if you play more, you will be more natural to react and cut off easy volleys. If you only play like once a week, your brain is not tuned to function properly on the court.... I don't think age of 58 is an issue.... you have so little court to cover in doubles, comparing to singles.

2) have the right posture when your partner is serving. stay balanced. I see so many 3.5-4.0 level doubles players trying to mimic the pros, but all they do is bending their back forward and sticking their head out.... If you do that you are off balance from the beginning and will not be able to move quickly. Keep the racket in front of you, but do not be stiff. Relax and keep your weight in between the ball and heel of your feet.

3) follow your partner's serve in.... if you stand just in front of the service line when he hits the serve, as soon as you see the ball gets over the net, follow the direction of the serve. If it's a wide-out, move forward towards the alley... if it's down the T, move forward towards the T.

4) this is the one trick that works the best for me. PICK A TARGET before your partner serves.... When I am in form during mid season, this is grooved into their instinct... but for during the winter or early spring, the instinct is not there, so I have to conciously pick a volley target before the action starts..... it's usually the feet of the opp's net player.

So here you go... the right sequence of it all should be: Stand nice and relaxed with your racket in front, visualize yourself cutting off that return and nail it at the opp's net player's feet. Partner hits serve down the T, your following the serve forward and move towards the center of the court, the return comes back 2 ft above the net, aha! just as you expected, a fat juicy sitting duck. you lift your racket, and without any backswing, it meets the ball and volleys it inches from the opp's shoes. Your opp stands there, shocked and helpless. You win the point.

It is that EASY.

 

[Bungalo Bill]

a few things from my own experience:

1) you need more practice... if you play more, you will be more natural to react and cut off easy volleys. If you only play like once a week, your brain is not tuned to function properly on the court.... I don't think age of 58 is an issue.... you have so little court to cover in doubles, comparing to singles.

2) have the right posture when your partner is serving. stay balanced. I see so many 3.5-4.0 level doubles players trying to mimic the pros, but all they do is bending their back forward and sticking their head out.... If you do that you are off balance from the beginning and will not be able to move quickly. Keep the racket in front of you, but do not be stiff. Relax and keep your weight in between the ball and heel of your feet.

3) follow your partner's serve in.... if you stand just in front of the service line when he hits the serve, as soon as you see the ball gets over the net, follow the direction of the serve. If it's a wide-out, move forward towards the alley... if it's down the T, move forward towards the T.

4) this is the one trick that works the best for me. PICK A TARGET before your partner serves.... When I am in form during mid season, this is grooved into their instinct... but for during the winter or early spring, the instinct is not there, so I have to conciously pick a volley target before the action starts..... it's usually the feet of the opp's net player.

So here you go... the right sequence of it all should be: Stand nice and relaxed with your racket in front, visualize yourself cutting off that return and nail it at the opp's net player's feet. Partner hits serve down the T, your following the serve forward and move towards the center of the court, the return comes back 2 ft above the net, aha! just as you expected, a fat juicy sitting duck. you lift your racket, and without any backswing, it meets the ball and volleys it inches from the opp's shoes. Your opp stands there, shocked and helpless. You win the point.

It is that EASY.

Yeah I agree with Dozu said for doubles. You want to Mirror your opponent that is in front of you. If he moves to the center so should you, if he moves to the alley, so should you. Your partner has the diagonal to the opponent hitting the return and therefore has the middle unless the serve went up the T and you can cut it off.

If your partner hits a wide serve, and you mirror your opponent to the alley, your partner has to be aware he has more court to cover.

As far as execution over an over again? I don't know if things are ever that easy!

 

[Paunchy Gandalf]

Have you tried walking towards the net from the service line as your partner is serving? This will keep the feet moving and ready to splitstep as your opponent returns. I like moving diagonally...forward and towards the centre. The returner has to guess whether I will go all the way across to the server's side and, most of the time, they play safe with a d-t-l.

Do you mean actually moving as he is in the process of serving.
Would this not be distracting for the server?

Ken

There is a fine line between what constitutes distraction and what constitutes "getting into position". I do it only when my partner is serving, not when we are returning serve. Haven't had any complaints from opponents so far, but if they do complain, I will stop.


Dozu - Thanks for some great advice!

 

[kenshireen]

Have you tried walking towards the net from the service line as your partner is serving? This will keep the feet moving and ready to splitstep as your opponent returns. I like moving diagonally...forward and towards the centre. The returner has to guess whether I will go all the way across to the server's side and, most of the time, they play safe with a d-t-l.

Do you mean actually moving as he is in the process of serving.
Would this not be distracting for the server?

Ken

Forward movement is allowed and not considered a distraction. So long as your movement is for the purpose of getting a good
eturn, it is allowed. If you are blowing your nose loud or running around in circles, that would be considered a distraction.

bill, I'm talking about moving in while MY partner is serving... Wouldn' t that distract him.. If you look at the previous post the person suggested that I move in towards the net why my partner is serving so that I have some movement to volley better at the net on a return.

thanks, Ken

 

[kenshireen]

Foot position--ball and heels or toe

a few things from my own experience:

. Relax and keep your weight in between the ball and heel of your feet.

I thought you should be on the TOES and not have the weight between the ball and heel?

Any comments