Requesting drills/methods/swing thoughts etc. for practicing approach volleys and volleys in general.
- Thread starter MoxMonkey
- Start date
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
Approach volleys - play diagonal half court points where you have to approach the net after the serve or return. Or rally off baseline feeds where you have to approach the net after the second shot.
Volley to targets - have a machine or partner give you different balls (FH, BH, high, low, dippers, hard body) at the net and try to hit target cones set at various points around the court. Short angles near where the service line touches the sideline, even shorter angles halfway up the service box, deep corners, deep DTM etc. are good targets.
Drive Volleys - Partner hits to you at the net and you volley back to them and try to keep the drill going with one ball for as long as possible. You need to be able to control the pace and target of your drive volley well to get this drill to double digit shots - of course, your partner needs to control their baseline shots accurately also. Might be hard to do below 4.5 levels.
Volley to targets - have a machine or partner give you different balls (FH, BH, high, low, dippers, hard body) at the net and try to hit target cones set at various points around the court. Short angles near where the service line touches the sideline, even shorter angles halfway up the service box, deep corners, deep DTM etc. are good targets.
Drive Volleys - Partner hits to you at the net and you volley back to them and try to keep the drill going with one ball for as long as possible. You need to be able to control the pace and target of your drive volley well to get this drill to double digit shots - of course, your partner needs to control their baseline shots accurately also. Might be hard to do below 4.5 levels.
MoxMonkey
Professional
Thanks for the reply. Exactly what I was looking for.
What do you mean by diagonal half court points?
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
Deuce to deuce - doubles alleys are in. Can‘t hit to ad side.
Ad to ad - doubles alleys are in. Can’t hit to deuce side.
This is a way to practice for doubles also where you try to avoid the net player standing on the other side in matches and have to hit/return mostly crosscourt.
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Fintft
G.O.A.T.
OP, whatever you do, don't do just the last one, practicing only cooperatively, so that you don't end up like me doing that in matches (especially doubles) as well...
Basically do the second drill as well.A variation to the first one: I approach the net on each shorter ball, in all my practice rallies (as well after serves and returns).
S&V-not_dead_yet
Talk Tennis Guru
Singles or doubles?
Doubles drills tend to be CC-oriented where you volley the first one back deep and low and then move in for the kill, being mindful of the lob.
Singles is more varied.
Either way, don't fear NML: get comfortable hitting that first volley from behind the SL because if you come to the net a lot, that's where you'll be volleying. If you only come to the net when you're 99.9% sure you'll get a weak reply, you'll have a much higher success ratio but a much lower absolute # of won points.
Doubles drills tend to be CC-oriented where you volley the first one back deep and low and then move in for the kill, being mindful of the lob.
Singles is more varied.
Either way, don't fear NML: get comfortable hitting that first volley from behind the SL because if you come to the net a lot, that's where you'll be volleying. If you only come to the net when you're 99.9% sure you'll get a weak reply, you'll have a much higher success ratio but a much lower absolute # of won points.
Tennis_Slapper23
Rookie
Best drills are feed approach balls and go down the line with them. Makes you work on hitting a somewhat tough first volley since your opponent knows your going down the line. Next would be a game where you play half court and both start between the baseline and service line and you feed a ball and you try to inch your way up and beat them while both at the net. Second would be a free from the serve line and the returner has to start tbe point off with a lob. Many ways to work on it I suggest to work on harder volleys but also make sure you add volleying to each other to your normal warmup.
S&V-not_dead_yet
Talk Tennis Guru
@MoxMonkey,
One drill I made up [this is CC doubles-oriented]: I do a shadow serve and approach the net. My drill partner is in the serve receive position and times the feed to simulate a service return.
There are two advantages of this vs the normal drill where I serve and he returns:
- I will never miss a serve
- He will [almost] never miss a return and he can easily target any spot he wants
As a joke, once when my drill partner was serving, I called the serve out.
One drill I made up [this is CC doubles-oriented]: I do a shadow serve and approach the net. My drill partner is in the serve receive position and times the feed to simulate a service return.
There are two advantages of this vs the normal drill where I serve and he returns:
- I will never miss a serve
- He will [almost] never miss a return and he can easily target any spot he wants
As a joke, once when my drill partner was serving, I called the serve out.
MoxMonkey
Professional
This sounds good. I’m gonna do this.