The most difficult shot 'in the book'

[Dartagnan64]

There is kind of two ways to answer the OP question.
There is the hardest shot based on the incoming ball and the hardest shot based on player execution.

Hard balls to face: 1) Any winner/ace (if you can't touch it you can't return it) 2) volley at your dominant shoulder 3) high ball to your BH, 4) low slice with side spin, 5) kick serves into your body

Hard shots to execute: 1) Running back between the legs winners 2) hard and accurate serves 3) Backhand smashes 4) midcourt swinging volleys off lobs 5) drop shots from behind the baseline

 

[Cindysphinx]

Mid court swinging volleys aren’t that hard . . . .

 

[J_R_B]

Mid court swinging volleys aren’t that hard . . . .

Sandbagger...

 

[Cindysphinx]

: )

I took a lesson this week where we worked on nothing but handling lobs. I had noticed I had become timid and was bouncing these balls and backing up. So we worked on high approach volleys. He fed, and I had to decide which of the three options (volley, swing volley, overhead) was best.

Of these, the BH swing volley was the easiest for me. Go figure.

 

[WYK]

I've always found the over the back drop volley the hardest.

 

[FedLIKEnot]

So without a doubt I think all of what has been listed is tough I also think this topic can be relative to ones own game. I never got the love of the tweaner. I obviously get the merits of the shot but I would rather hit a good lob or a squash shot to space more often than hit a tweaner.

I will say for me the two hardest shots are inside out fh short angle cross court it amazes me how much spin and pace pros get on that shot. And the second is bh oh with pace and directional control.

 

[Dartagnan64]

Mid court swinging volleys aren’t that hard . . . .

Then the lob wasn't good enough.

Your try to hit something falling at 9.8 m/s2 from sky high with a full swing. Hitting pusher moonballs is not that hard but the really vertical travelling lobs from 50 feet above you. That's hard to connect. Better to bounce it, step under it and hit it like a serve.

 

[Cindysphinx]

Then the lob wasn't good enough.

Your try to hit something falling at 9.8 m/s2 from sky high with a full swing. Hitting pusher moonballs is not that hard but the really vertical travelling lobs from 50 feet above you. That's hard to connect. Better to bounce it, step under it and hit it like a serve.

Oh heck no!

If you bounce it, it might not bounce high enough for you to get a good overhead. You give up court position and time retreating. And if you are a short middle aged 3.5 woman like me, your serve/overhead isn’t going to impress.

What I like about the midcourt swing volley is that you are closer to net and have angles to work with it. So even a conservative swing volley can be a winner if you angle it.

In ladies doubles, we have lob queens, and they need to be discouraged. This can be done with a good overhead. But if I am at the baseline and the lob queen throws up a deep lob to back me up and take the net, my answer is to step into the court and hit a swing volley. There is an intimidation element to a swing volley that isn’t there for a regular volley.

Seriously, are other people not hitting swing volleys?

 

[OrangePower]

In ladies doubles, we have lob queens, and they need to be discouraged. This can be done with a good overhead. But if I am at the baseline and the lob queen throws up a deep lob to back me up and take the net, my answer is to step into the court and hit a swing volley. There is an intimidation element to a swing volley that isn’t there for a regular volley.

Seriously, are other people not hitting swing volleys?

I'm trying to picture the scenario.
You describe being at the baseline, and opponent hits a deep lob.
(Deep to me means within 4 feet or so of the baseline.)

I would not hit a swinging volley in this situation. It's a low percentage shot, at least for me. From that far back, it requires fantastic timing to make a forcing swinging volley, especially if the ball is coming down fast.

Instead (assuming I can get into position in time, which would need to be the case for a swinging volley anyway), I will take the ball early, right off the bounce. This is still aggressive and takes time away from the opponent but IMO is a higher percentage shot than the swinging volley.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

If you bounce it, it might not bounce high enough for you to get a good overhead. You give up court position and time retreating. And if you are a short middle aged 3.5 woman like me, your serve/overhead isn’t going to impress.

If you're short, you generally shouldn't be worrying that the bounce won't be high enough.

You do give up court position and time in exchange for an easier OH due to the ball not moving as fast as compared to not letting it bounce.

Your OH needn't be a powerful shot; placement kills [as you mentioned in the next point].

What I like about the midcourt swing volley is that you are closer to net and have angles to work with it. So even a conservative swing volley can be a winner if you angle it.

But you have even better angles when hitting the OH from the same position because the contact point will be several feet higher [assuming you don't let the lob bounce].

In ladies doubles, we have lob queens, and they need to be discouraged. This can be done with a good overhead. But if I am at the baseline and the lob queen throws up a deep lob to back me up and take the net, my answer is to step into the court and hit a swing volley. There is an intimidation element to a swing volley that isn’t there for a regular volley.

If the lady takes the net, I'm assuming it's because she's a more aggressive player in which case I don't see why she'd be intimidated by a swing volley any more than a regular GS; they're both happening from the same distance from the net.

Now, if she expects you to back up the fence to let the lob bounce, rise, and then come back down into your strike zone, then I can see her possibly being taken by surprise. But only once; then she should adapt.

Seriously, are other people not hitting swing volleys?

I was never taught the swing volley.

Among my competition, the high-level guys tend to hit regular volleys. The high-level women tend to hit swinging volleys.

 

[Cindysphinx]

I'm trying to picture the scenario.
You describe being at the baseline, and opponent hits a deep lob.
(Deep to me means within 4 feet or so of the baseline.)

I would not hit a swinging volley in this situation. It's a low percentage shot, at least for me. From that far back, it requires fantastic timing to make a forcing swinging volley, especially if the ball is coming down fast.

Instead (assuming I can get into position in time, which would need to be the case for a swinging volley anyway), I will take the ball early, right off the bounce. This is still aggressive and takes time away from the opponent but IMO is a higher percentage shot than the swinging volley.

Oh, lordie.

No way, no how am I going to try to half volley that ball. Best case for me is i hit a high floater and get killed. I could try to hit it on the rise, but I suck at this shot. Just can’t figure out how to hit anything offensive on the rise or half volley.

This could be because my pro has drilled our private clinic (aging 4.0s) on swing volleys. He got tired of watching us lose to lob queens, so he has taught us all this shot. Even the oldest lady who is maybe 62 can hit the shot. I suspect he did this because our service motions are poor (compared to guys). If we cannot put away an overhead from no mans land, why encourage us to bounce a lob and try to crush an overhead from the baseline? But all of us are solid with groundstrokes, so why not use those mechanics to hit a swing volley?

I think this is a gender difference. How about it, TT ladies. Is anyone hitting a swing volley?

 

[Dartagnan64]

Oh heck no!

If you bounce it, it might not bounce high enough for you to get a good overhead. You give up court position and time retreating. And if you are a short middle aged 3.5 woman like me, your serve/overhead isn’t going to impress.

What I like about the midcourt swing volley is that you are closer to net and have angles to work with it. So even a conservative swing volley can be a winner if you angle it.

In ladies doubles, we have lob queens, and they need to be discouraged. This can be done with a good overhead. But if I am at the baseline and the lob queen throws up a deep lob to back me up and take the net, my answer is to step into the court and hit a swing volley. There is an intimidation element to a swing volley that isn’t there for a regular volley.

Seriously, are other people not hitting swing volleys?

If I hit a sky high defensive lob your way it should bounce 6 feet over your head. Again I'm not talking the usual 3.5 ladies soft moonball that apexes at 15 feet. I'm talking an outdoor skyscraper clearing "good luck taking this one out of the air" lob.

Guys don't hit a lot of swinging volleys because we use footspeed to move in on those ladies moonballs and hit them as overheads.

 

[TimeToPlaySets]

What is it called when you pick a ball out of the air?
Not an overhead, but a FH. Running, jumping, FH in the air from mid court.
That, except the BH version, which I've never even tried.

 

[Cindysphinx]

What is it called when you pick a ball out of the air?
Not an overhead, but a FH. Running, jumping, FH in the air from mid court.
That, except the BH version, which I've never even tried.

Swinging volley.

 

[Mugu]

KICK SERVE !!!!
Most 5.0 guys cannot master that shot

i agree. i can sometimes get lucky and pull off any of those other mentioned toughest shots (except the tweener, which i consider a ridiculous shot that
no one ever needs to hit anyway), but i cannot figure out the kick serve.