Volley Tips For Improved Timing

One of the most common mistakes players make when they are volleying is taking a backswing, which leads to being late on the ball. 

Your arm is used to going back when the ball is approaching you, trained through hundreds and thousands of forehands and backhands where a backswing is obviously necessary.

However, if you take any kind of backswing, then you will likely hit the ball late. It is important to reprogram this behavior, and here are two exercises that can help with this.

Tip #1 - Catching The Ball

The best way to reprogram your brain away from taking a backswing is to do a little bit of catching beforehand.

When a ball is thrown to you, it is very intuitive to go forwards with your arm; you don’t need any special instruction to move like this when you’re catching.

Even if the ball comes slightly to the side of you, you’ll still find yourself moving forward to catch.

So, it’s as simple as that; have your partner throw you 20 or 30 balls over the net, and all you need to do is catch them., just observe the way your arms moves towards the ball so that later one you can be more aware of that when you actually have to volley.

The next progression is to hold the racket at the throat (choke up on the racket) and imagine that you are still catching the ball, except that this time you just gently bump it over the net.

And finally, repeat this with the full grip and imagine that you are attempting to "catch" the ball on the strings, but you need bounce it off the racket and control the finish of your volley.

This is one of the best methods that helps you override the usual backswing programming that you might have in your mind from forehands and backhands, just keep in mind this drill will have to be repeated quite often before the new programming takes over.

Tip #2 - Elbow Restriction

Another practical way of getting used to having your arm in front when volleying is to place your non-dominant hand under your elbow.

Make sure to push the elbow forward and exert a little bit of force with your non-dominant arm otherwise your elbow might still go back too much.

However, you should still lay back your wrist for good stability and that you are able to punch the ball or slice it if needed.

While you can play both the forehand and the backhand volleys with this elbow restriction, tennis players tend to struggle more with the forehand volley and this drill proves to be very effective in correcting the forehand volley technique.

Volley Tips For Extra Power

Without a back swing, where does the power come from in a volley?

The answer is actually quite counterintuitive, as the most powerful volleys come from your movement, rather than a fast racket head. 

Here’s a look at two key tips for hitting powerful volleys in tennis...

Tip #3 - Early Split Step

If you want to get more power on the volley, you need to use your legs to direct the momentum of your body mass into the ball.

One of the main reasons why players are unable to do this well at the net is because they are used to a split step executed at the baseline. (or no split step at all ;( )

When you are on the baseline, you are waiting for the ball to be hit by your opponent.

Your split step is performed in a "neutral" way which means you're not going forward or backward when split stepping.

You are ready to move in any direction and in fact you expect that in most cases you will have to move paralel to baseline left or right and not really forward that often.

But when you're at the net you have way less time to react and you also cannot really play "neutral volleys" with your opponent and "rally". 

You are now in offense, your goal is to hit a winner or to force an error therefore your movement at the net needs to reflect that.

That’s why when we are at the net, we have to start moving forward before we see where the ball is going! 

That might sound a bit strange, but it’s how we have to move.

We need to create some forward momentum before the split step and keep moving forward through split step until we recognize the direction of the incoming ball and then we change direction towards it.

Tip #4 - Body Mass Into The Ball

The next volley tip that is going to help you with power is a little counter-intuitive, which is why many players don’t find it on their own.

What most players do when they want power is they try to move in the direction of where they’re volleying. This seems intuitive, but actually, it doesn’t work well. 

Instead, what works much better is actually moving through the ball. This means that you will have a 90-degree angle between where you want to play the ball, and where you’re moving.

If you do this, you will have a much cleaner contact, and much more power on the volley. It’s hard to reason in your mind, but trust me: it works.

Move your body mass right into the ball, then your racket angle will send it in the correct direction. This way, you have power and send the ball the right way.

Of course, a natural objection to this approach is that if you move too much, you will lose your positioning at the net. The answer is yes you will, and you have to recover quickly.

But, if you hit a good volley, many times you will not need to recover much because you will finish the point with one shot or force a very weak reply that you can then put away.

Yes, you sacrifice one step of the space, but you gain in crispness, clean-hitting and good ball control, and in most cases that’s going to win you the point.

Volley Tips For Accuracy

Now that you have timing and power to your volleys, the next step is to ensure accurate and controlled volleys.

The next two tennis volley tips are a little bit counter-intuitive as well, and involve the movement of your racket head both before and after making contact with the ball.

Tip #5 - Long Follow-Through Towards The Target

The key to a precise volley is having a long, linear follow through in the direction of your target.

Often, when players volley, they relax their arm too quickly. They hit the ball and then just stand and swing through.

This can lead to the arm moving too much across, with the racket following a diagonal, circular path, and they wonder why they struggle to hit their intended spot.

To hit a target area with your volley, extend your arm and the racket as far as you can in the direction of that target. 

The tip #4 above still applies - move your body mass into the ball while you extend fully in a long, linear movement in the direction of the target.

Your strings should remain pointing towards your target area once the shot is finished.

This might feel counterintuitive because you might think you can punch the ball with your wrist instead for more power.

However, this often means you lack good directional control, so it's important to control your wrist at the end of the volley so that the strings point towards the target. 

It’s the same for volleys down the line; keep the racket head oriented towards the target as much as possible.

Above is the example of the backhand volley down the line where I try to extend towards the target and control my wrist and racket face so that strings still point towards the target.

Tip #6 - Start Slow, Then Accelerate

The final tennis volley tip for improving your precision with the volley has to do with how we accelerate the racket head into the ball.

When the ball is approaching, and you’ve prepared for your volley, begin moving gently towards the ball with your racket.

Then, just as you’re about to hit the ball, accelerate and apply power.

What players often do incorrectly is that they prepare, and then from the start they immediately swing hard at the ball.

This makes it very difficult to hit the ball cleanly on the racket, because if you go very tight from the beginning you restrict your positioning and remove the ability to make small adjustments based on the ball’s flight.

Instead, approach the ball slowly, then accelerate towards the end. This will provide you with more precision with the racket head.

When you’re approaching the ball in a more gentle way, you’re still moving forward, but you’re not going full speed yet. This means that you’re going to find the ball better in space.

Then when you feel you have the ball in space, you apply power. Check the video below where Roger Federer explains that concept too (more towards the end of the video).

Tip #7 - Watch The Ball!

This last volley tip is one you will have heard before, but it’s worth repeating. It is very, very important.

You must watch the ball!

You’re not going to progress very far with your net game if you're volleying without looking.

The game of tennis is very challenging; do your best, but try and track the ball to your strings or as far as you can. Then, you move your head away.

Summary

So let's summarize this lengthy article into a more readable short section so that you can easily remember all the key tennis volley tips shared above.

a) Volley Tips For Better Timing

• Avoid a Backswing: Reprogram your instinct to take a backswing by practicing catching the ball and then mimicking the motion with your racket, focusing on moving forward to meet the ball.
• Elbow Restriction: Practice rallying with your non-dominant hand under your elbow to encourage keeping your arm forward during the volley.

b) Volley Tips For More Power

• Move Forward Early: Initiate your forward movement towards the net as your opponent strikes the ball, before knowing the ball's direction, to transfer body mass into the shot.
• Move Through the Ball: Instead of moving directly towards your target, move at a 90-degree angle to it, hitting through the ball for a crisper and more powerful volley.

c) Volley Tips For Better Precision:

• Move Racket in Direction of Target: Follow through with a long, linear motion of your racket directly towards your intended target, ensuring your strings point that way at the end of the shot.
• Start Slow, Then Accelerate: Approach the ball gently with your racket initially, then accelerate just before contact for cleaner and more precise contact.

Bonus Tip: Watch the Ball! - Focus intently on the ball, tracking it to your strings for improved timing, power, and precision.

The ball is in your court now - apply these tennis volley tips in your practice sessions and give them a few weeks to start reprograming your volley skills and then let us know how it went!

Technical Foundations Of The Backhand Volley

Below is a five-point checklist outlining all aspects of the backhand volley technique. Use this to check your form, and consider upgrading to the full volley course for further knowledge.

1. The Grip

Backhand volleys should be executed with the Continental grip. This is a non-negotiable - all volleys, backhand or forehand, should be hit with this grip.

But there are some nuances to the Continental grip to be aware of in order to hit the backhand volley well. 

Make sure that the index finger is slightly away from the others, so your fingers will be spread when the racket is more diagonal in the hand. 

If your fingers are close together, then the racket becomes quite perpendicular in the hand. This is technically still a Continental grip, just not a very stable one.

By spreading the fingers, however, you provide additional support and can move the racket much more precisely in space when you need to hit very accurate volleys.

2. The Volley Split Step

Every stroke in tennis should begin with a split step, but again, there is a nuance here that is unique to volleying.

As with the forehand volley, we want to keep the forward momentum when hitting a backhand volley.

Compared to the baseline, where the split step is more neutral, your volley should carry the forward momentum from your approach shot.

This not only helps you reach the volley sooner but also improves both power and control.

3. The Preparation

Following your split step, it is time to make sure that your body and racket are in the right positions to execute the backhand volley.

This preparation phase can be broken into five sub-phases, as follows:

A) 45-degree body orientation

The first step in preparing to hit a backhand volley is to react to the ball that is coming over the net. Do this by turning your upper body 45 degrees towards the ball.

It is important that you orient your upper body first, before taking a step towards the ball.

Note, there is no need to take your non-dominant hand off the racket yet. Keep both hands on the racket, and just prepare it as you turn your body.

B) 45-degree racket orientation

Another 45-degree marker is the orientation of your racket looking from the side view. 

As you can see in the image below, the forearm and the racket are laid back at approximately 45 degrees which allows you to hit the ball with some punch if you need to or to apply more backspin when needed.

Tennis players tend to hold the racket too vertically in the preparation which kills all the power and the ability to apply some backspin on the backhand volley.

C) Racket at head height

As with a forehand volley, your racket should be at the same height as your head when you prepare to hit a backhand volley.

Even if you are hitting a higher or lower ball, make sure to start your racket at head height.

D) Wrist preparation using non-dominant hand

When hitting a backhand volley, the non-dominant hand plays a crucial role in preparing the wrist. Use your non-dominant hand to pull the racket back and inwards slightly.

This creates some radial deviation - movement towards the thumb of the wrist.

What this does is build a bit of tension in the wrist, which then acts like a spring, creating something of a trampoline effect when it pops out and makes contact with the ball.

E) Elbow in front, racket behind

The final checkpoint to keep in mind is the elbow position, which needs to be in front. Now, this is very comfortable on the backhand volley and is usually not a problem.

But when players attempt to swing too much, and they will go into a position where the elbow is starting to come behind the body if you are looking from the side, and that's when the backhand volley technique starts to break down.

4. The Hitting Phase

When it comes to actually making contact with the ball on your backhand volley, you want to be doing two things:

• First, aim to hit the ball slightly upwards,
• Second, give it a bit of slice.

Even if you have a slightly higher contact point, still hit it a bit up and with backspin when you are in the process of developing the fundamentals of your backhand volley technique.

You want to see if you can keep the ball straight into the target, with a horizontal axis of rotation.

If you swing too much across the ball (which is a common mistake), you'll see the ball spin more sideways and that's also your cue to adjust the technique.

5. The Follow-Through - 3 Ways To Define The Finish

Eventually, your follow-through on a backhand volley will become second nature.

However, as you hone your technique, it is best to be intentional about what the finish looks like as that helps you control the ball really well.

There are three ways to define the follow-through of the backhand volley:

• The non-dominant arm should be extended opposite from the hitting arm,
• The hitting arm should be extended fully and move in the direction of the target,
• The racket face should be pointed towards the target

5 Keys To An Effective Backhand Volley

Everything covered above is critical to hitting a backhand volley with correct technique but if we try to summarize the most important points, here are the top 5:

• Do not step towards the ball first; simply orient your upper body towards the ball, and your feet will follow,
• When you are preparing, use your non-dominant hand to lift the racket, pull it back, and also create a bit of tension in the wrist,
• Remember to keep your wrist bent, with an extension in it,
• When you finish your shot, you want to keep the racket face pointing towards the target,
• Keep your body orientation the same as you volley - do not rotate, just stay centered towards the contact point.

As mentioned above, this video article is just a theoretical foundation of the backhand volley technique so that you're clear on all the key technical checkpoints.

While it may offer immediate improvements in some cases, mastering the backhand volley typically requires step-by-step progressions. By building strong fundamentals and gradually increasing drill difficulty, you'll develop the ability to volley effectively in all situations.

If you're ready to take your skills further and master both the forehand and backhand volley—along with the overhead—be sure to check out the complete Volley & Smash video course.

Technical Foundations Of The Forehand Volley

Use this article as the base to check your knowledge of the forehand volley technique. Once you clearly understand how the forehand volley is executed, consider upgrading your knowledge with the full course.

1. The Grip

Almost everyone starts learning the forehand volley with a forehand grip because it’s more comfortable at the beginning, especially for higher balls. However, your eventual goal is to learn a Continental grip for all types of volleys.

The Continental grip allows for very good ball control and gives you the ability to impart slice on the ball when needed and to play low volleys.

The key to correctly holding the racket for the forehand volley is to hold the racket diagonally in the hand.

Holding the racket perpendicular to the hand means you don’t have good support for the racket because you are missing the index finger as one of the support points.

Align the racket more diagonally in the hand or, in other words, spread your fingers so that the index finger gives you good support under the handle.

2. The Volley Split Step

As with all other strokes, the volleys require a split step if you want to execute them well, as you need to react very quickly to the incoming ball.

The key difference in the way to split step at the net is that to try to maintain forward momentum from the approach shot.

You can create forward momentum if you’re already at the net and have to hit another volley.

So, not only do you want to split step with some forward momentum, but you also want to maintain that momentum while hitting the volley.

It will allow you to hit more powerful volleys with much better control.

3. Preparation - 45-Degree Check Points

As you land from your split step and realize that you’re going to hit a forehand volley, you need to prepare for the stroke.

To make sure your preparation allows you to hit with power, backspin, and good directional control, you can use these checkpoints of the forehand volley technique:

A) 45-degree body orientation

As you realize that the ball is coming to your forehand volley, turn around 45 degrees to the side. That tends to happen quite naturally if you track the ball well with your eyes, since your head will turn to the side and so will your body.

The key here is that you initiate movement with your upper body before you move your feet. 

Many players are wrongly instructed to first step toward the ball, so they want to move their feet before their upper body, and that’s just not how the body naturally moves.

B) 45-degree (side) racket orientation in space

The next checkpoint is very easy to visualize and can help you quickly get into the right preparation position - and that’s around a 45-degree racket angle in space.

Another checkpoint related to this position is also called “racket head - my head,” where you want the racket head to be approximately the same height as your head.

C) 45-degree (back/forward) racket orientation in space

We can spot another 45-degree angle in the forehand volley preparation if we observe it from the side view.

As you can see, the racket is angled around 45 degrees in space because of the laid back wrist and the elbow in front of the body.

This is a very important position to check because many players keep the wrist way too stiff in the preparation phase, which keeps the racket face too vertical and kills all the power on the volley.

The Elbow Position - The Key To Power & Control

The most common and most problematic technical flaw when it comes to the forehand volley technique is the elbow behind the body line.

When the elbow gets behind the body line (which happens when the player attempts a backswing that is too big), then it’s almost certain the player will hit the volley too late and lose all control and power.

The key to controlling forehand volleys well is to keep the elbow in front of the body line, as you can see from the side view.

This position is quite uncomfortable, but it creates very good stability in the arm and therefore allows for very stable volleys.

A good way to practice and get used to this position is to hold your nondominant arm under the elbow of the hitting arm, which allows you to prevent the elbow from sliding back too much.

In order to hit the forehand volley from this position with the elbow bent and the laid back wrist is to extend the arm fully toward the target area.

4. The Hitting Phase - Ball Control First

Since this is a video article about the fundamentals of the forehand volley technique, we need to first learn how to control the ball really well off the volley. Only then can we progress to more aggressive volleys and expect some consistency.

Too many times, players are taught to be aggressive on the volley, even in the beginner stage, and this completely ruins their technique.

What ball control means at this stage is that you always want to hit your forehand volley slightly upward from the contact point and give the ball a bit of backspin.

Practice controlling forehand volleys like that, hitting both down the line and cross-court when you practice.

You will realize later that it is quite easy to progress to more aggressive lower trajectory volleys once you have a good foundation of volleying slightly up with a backspin.

5. The Follow-Through - 3 Ways To Define The Finish

It’s very important to define the finish of the forehand volley movement. That both improves ball control and more quickly ingrains the movement, so that you eventually won’t have to think about it anymore.

Here are three checkpoints you can keep in mind for the forehand volley finish:

• The arm fully extends (remember the bend and extend tip) in the direction of the target area

• The body stays oriented toward the contact point and does not rotate or orient toward the target

• The strings of the racket are pointed toward the target at the end of the stroke

Keeping the racket face on the target at the end of the stroke will not feel comfortable for quite a while. 

However, that’s how we ensure that the racket face is not changing too much during contact with the ball, which allows us to hit very accurate volleys.

5 Keys To An Effective Forehand Volley

While the above article is quite a comprehensive look at the forehand volley technique and may be a bit overwhelming, we can narrow down the tips for better forehand volleys into 5 most important technical checkpoints:

• Begin your preparation with the body orientation to the side, and let your feet follow.

• Keep your elbow in front of the bodyline as you prepare the stroke.

• Ensure the wrist is laid back and pushed toward the thumb, which makes it stable yet flexible to move when needed.

• Keep the racket face toward the target when you finish.

• Do not rotate your body as you volley, but rather keep the head and the body oriented toward the contact point.

Begin practicing the above technical checkpoints of the forehand volley in easy conditions so that you have the time to think about and execute the technique correctly. 

You will gradually transfer these new technical elements into the subconscious, which will then allow you to challenge yourself further with more advanced volley drills.

The video above demonstrates the forehand and backhand volley techniques slowed down to 25% and 10% speed, allowing you to observe all the technical details in slow motion.

And in this article we'll focus on some of the keys of the volley technique that are the most obvious from a top-down perspective.

Forehand Volley Technique From Top Down View

So what can we best observe on the forehand volley looking at the technique from the above? Let's focus on 4 keys of the forehand volley that stand out. 

1. Preparation

I use my non-dominant hand to push my racket back, and to create a bit of racket lag / a wrist bend.

This helps me control the racket head well (so that's not flailing around) and it helps me immediately feel a stable wrist which will allow me to control the volleys well.

2. Weight Transfer To The Outside Foot

I did not immediately use my left foot to go to the right. Instead, while my non-dominant hand pushes my racket out, I also transfer my body weight to my outside foot.

I approach the ball in a controlled manner with this motion rather than "falling" into it.

If the ball is not travelling too fast, you may have time to move the foot further from the racket and step in before playing a volley.

3. Controlled Backswing

Is there a backswing on the forehand volley or not? Well, yes and no. 

In order to answer that question, we need to define clearly what we mean by the word "backswing".

Most tennis coaches tell players not to do any backswing on the volley, but either the coach is not really knowledgeable enough to know what really happens on the volley or the player misinterprets the instruction.

So what we don't want is to move our arm back behind the body, as that will make it really difficult to time the ball well. In most cases, you will hit the ball late and miss the volley.

But what we do want is that the racket head moves back, which means that we lay back the wrist fully, which allows us to still punch forward and generate power with the racket even though we had no "arm backswing".

4. Controlled Follow Through

I ensured a good follow-through by controlling my racket swing after it contacted the ball. 

I tried to make sure I point the racket in a straight line towards the direction I want the ball to go. I did not try to swing the racket or move my arm in a circular motion, bringing it closer to my body. 

Many newer players make mistakes here - instead of pointing the racket face towards the target, they simply allow the racket face to swing around. 

Backhand Volley From Top Down View

While there are many technical similarities between the forehand and the backhand volley, we can still observe some elements of the backhand volley technique that stand out from this top down perspective. 

1. Preparation

Generally, tennis players don’t make large backswings when playing a backhand volley. This is because many are used to holding the throat of the racket with their non-dominant hand, and that helps them control the backswing better.

To prepare for a controlled backhand volley, I use my non-dominant hand to pull the racket back. Notice how I actually pulled the racket head behind my head while the arm again stayed in front of my body.

2. Arm Extension

As I move the racket to get into contact with the ball, notice how little the arm moves. Instead of swinging the racket in, I extend my arm somewhat forward to hit the volley.

Because the racket head was behind my body it actually moved quite a lot towards the ball generating power while my initial arm-in-front position allowed me not to be late on the ball.

3. Controlled Follow Through

The concept here is similar to the forehand volley. After contact with the ball, I continue to point the racket face towards my target, instead of swinging it round my body. 

Visualize volleys as very linear strokes that move the racket head towards the target without changing its angle.

So one way to achieve that is try and keep the strings pointed long time towards the target and the other one is explained below...

4. Shoulder Alignment

The other way to control the path of the racket through the ball on the backhand volley is to stop the shoulder rotation.

If your shoulders keep rotating through the shot, you will keep moving the racket in a circular manner through space, which makes it very difficult to control the ball's direction.

And what tends to rotate shoulders is your head turning to the target first usually because you are too eager to see where your volley went.

So work on controlling your head orientation towards the contact point and hold your head and your body oriented to the contact point while you are extending the arm towards the target.

Once you feel you have reached the end of your follow-through you can now turn your head and the body and prepare for the next shot.

Final Thoughts

Observing the volley technique from the top-down view in slow motion or through images in this article gives us a new perspective on the technical nuances of the forehand and backhand volleys.

I pointed out some of the keys of the volley technique that are the most obvious from this top-down perspective, but now my question goes to you: what do you find the most interesting and perhaps eye-opening when observing volleys from the top-down view?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!

There can be multiple reasons why the player ends up under the ball instead of behind it, such as:

• They misjudge the ball’s flight.
• There could be a “bad bounce” off an uneven surface.
• The ball could have some spin that causes an extra bounce.
• There could be a sudden gust of wind.

For all these reasons, you must not try to immediately position perfectly for the smash.

Instead, you need to first move too far from the ball, see how it bounces, and then quickly adjust with small steps or shuffles in the forward direction toward the ball and then hit the smash.

In most cases, you will have enough time to move forward after the ball’s bounce, as it will hang in the air for a split second as it reaches the apex of its flight.

Now you will have forward momentum into the ball, which will allow you to hit with more power.

You will also have the ball more in front of you, which will allow you to see the court and your opponent’s position better through your peripheral vision.

Just aim into a big target area in the open court, and you’re very likely to win the point immediately. If not, you can expect only another defensive lob, which means you’re still in an offensive position.

Tip #2 – Get Both Arms Up Immediately

The second most common mistake players make when they’re about to hit a tennis overhead on the bounce is that they keep the racket hanging down while they are positioning for the smash.

Then as the ball bounces, they have to perform the whole backswing (downward, backward, and upward) just like they do when they serve. This makes it very difficult to time the ball well and hit it clean.

That’s why it’s much better to immediately get both arms up as you recognize the lob and then start adjusting your feet like suggested in tip #1.

You can have the racket head just behind your head as you’re moving around or just on the side of your head for more advanced players.

The non-dominant arm should be up, but you don’t need to point at the ball as coaches like to teach. You’ll focus too much on what your arm and finger are doing instead of focusing on the ball and judging it well.

As long as the non-dominant arm is up in the general direction of the ball, it will help you judge the ball better and help you execute the smash biomechanically well.

Tip #3 – Stay Stable On The Ground

Tips #3 and #4 are related because we’re trying to correct 2 common mistakes that happen as the player is positioning for the overhead on the bounce.

Players often get too much under the ball and then reach up for it, so they are not stable on the ground but rather on their toes.

When you are on your toes and hitting a smash, you don’t have much power or control.

Instead, you should try to plant your front foot on the ground and keep it stable in the same way as when you are hitting a neutral stance forehand.

Tip #4 – Hit At A Lower Contact Point

When serving, you have to reach higher because you need a better angle downward and because you need to hit the serve into the service box.

But when you hit a tennis smash on the bounce, you already have a good angle downward (since you’re well inside the court) and you don’t need to hit into the service box.

That’s why you can hit the smash at a lower contact point and a bit more in front and to the side, where you’ll have the most power and control.

So when you combine Tip #3 and Tip #4, you then want to stay stable on the ground with your front foot and make contact with the ball at a lower contact point (compared to the serve) a bit to the front and to the side. When you do that, you’ll have maximum power and control.

Tip #5 – Focus On Pronation When Hitting The Ball

Players tend to swing with the whole arm when hitting the smash on the bounce, but that’s quite risky, as the ball tends to end up in the net. There are simply too many forces downward.

Instead, you should focus on generating power more from the pronation (and internal shoulder rotation) movement.

If you’re not that skilled yet with pronation or it’s not crystal clear to you how the movement is performed, then check out the previous articles on pronation and what drills you can use to maximize the power of pronation.

In summary, if your opponent threw up a lob that is going to land way too short and bounce somewhere inside the service box, you’re in a very favorable position.

Your goal is to maximize your chances of winning the point from this situation, and the above 5 tips will help you do that.

Move too far from the ball bounce initially and only adjust with forward movement when you see how the ball bounces. Get both arms up immediately and only then start adjusting to hit the ball with a very comfortable contact point focusing on power from pronation.

Your comments and questions are welcome, as always!

Forward to around 2:20 to see how Federer handles the first volley and absorbs the speed of the incoming ball.

The classic punch volley is a way of accelerating the ball – your volley will go faster than the speed of the incoming ball.

But many times you are faced with a fast incoming ball, and you need to angle the ball away from your opponent; therefore, you need to take the speed away from the ball.

The tennis volley drills on this page will help you develop drop volley technique and in general improve your feel and control of the volleys.

Volley Drills For Better Hands

1. Stop and Volley

The first volley drill of stopping the ball first and then volleying it back has been around for a while, and I think it deserves to be shown more times as it is very useful for developing touch, and for teaching the player to keep the head at the contact and not rush turning his head toward the target – which is a common cause for missed volleys.

It also forces the player to quickly adjust with his feet after the first volley – although young players often need to be encouraged to do that rather than just twist their arm and trunk and try to hit the second volley. 

The variation where you stop the ball on one side and hit with the other side is also a great drill to develop quick hands at the net.

2. Absorb the Speed

Taking away the speed is another great drill for quick reflexes and good hands at the net.

One player is volleying the ball while the other is hitting a groundstroke from the service line.

The groundstroke player’s goal is to challenge the volleyer by playing faster and giving the net player less time to react but also more difficulty in controlling the ball and taking the speed away so that it still lands in the service box.

I first did this drill with coach Bayo from Croatia, and he challenged me pretty hard with his groundstrokes while asking me to keep the ball in the service box. It was very intense and difficult to do, but the benefits were quickly obvious as I gained much better control of fast incoming shots.

The key volley technique in this situation is to keep the elbows in front of the body, keeping a low position and moving forward toward the ball while absorbing the energy from the ball mostly with the forearm and hand.

A good way to learn to keep the elbows in front is to keep the non-dominant hand across the body and under the upper arm so that it cannot move back.

Try it on both the forehand and the backhand side.

3. Short and Long with Feel

Short and long with feel is a drill I came up with at some point while working with players who would thought that there must be a lot more effort or “work” involved if you want to play a deep volley.

The problem with a lot of effort is that it creates tension, which makes it almost impossible to control a fast incoming ball.

So the goal of this last drill is to volley one ball short and one ball long and try to make both volleys or both movements very similar.

The key is to find that extra energy that will send the ball deeper inside of you and not focus so much on extra external movement.

The energy comes more from the center of gravity, from the core, and also from the hand that adds just that little extra force to the ball.

This is a key skill in my opinion if you want to handle fast incoming balls when playing at the net.

Scroll back up and check Federer’s first volley and how he absorbs the speed and yet plays such an effective volley that his next shot is an easy putaway.

• Inability to adjust quickly to different heights and distances – Tense muscles (limbs) are “locked” into a position, and the player cannot adjust to the ball.
• Inability to control fast incoming shots – Tense muscles are unable to absorb the energy of the incoming ball, and the player is unable to control fast passing shots played at him.
• Difficulties playing deep volleys – When hitting the ball before or around the service line, the short contact of the punch motion will not give you good control of the depth of your volleys.

The punch volley is useful only when the player is receiving a slow and relatively high incoming ball and he is quite close to the net.

In this case, the depth is not that important; rather, the player finishes the volley at an angle while hitting the ball quite hard.

The reality of tennis is much more complex, and learning only a punch volley just won’t cut it.

In fact, most volleys in singles and doubles (for the server) will be the flowing volley, which will be the first volley played after the approach or the serve.

This volley will be a transition shot after which the player will close in on the net and have the chance to finish the point with another volley, this time most likely the punch type or with an overhead.

The Flowing Volley Drills

The keys to hitting a consistent and accurate flowing volley are a flowing movement of the feet and a longer contact zone; in other words, we flow through the volley with our hands, arms, and legs.

Note how Marcos Baghdatis in the video above “flows” through the volley: his feet never stop and his hitting zone and the follow-through are longer than with the usual punch volley.

In order to develop the feel and the technique for hitting this type of volley, use the following drills:

1. The bounce volley

This drill can take just a minute or two to refresh your feel and help you transfer the feel from a simple bounce exercise to a volley.

Simply bounce the ball on your strings without letting it drop on the ground. Hold a continental grip and bounce the ball with the forehand and the backhand side.

Become aware of how, when the ball is falling down toward your racquet, you hold the racquet very gently and move the racquet slowly toward the incoming ball.

When you bounce the ball, you’ll firm up the grip just for a split second and give the ball a little pulse of energy.

It’s very natural, and most players do this correctly without any thinking. That’s why instructions on how to bounce the ball are not really needed; only awareness is.

Once you’re more aware of the feel of bouncing the ball, play volley to volley with your partner and apply the same feel to the horizontal plane.

You should feel that volleying is now much more effortless and with much less tension.

This is the first step in getting rid of the tension and rigidness usually associated with volleying.

2. Volley to volley from midcourt

The next progression is to increase the distance between the players so that both of them stand around midcourt.

They will quickly discover on their own that playing volley to volley from this distance requires them to guide the ball longer and extend their follow-through after the ball.

A combination of feel from the first exercise and this task will guide them toward the correct flowing volley technique for their arms and hands.

3. Running through volleys

To give the players the feel and experience of moving through the volley rather than stopping and punching it, use the “running volley” drill.

The coach or partner needs to move backwards, starting at the baseline, and at the same time toss the balls left and right.

The partner should avoid giving the player time to stop at the volley but rather just move through it.

I usually toss six to eight balls in one run, and ten sets of this exercise would most likely be enough in a single session to give the player some feel of how it is to “flow” through the volley.

4. Approach and volley

The final drill can be any of the many approach and volley drills where the player hits a short ball, approaches the net, and hits the volley.

The key point in this case, of course, is to keep in mind the flowing tennis volley technique where the player simply moves and hits through the volley without any jerky movements.

With practice, this type of volleying will of course become automatic and unconscious, and the player will use it when appropriate without any thinking.

If you watch the tennis pros closely and keep your mind and eyes open, you’ll quickly realize that the flowing or transition volley is actually a different type of volley than the traditional punch volley and that it is played quite often in matches.

So, I highly recommend you spend some time working on flowing through the volley in your tennis sessions—your net game will definitely become more consistent and effective.

For our minds, it’s hard to calculate a different timing compared to hitting a smash when you’re standing still or even slightly moving forward.

So, when you’re going slightly away from the ball, you will hit it a split second later.

But that split second means that your racquet will be moving slightly more forward, and it will be at a steeper angle – hence the ball will end up in the net.

The solution is to always aim deep when you’re hitting an overhead and moving backwards.

That will ensure that, even if your mind makes a small mistake in timing and you hit the ball at a slightly steeper angle, it will still end up in court.

At first, you’ll have to be conscious of this. As soon as you realize that you’re moving backwards while hitting a smash, you’ll need to immediately adjust your targeting and aim deep.

But after many repetitions and training sessions, you’ll store this in your mind and you’ll automatically aim deeper when hitting overheads while moving backwards.

As you’ve seen in the video, I describe hitting the volley as a combination of CATCHING and PUSHING rather than PUNCHING.

Yes, punching is a completely legitimate way of volleying, typically for higher and slower balls.But punching the ball incorrectly – which is how you’ll do it from the start if you haven’t learned the FEEL – will be done with tension and rigidness.

And that feeling can become your long term muscle memory, which will be hard to correct!

I have seen countless tennis juniors and club players who have been taught the punch volley first who were unable to adapt to different balls and were unable to take away the speed of the incoming ball.

Hitting the volley in the court was a pure lottery for them.

Secondly, if you watch a pro warm up, you won’t see many punching volleys!

See Roger Federer’s volleys in the video below – is he punching them? Perhaps one a couple of them – the rest are played with feel and slice…

The punch volley is a finishing shot. You wouldn’t learn finishing sitters with a forehand groundstroke in your first lesson, would you? 

As is the case with groundstrokes, so must the volley be learned first by playing it with feel, control and accuracy and when the foundation technique is solid should you progress to a type of volley that finishes the points – namely the punch volley.

It is then very easy to transition to a punch volley later once you need it. You will be able to adjust to the incoming ball with a more loose arm and grip so you can firm up on the grip just a split-second before contact to execute a punch volley.

How To Develop Feel For The Volley

The main idea behind the volley is catching the ball. We all automatically move the hands forward when we want to catch the ball; therefore, we don’t swing at it.

We also move very naturally when we catch the ball, and we don’t think about the feet. The feet follow you!

We’ll go deeper into the intricacies of volley technique and footwork in future articles, but for now let’s focus on the moment of contact and how it should feel.

The invisible secret – visible only in super slow motion and only if you know what to look for! – of a correct volley is allowing the ball to move the racquet face slightly backward while at the same time you’re moving your arm forward.

This verbal volley instruction most likely won’t help you learn it, of course. The best drill I know of is to have someone throw the ball directly into your racquet while you hold it gently in place.

Don’t move your arm – just allow the ball to push your racquet backward.

Sometimes even 10 balls is enough for the player to experience that »a-ha« moment and then be able to move to the next step.

You can also use your other hand to hit the racquet head with the ball yourself – that works both for the forehand and backhand volley .

In the next step, the goal is to move the arm slowly forward while at the same time allowing the incoming ball to push the racquet head back. Hit the ball gently and focus on feeling the racquet head moving slightly back on the contact with the ball.

You’ll soon realize that this movement alone can impart some slice or underspin on the ball, which will give you more control of the volley.

Apply this technique on both the forehand and the backhand volley, and you’ll be well on your way to a much-improved volley.

Volley Drills For Better Feel, Accuracy And Control

In order to develop good feel for the volley and how it feels when you’re simultaneously moving the racquet forward while the ball pushes it back, you need some specific tennis volley drills.

The first three have already been explained above:

1. Hit the racquet face with the ball in your off hand.

2. Have someone throw the ball into your racquet from a close distance. Apply on the forehand and backhand volley. Repeat 10-20 times and move to drill #3.

3. Move the arm slowly forward while allowing the ball to push the racquet back. This can be done again by having someone throw balls into your racquet from a close distance, or you can have someone feed you balls very accurately to your racquet.

Simply volley gently into the service box while allowing the ball to push the racquet head back.

4. Volley to yourself – this is another quite challenging drill at first that eventually becomes fairly easy.

Have someone feed the ball to you and simply absorb the pace (energy) of the ball, volley it upwards, and catch it with your off hand.

This volley drill teaches you to really watch the ball well, move softly and in harmony to the ball, and allow the racquet head to absorb the pace of the ball.

It’s also a perfect drill to learn a stop volley.

5. Volley in the air and volley the ball one more time over the net. This is a more advanced version of the previous drill where, instead of catching the ball, you volley it one more time back over the net.

It will help you develop great hands and feel at the net without any need for verbal tennis instruction.

(All drills in this article are demonstrated with a forehand volley but should all be applied to the backhand volley as well.)

I know that this is just a part of the complete volley technique and dynamic so feel free to ask any questions you might have about the technique or any other aspect of the volley in tennis.

1. Plant your feet shoulder-width apart and look for good balance. Try to feel the ground well.

In this volley drill, you won’t be moving your feet at first, so just find a good stable position.

2. Get the feel for the laidback wrist. As is often the case, we use the principle of exaggeration to help us really feel what’s going on.

In this case, you have to open your wrist to each side of the hand by 90 degrees.

Just let it drop to one side and to the other.

3. Now the goal is to find the optimal position of the wrist, which is roughly 45 degrees from the vertical.

Just allow your racquet to move from one side to the other with roughly a 45 degree angle on each side.

4. Let’s start with the forehand side. Now open your wrist by 45 degrees and rotate your body so that the strings point toward the net.

You’ll see that you need to rotate roughly 45 degrees, too.

That’s because in the process of laying back your wrist and rotating your body, your hand will open up a little bit more again and it will point the racquet head straight towards the net.

From there, you’re ready to hit the volley.

5. Repeat the same process on the backhand side. First, separate step 1 – laying back your wrist – from step 2 – rotating your body, but eventually merge them together in a smooth way.

6. Keep practicing for a minute or two on the forehand and the backhand volley so that your body remembers better what it needs to do.

Once the ball starts coming towards you, there won’t be much time to observe what you’re doing.

7. When you start practicing with the ball, begin step 1 – laying back your wrist – first, and then have the ball fed to you.

8. Eventually wait for the volley in the ready position and react to the ball depending on which side it’s coming towards you.

How to play the ball on the volley and what your mental image should be is a topic for another article.

For now, just imagine that you want to play the ball gently, hit it slightly upwards, and apply slice on it.

You need to know how to play volley slowly first before you attempt faster ones.

In fact, if you play singles, there are many more volleys that you need to play with feel and guide them towards the target than there are volleys where you hit them hard and aim to finish the point.

So, in my view of the tennis volley, the foundation is playing the volley slightly upwards with slice. You build other types of volleys based on this foundation.

Let me know how this volley technique works for you the next time you’re on tennis court – or even in your living room – and we’ll work on the rest of the technique and feel in future articles.