Tennis Forehand Volley Technique Explained In 5 Simple Steps

Keep in mind that simply having a good theoretical understanding of the stroke does not mean you will immediately play it well.

Developing a solid forehand volley technique from scratch or correcting an existing flawed stroke takes step-by-step progressions, which are all outlined in the complete Volley & Smash 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.