Hello! It's Gregg Le Sueur for Online Tennis Instruction.
Have you ever been told you
need to be moving more when up at the net?
Now how do you do that and most
importantly how do you move effectively where you get more balls plus you put
pressure on the returning side!
Now let's take a look at how you can do that.
So you see how in this example i'm positioned behind the hitter so I'm able to bisect
the potential angle.
Now if we go back in my original starting position and I'm
standing covering down the line but I cannot effectively cover the ball that is hit
cross-court over the center net strap.
Now if you take a look you'll see how
I'm highlighted in blue in our original starting position and see how far I am
positioned from the center net strap.
Now as we move along you see as I move behind
the ball and position myself to bisect the angle I can effectively cover both
cross-court and down the line.
Let's watch this through and you'll see how
I'm able to get that ball hit cross-court!
So if you look at my
original starting position and look at the adjustment position, how I've
stepped diagonally forward towards the ball and you'll see how that's allowed me to bisect
the potential angle meaning I can cover both the down the line pass and the
return cross-court and because I'm bisecting and I'm able to reach across
and cut the ball off and poach on the cross school return!
Now let's take a
look at some examples on how you can position yourself to get more volleys to
become a more dominant force up in the net and most importantly put more
pressure on the returner!
Now in this first example, it's an example of an instinctive
poach but you notice how I move in the direction of the ball and position
myself to bisect the angle!
Now let's take a look at that again, notice how I
step forward towards the net in the direction of the ball.
Now when my
opponents striking the ball I'm now airborne in the split step which will
allow me to break either left or right.
Now my opponent has potential angle to go
down the line and I can still cover that as well as anything over the center net
strap!
Now in this instance my opponent decides to go cross court so all I
have to do is take one step diagonally forward and cut the
angle off moving towards the center net strap!
Let's take a look at that one more
time in slow motion
Let's take look at a second example of my opponent serving down the T.
Alright let's take
a look at this in slow motion and you see how my opponent at the net steps
towards the ball as its bouncing, now they're able to bisect the
potential angle and look at the proximity to the net and now I have an
easy volley, what I have to do is just put the ball away!
Let's take a look at that
one more time in slow motion.
Notice how he moves forward towards the ball.....
gets close to the net for an easy put away!
Now let's take a look at one more example.
Let's go back and look at this in slow motion. So I'm going to step out
diagonally forward towards the ball, split stepping while my opponents striking the ball,
you can see their potential angles, I'm bisecting that! I choose to go
cross-court I land left foot then to the right foot and able to cover across the
net and in this instance come up with a drop volley!
Let's take a look at this
one more time.
Now note the diagonal step forward in the direction of the ball the
timing of the split step. Now the return of serve is pretty low so i choose to go with
the drop volley to avoid popping ball up for my opponent across the net!