Many recreational players will choose the wrong shot when they're at the net
and the biggest mistake I see at the recreational level is when players
attempt to hit an overhead when it's supposed to be a high forehand volley. So
in today's video I'm going to show you when you should choose to hit a swing
volley, a high forehand volley, or an overhead.
So a high forehand volley or a high backhand volley will be struck anywhere from
your shoulder all the way to your head. And it's gonna be struck with very close
proximity to the net. And the way you're gonna strike this ball is not with a
full swing. This is a very common mistake I see at the recreational level. Players
will hit the high forehand volley for example almost like an overhead. They will
take a full cut (swing) at the ball and the chance of missing when you do that
is very high. So if you're really close to the net you can actually swing high
to low and you can put the ball away in this manner, but you have to be very
careful that if you a little bit further away from the net, let's say halfway
between the net and the service line and this swing path will not work anymore
and you will often hit the ball into the net. So what you should do instead is
have the racket lag slightly behind to get power, without taking the racket all
the way back, just lag the tip of the racket behind your hand and then you're
going to swing across and down. And what you should try to do is try to angle the
ball off. It works the same way on the backhand. You're gonna swing high to low
and should lag the racket behind your hand and the swing path is going to go
across the body and down something like this.
Another thing you should avoid when you're close to the net is taking a
swing volley. It simply will not work because on a swing volley we have to
take more of a fuller swing and we simply do not have time to do this when
we're this close to the net .So here's when you should attempt to hit a high
volley. Any ball that's going to be between your shoulder and your head. And your
positioning is going to be anywhere from the middle between the service line and
the net all the way to close to the net. These type of balls should be struck as
a high volley and you should avoid hitting an overhead and hitting a swing volley.
A swing volley is basically a ground stroke that's taken out of the air. And
it can be struck either as a forehand or a backhand. And it's probably wise to
avoid hitting backhand swing volleys because they're very difficult to
execute. And here's how you're gonna hit a swing volley. Basically you can hit it
anywhere from your rib cage all the way to your head. You should avoid taking
swing volleys below your rib cage around the
waist area because you're going to have to hit the ball up from that position.
It's always wise to hit a swing volley with a straight across the body motion
as something like this.
So swing volleys are going to be taken on balls that are going to be very high
and you're gonna take the ball while it's dropping down. And you can do it two
different ways: You can either do it from a stationary position or you can do it
in transition towards the net. And stationary swing volleys should be taken
anywhere from the service line to about half the way between the service line
and the baseline. On these same type of balls do not attempt to hit a high
volley. You are too far back, your swing is not large enough to generate any type
of power where you can put the ball away. So with medium height balls you have to
hit a swing volley from this position in the court. And transitional swing volleys
can be pretty much taken anywhere in the court even close to the net. In other
words if somebody pops up a high ball and you are closing off that ball and
coming in you can strike a swing volley pretty much from anywhere in the court.
Now the overhead is pretty self-explanatory. It's a shot that is struck
above our head and it can be executed from anywhere close to the net like
this, or all the way from the base line like this. And what you have to keep in
mind that the ball needs to have height. Do not attempt to hit an overhead if the
ball is below your head level. As soon as you decide to hit an overhead you have
to turn sideways and you have to keep your racket in the trophy position. And
now remember to strike the ball in a downward fashion, meaning that you want
the ball to hit the ground and then exit the court with a very high trajectory. So
you have to hit down on it. You also have to remember to execute torso rotation. So
as you're accelerating and dropping the racket you also have to rotate into the contact.
The overhead can be struck from a stationary position or what will happen
most of the time you will actually have to move backwards while executing the
overhead. What you should absolutely avoid is hitting an overhead is in transition.
So let's put this into the context of an actual point. So if we're
transitioning from the baseline to the net
we should never attempt to hit an overhead because a high ball will start
to drop very fast and the timing of an overhead in transition is going to be
very difficult and you're better off selecting to either hit a swing volley
in transition or a regular volley. You can however select to maybe a ball with
really high trajectory to let it bounce and then do a bouncing overhead.
And guys the reason why so many players struggle with shot selection at the net is that
they're rushing, they're panicking and they're deciding too quickly what kind
of shot to hit. And what you have to realize is that a high ball is going to give you a
lot of time to select the correct shot. It is a very non-threatening ball. It's
going to be in the air for a while. So don't rush take your time select the
right shot and put it away for a winner.