TennisOne - The Volley as a Case Study in Stroking

It is my opinion that the volley is a useful stroke to use as a case study for the rest of the game. On the surface, the volley seems like a very rudimentary shot. “Keep it simple,” “don’t swing,” “just meet the ball,” sound familiar? These are the customary instructions for the volley. However, anyone who has played tennis for any length of time knows the volley is filled with as much guile and treachery as any other part of the game. In fact, the often anointed “best player to ever play the game,” Roger Federer, can repeatedly rip forehand and backhand topspin drives with uncanny power and precision from all points of the court but if there is any weakness it seems to be his lack of concentration on relatively makable volleys.

There is a singular position of balance that is the basis of every movement. There is a singular focus on the ball which constitutes concentration. There exits the same principles of physics and behavior that do not change from one shot to the next. The conditions that exist from shot to shot are widely varied and so the intent of each shot changes to meet those conditions, but the rules that dictate the execution of that intent always remain the same. We will use the volley, the most rudimentary of strokes, to gain a fuller understanding of the elements that constitute stroking, specifically weight shift, in the stroke process.

Let’s start by looking at the common approach to volleying. The most often heard description of the volley technique is “punch” the volley. This advice can sometimes do more harm than good. I realize that the most common mistake is to swing too much at the volley, but I would also suggest that this is the exact same mistake (overswinging of the racquet) that is most commonly made on all strokes, groundstrokes and serves included.

Punching at the volley doesn’t stop the swinging at the volley as much as it simply stops the follow through. The “Punch Volley” is actually a forward swing at the ball with no follow through. Not a great way to approach any stroke in my book.

I do not advise people to “punch” a forehand or backhand groundstroke and for the same reasons I do not tell people to punch a volley. Punching is a very abrupt motion that is characterized by a jerky, stiff movement. It encourages a feeling of anxiety which often leads to overreacting. It creates a “hit reflex” (over tightening in anticipation of contact for control and power) that results in distractive responses causing off centered and poorly timed hits.

This even effects how we ultimately watch the ball and adjust to it in a negative way. Notice the clip of Blake and how he looks a bit anxious as he leans too far out to the ball instead of holding his body in balance and letting his feet get him into position. The same thing recently occurred to Blake on a sitter volley on break point at 4 all in the 5th set against Monfils at the French Open. As it turned out, that was enough to give Monfils the deciding break. Even great players, Blake and Federer for example, can experience a moment of hesitation or doubt at the net, and lose their stroking rhythm and form. Seemingly simple putaway volleys can turn into disasters when you don't stroke the ball correctly.

In a similar way the “Block” or “Catch Volley” has the right intention of eliminating swing at the ball but they are both lacking in necessary elements of a proper stroke. The block volley often results in a rigid arm and racquet position that, although eliminates swinging at the ball, in doing so it denies the volleyer the freedom to fluidly adjust to the oncoming ball in a way that insures proper aligning of the racquet to the ball. There should be a fluid movement into the ball that allows a player to effectively adjust the racquet to the ball. At the same time, this fluid approach into the ball can be used to build additional momentum into the stroke if more power is desired.

The “Catch Volley” is a bit better than the Block Volley since it implies a freedom of movement into the ball which allows the player to locate the ball properly. If I catch a ball correctly I don’t restrict all movement into the ball, I just don’t create movement into the ball with the intention of making the ball go away. The movement is designed with the intention of making the ball “stay” in the hand, glove, or racquet.

The “Chop Volley” is different from the Catch and Block volley. It is more similar to the Punch Volley as it is designed to shoot the ball. It is different from the Punch volley, however, as it is designed to shoot the ball away with spin. This adds another element into the mix – an element that is critical to proper stroking but with the wrong technique. As with the Punch Volley, the Chop Volley lacks necessary control and feel. It produces what I call “hot” shots that seem to jump off the racquet with abandon.

All of these types of volley styles have corrective intentions built into their design but they lack the full range of techniques that ultimately lead to proper stroking. So, you might ask, if you don’t punch, block, chop, or catch the volley, what do you do? Surprisingly enough, there is another option and that is to “stroke” the volley.

What any good stroke is built upon is a deliberate and controlled range of feel, timing, rhythm, and technique. No stroke is one dimensional but instead it is complete in its scope of nuanced moves and intents. This is true even for the volley.

The volley has elements of catching, blocking, punching, and chopping – yes, it has all of these and more. This is what differentiates a stroke from a swing. The intent of a swing is to make the ball go away. A Punch Volley is a swing and hit. It is actually a swinging volley with no follow-through. That, to me is a dangerous approach to hitting any kind of shot. On the other hand a catch is designed to make the ball stay. However, in tennis you don’t score points by simply stopping the ball, like a hockey goalie. You must put the ball back in play on the other side of the net and you must do it with intent and purpose. This requires both force and directional control. This requires guiding the ball.

When you stroke a ball you come into the contact with the intent of “locating” the ball. This is a catching movement. When you approach the ball with the intent of catching it you do things very differently than if you approach it with the intent of “hitting” the ball (or making it go away). You come in more smoothly, more fluidly, and more focused on the ball. This is a “reactive” approach into the ball. That is I am reacting and adjusting to the ball. Basically, I am listening to the ball and the ball is telling me what to do

When you approach with the intent of “hitting” the ball then you come in much more forcefully and rigidly. In the hitting situation I am coming into the ball with the intent of telling the ball what to do instead of listening to what the ball is telling me to do. We are distracted by where we are trying to make the ball “go” and don’t watch and react to the ball in the same way. When you come into the ball with an over-riding intent on hitting the ball then you are said to be swinging at the ball. Swinging and hitting go hand-in-hand. When you approach the ball with the intent of smoothly catching the ball then you are much closer to the approach that characterizes “stroking.”

In a very similar way, when driving out on the ball, most people have little awareness of racquet position, wrist alignment, and weight shift after contact. They simply “follow through to some point. When you “hit” a ball, what happens after the hit is really inconsequential. When you come into the ball properly (slower and smoother) the way you drive through the ball (follow through) is critical. There is a tremendous amount of subtlety and control involved in how you shift and extend out on a stroke after contact (even a volley) to give the ball proper directional, spin, power, and control.

You could argue that the follow through is the least important part of the stroke, as the ball has clearly left the racquet – and you would have a legitimate point. However, the way you follow through is directly related to how you approach the ball. If you approach to “hit” the ball, you swing. If you approach with the intent of following through, you change the timing and the tempo of the shift through the contact. You will automatically approach slower and smoother, helping you to watch and align to the ball better.

Another way of thinking of the difference between stroking and swinging can be expressed in terms of momentum. When you swing at a volley the momentum has traveled into the racquet head. This momentum of the racquet is actually pulling the arm along – that is, the racquet is moving the arm. In this swinging action there is very little ability to adjust the speed and the direction of the arm movement since it is basically following the energy that is located in the racquet head.

When you stroke, the momentum of the movement never gets into the racquet head. The body is therefore in much better control of the movements since it still has control of the energy in the stroke. The arm can be held back and adjusted to the ball as long as the momentum of the stroke hasn’t left the body and gotten out to the racquet. When this happens we call the stroke whippy or swingy – and this should not happen on any stroke.

The whippy strokes that we see from players like Federer never involve backward and forward momentum in the racquet head. The speed of the racquet is always controlled on a vertical plane and converted into spin. This is why you never see the racquet head extending out away from the body towards the fence in the back or the net out in front. No matter how fast the racquet is going (and it is going very fast) there is never a feel of the racquet pulling the arm in a back and forward direction. This is why we see so many players finish behind the same shoulder on shots. This is not what I would refer to as a “swingy” action as the momentum of the stroke is still very well contained in the arm and body. It is when the racquet head receives the momentum of the stroke that things become “swingy.”

This is really the essence of stroking. Instead of swinging and hitting we are approaching the ball much more with the intent of catching and then power is released in controlled movement out of the body while the racquet is managed in a way to assist in the guiding of the ball. The stroke has a wide range of characteristics that span from catching and throwing that are blended into a flowing, coordinated movement of body segments.

There are three basic components of the volley stroke. Footwork and weight shift, arm extension and rotation, and hand and racquet management. The feet and the arm control the generation of power (drive oriented) and the hand and racquet absorb, turn, and direct the ball (feel oriented).

When introducing the stroke volley, the first thing I like to address is the feet. I always ask my first time students what foot they think they should be on when they hit a forehand volley (right-handers) and I usually get the same answer. “Left foot." Wrong!

If you hit the ball with your weight on the left foot then you have already used your weight shift prior to contact. You tend to overextend and lose balance and then the only thing left to stroke the ball is the arm. I try to get the student to feel and time the weight shift so that they are in mid-stride as they meet the ball. The left foot should be in the air, or the left toe up while the heel is down, at the touch of the ball and then weight is shifted through the contacting of the ball. The weight will end up on the front foot at the completion of the stroke but this weight shift should finish when the follow through is complete and not before. This also will help to keep the body properly aligned with the arm so that the body does not get in front of the arm, which is a very common error. This same erroneous weight shift is quite common in groundstroking as well. Less accomplished players tend to use their weight shift too soon in an effort to increase racquet swing and hit at the ball. When the shift leads the arm action, the result will be swinging and/or hitting.

Instead the body should be positioned to support the wrist and arm and then shifted in time with the contact of the ball. This way the arm, racquet, and body work together to power the ball. Therefore, you are not overtaxing one system – the arm or the body.

To understand how weight shift and arm extension work to guide the ball more accurately in the stroke volley I like to use the net tape to represent a directional line (or target line). If I stand sideways to the net with the racquet held on top of the tape and imagine I am trying to hit a ball that is coming in on the same line as the net tape and I am trying to send it out on the same line (aiming at the net post), my objective is to create forward momentum (power) and maintain directional control (racquet face to target) through the contact zone. If I simply walk alongside the net the racquet does not change its position to the target. Thus, stepping into the shot is an advisable means of creating forward momentum and maintaining directional control of the racquet.

But just stepping is limited because it is so slow and not always available. I must also rely on arm extension to create forward momentum as this will give me an additional means of adding power. Now the trick is to extend the arm and try to keep the racquet directed to the target (the net post in this case) as I extend my arm. In order to keep good alignment, I must allow my wrist to gradually and continuously fold back (see video). This not only allows the racquet face to hold better alignment through the contact, it also helps to create a better “catch” or absorption of the ball, critical in preventing “hot shots.”

To get the feel of stroking a ball we often are told to imagine hitting a series of balls in one continuous motion. I think this is a good image and applies to all strokes. What we are basically telling people to do is to slow down the racquet head in a forward direction while more energy and forward momentum is concentrated in the body. On the volley this forward momentum in the body takes the form of stepping (weight shift) and arm extension.

Not only do I like to use this as an image, I try to create the actual experience by having the student hit a series of tossed balls in one continuous stroke. This requires that the student use a very slow racquet head action and a very active stepping action.

I have the student take a position about midway in the service box. I toss two or three balls in rapid succession in front of the student’s racquet and ask them to use their feet and their arm extension in a way that allows them to blend all the balls into one stroke. What this does is put more emphasis on slowing down the first ball and then using the feet and proper arm and racquet work to get to the next ball. This gives the student the feeling of “stroking” the ball.

This drill also helps to develop good footwork through the volley. It puts an emphasis on attacking the ball with the feet rather than with the racquet. This is critical in most volley situations when one must cut off angles or close into the net to keep the ball from dropping. Not only that, attacking the volley with the feet allows the hands to stay more in a mode of softening and absorbing the ball at contact. This is critical in the stroking process and will help to prevent those “hot shots” that seem to fly off the racquet without any provocation.

Moving on the Volley: Options and Drills

Most critical volleying is actually done on the move. It usually occurs not close to the net but just inside the service line. It often follows a serve, a return of serve, or some other approach shot. Moving forward to catch the ball before it drops and to create better angles on the volley necessitate that you make the stroke while on the move. A skill that you want to develop to execute this play with success is to move the feet lightly and quickly while managing visual focus and racquet control at the same time. You do not have to stop and set up for a volley, rather you should learn to hit on the move and be able to play a volley on the move off either foot.

In many instances an extra step in will make a huge difference between a weak reply versus a well placed volley and if that means hitting off of the "wrong foot" you should still be able to pull it off by turning the shoulder and maintaining racquet control. Too often we are drilled into hitting the ball with specific foot alignment and we loose opportunities to move in on the volley because our feet aren't set up perfectly. A good drill to learn this skill is to volley back and forth in shortcourt with a partner and keep the feet in constant motion (just a steady jog) and disregard which foot you are on when you meet the ball. Just be sure to stay in balance, keep your eye on the ball, and use good touch and stoking movement in the hands.

On the other hand, there are times when you should try to minimize your footwork and your body movement. This is the case when you are in a reflex volley situation. This almost always happens close to the net but it can also occur deeper in the service box and it always involves a lack of time. In such a case you should simply rely on establishing solid alignment between the body and the hand and good focus.

The main thing is to keep the body behind the hands. In fact, this should always be the first move in volley preparation - that is, get the body back behind the racquet. Most people make the mistake of thinking their first move is a step forward. This can throw the body in front of the hands and create a late hit. Instead, always think that the first move is the body behind the racquet and then move forward if you have time. This will assure that you are not late on the shot, since being late is when the body is too far in front of the hands. A good drill to learn reflex volley technique is to volley back and forth inside the service box with your partner without stepping into the shot. From this position, the arm can simply extend to direct the ball after contact.

Look at the clip of Dent volleying (below) and you will notice he makes a full stroking motion on the first volley but if you slow down the second reflex volley you will notice he makes sure his body does not over commit in a forward move to the ball. He simply does not have time or the need to step forward in this situation. Doing so would only make him late and create confusion. Instead he holds his body back and allows his arm extension to provide the stroke motion while the feet follow afterwards. Notice how even this reflex volley action is still a deliberate, a controlled stroking motion characterized by smooth contact and follow-through rather than a punch or block. What we often see as a desperation move is at times a well orchestrated, well trained, purposeful reaction to the more extreme conditions of a specific situation.

A good way to learn how to develop better stroking ability in a reflex volley situation is to practice volleying in a stationary position. This can be done by standing on one foot (or sitting on a stool) and playing volleys that are pitched to you by a partner. This will teach you how to hold the body in balance, minimize footwork, and focus on the arm extension to produce the stroke.

Once you get the feeling of saving time by minimizing footwork and forward body lean, practice volleying back and forth with a partner and try not to take steps forward in the process. Still remain light on the balls of the feet and allow the body to turn with the shot but avoid stepping forward to help promote a feeling of waiting for the ball and to create a sense of more time.

In reflex volley situations, many club players try to make the same volley stroke and just speed everything up. The result is overreaction and chaos. When there isn’t enough time to make the same bends, steps and turns, then these movements should be abbreviated or eliminated, not sped up. The result is that one will be able to watch the ball properly and at least meet the ball well.

Conclusion

Often times we are lead to believe that the volley is a quick, punch like motion. We are encouraged to be quick and dart at the ball. In reality, the volley is usually the slowest stroke in the game. That does not mean you have the most time but because you are usually taking speed off of the ball, the motion of the racquet through contact is slower than when you are adding power to the shot.

True you have less time on the volley but the proper way to deal with that condition is to conserve movement – not speed it up. Retain all the qualities of stroking – a smooth approach to the ball that promotes good focus, good extension of the arm on the follow through, proper tracking and turning of the ball through contact, good balance and well timed weight shift. These are the benchmarks of any stroke and the volley should never be shortchanged.

Doug King studied with legendary tennis coach Tom Stow and was a former California State Men's Singles Champion and the former number one men's player of Northern California.

Doug is one of the country's foremost tennis teaching innovators. Founder of Acceleration Tennis, a revolutionary teaching system, King is leading the way in reinterpreting the traditional tennis model.

For more information on Acceleration Tennis please email Doug King at dking@meadowood.com.