Drill to Win

Lobs and Volleys

By A. J. Chabria

Here's a drill to help you and a practice partner get really tough when a point comes down to the nitty gritty: a lob or an overhead.

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Lobs are all about placement and disguise. Overheads are too, but you must have sound technique and the confidence to hit them with good pace and great timing. The high-stakes scoring system in this drill will toughen you up in no time.

Start with one player at the net, halfway between the service line and the net. The other player should be at the baseline. The baseliner feeds a medium-paced ball to the net player. The net player volleys the ball at a medium pace back to the baseliner or to a deep corner. At this moment the point begins. The baseliner must lob every ball, the net player must hit overheads. For every clean winner hit by either player, two points are awarded. For every error by the lobber (forced or unforced), one point goes to the overhead smasher. For every error by the overhead smasher (forced or unforced), two points go to the lobber. Play to seven. Switch roles. At this time of year (for the most part), tennis is an outdoor sport, so switch sides as well. Everyone should learn to deal with the sun and the wind. 

    

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The lobber is working on offensive lobs when he gets in position, and defensive lobs when he's pushed. He should try to control the ball over the backhand side of the net player. This is a great time to experiment with topspin and slice to control each lob. The best target to go for is depth, over and over. The better he is disguising the direction of his lob, the less time the net player  will have to set up well and put balls away. If the lobber can learn to read the overhead's direction, he'll get to more balls and frustrate the smasher. Bottom line: this player is working on retrieval skills. Tenacity will be the key.

The net player is looking to read the direction of the lob as he promptly turns and prepares. Good footwork will help him get under each ball in an effort to hit smooth, well-timed overheads. If the lob is short and he has angle potential, he should use it. On deeper lobs, hitting through the ball with more pace and depth will help illicit weaker lobs. First and foremost, the overhead smasher is looking to find the perfect blend of spin and speed as he develops the control to put the ball where the lobber can't get it. Whenever he has the opportunity, he should be practicing his ability to hit very aggressive overheads for outright winners. The biggest problems players run into in this drill are nerves poor timing. The prospect of losing not one point but two in a single swing can give the smasher the creeps and make him nervous and tentative. Big mistake. The smasher must trust his ability to set up well each time and have the guts to go for his shots. If he does, he should always win this game. 

As you become a veteran of this drill, you'll see improvement in your touch on lobs. More noticeably you'll have a lot more faith, and subsequently, more authority behind your overhead. The high pressure scoring system will help your mental game, too. 

Once both of you (as the net player) have gotten the overhead down to a science; help even the scores by allowing the baseline player two passing shot attempts per point. This should prevent the smasher from hanging back and awaiting the deep lobs. Now, he'll have to recover to a position closer to the net to cut off any angled passes. It gives the baseliner more of an opportunity to work on his disguise while forcing the net player to improve his anticipation skills.  

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