Drill to Win

2 Ball Volley Drill

By John Yandell


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Lots of players talk about wanting to go to the net more, but often they do more talking than volleying. The biggest problem in changing your game is developing the confidence to actually try the changes in matches. With the volley, it’s tough to get enough successful repetitions to really feel a significant boost in your belief that you can volley effectively. This is because there are so many ways to end a point at the net that do not include a successful, aggressive volley. The defender may hit a passing shot or a lob, or make an error trying either. The volleyer may be forced into an error by a hard groundstroke or a well placed low ball. So it is difficult to establish a pattern of success and without this pattern and the confidence associated with it, you may find yourself hanging back at the baseline even when the most obvious opportunities to attack arise. 

Developing Confidence Using the Ball Machine

How do you develop the feeling of coming in and sticking a solid, winning shoulder high volley when exchanges can be so intermittent? I feel the only real answer is the ball machine. Why the ball machine?  Even a good teaching pro has trouble feeding a series of balls to exactly the same spot, and in live drills, your pro may hit the same winners or make the same errors you see in match play. What you need are clean, high percentage, multiple repetitions - hundreds and hundreds of them - and here is how to get them! 

2 Ball Volley Drill

Here is a simple drill, using a Playmate ball machine which has become the tennis club standard. Most other machines, however, can be set to throw the same patterns.

Plug 2 adjacent ball holes in the Playmate and leave the other two adjacent holes open. Start with your toes at the service line in a ready position. Set the machine trajectory to throw a low first volley at about knee level. Hit the first ball, now close the net, split step, and hit the second ball, which will automatically come at about shoulder level. Tweak the interval control on the machine to give you just enough time to hit the first ball, close and hit the second volley. Now back pedal to the service line. You’ll get another 2 ball series almost immediately. 

This continuous repetition of makeable volleys is fantastic for your confidence. You can hit literally hundreds of first and second volleys in about a half hour. 

Begin with two forehand volleys, then repeat with two backhand volleys. After that, set the machine to oscillate and throw one on each side. In general, you’ll hit the first volley down the line and the second into the open court, but you can also experiment on the more daring crosscourt first volley. Set goals such as hitting 10 perfect 2 ball sequences. Now speed up the machine to shorten the interval between balls. Pretty soon you’ll start to feel it and with that comes the confidence that you really can volley.


Last Updated 9/1/98. To contact us, please email to: webmaster@tennisone.com

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