The Half Volley

2-9-11--Lesson With J.


First let me document my discussion with John...  I asked about poaching.  John said that the poach needs to incorporate the intention of finishing out the point.  He said that you may not always be successful in finishing the point, but if you are going to poach, you should be in the position where you have a good chance that you can close out the point or you shouldn't poach.

J. said that I need to follow through on my forehand groundies with my whole arm, not just my wrist.


With regard to the half volley, the shot requires a closed stance (with good footwork) and low, bent knees.  The ideal half volley is not a strong offensive shot, but rather a low medium pace ball.  Typically, a half volley will land short.  If the opponent is on the baseline and sees the half volley-er getting down to take that shot, he/she should start working up to the net to be in a position to make the return.  It is a good probability that half volley is not going to be a deep shot.  The return of the half volley should be a shot where you are taking it really early.


On the serve, I need to toss as I am lean forward, not leaning backward and I probably need to toss the ball higher.

May I Be Open With You?

Lesson With K. 2-3-11


Well, not open with you, but open stance....


Use open stance when going out for a wide ball or when taking a deep, higher ball right on the baseline. Do not step into the ball, but bend your knee closest to the ball. Transfer your weight from your hitting foot to your other foot and complete the follow through. Using the open stance allows you to get into the center of the court faster since your weight is not going toward the alley.

Pivotal Lesson Today

2-2-11 Lesson With J.


And no, we did not work on pivoting.  This is going to be very good for my game.


We worked on taking a short, low ball.  There are two choices: chip the shot back (but this could float too high and be an easy put away shot) or use a closed stance and bend knees getting quite low.  Brush up on the back of the ball like a regular groundie except less force.  The less your knees are bent, the faster your arm.  You don't want a really fast arm because the ball will smack into the net.  I should already know this from experience, but I never figured it out before.  The closed stance is really important so that you can get down low on the ball.  When taking a shot right at the baseline, the procedure is really the same--closed stance and get low.

Two Lessons Today

I am an opportunist so when the option of taking a second lesson back to back with my first lesson came up, I jumped on it.  Now my ankles, feet and knees hurt.


Lesson #1--Volleying and Approach Shots--Lesson with K.


When volleying, move you feet, not your hand.  Step into the your shot with the contralateral foot. Bend you knees to get down low.  Keep a firm wrist.  For the approach shot, it is not an offensive shot.  It should be cross court and deep, unless the ball coming to you is high and short and then you can send it down the line.   This allows you time to get up to the net and be offensive on the next shot.


Lesson #2--Doubles strategy--Lesson with K.


Given the scenario where there is one up and one back,  if the ball gets by you and your partner has to take the ball, then you as the net player need to step back two steps.  If the partner gets the shot past the net person, then you slide up closer to the net.  

Volley Lesson and General Review

1/25/11--Lesson with K.


For me, the most important thing to remember is to keep a firm wrist when I am volleying.  Using good footwork means to step into the volley with the opposite foot.  Concentrate on getting volleys past the service line.


1/27/11--Lesson with J.


We reviewed ground strokes, volleying, and serving. Concentrate on adjusting the backstroke to complement the ball that is coming to you.  A really hard ball requires a shorter take back.  If a soft high ball comes to you, you need more top spin to control the ball so that it stays in the court.  On my serve, I might need to take some pace off of it if my opponent just blocks the ball and uses my pace against me.

The 1-2 Punch

1/20/11--Singles Lesson With K.

The last two weeks we have worked on moving your opponent from side to side by serving out wide then alternating corners of the court.  It is good to start the match out this way.


Today we worked on an alternative pattern:  serve out wide then the next two shots to the opposite corner.  Use the side to side strategy with slower moving opponents.  Use the 1-2 pattern with a faster moving pattern.  They are moving so fast that the second ball to the corner will behind them since they are on the way to the other corner.

The High Volley

1/19/2011--Lesson with J.


Don't take a high volley as a low overhead.  The high volley is a...high volley.  Use continental grip (just like with a regular volley) and when taking the shot concentrate on not breaking your wrist.  Maybe it's better to just say to keep a firm wrist since it would not ever be logical to break your wrist which would involve a cast and would interfere with playing tennis and of course, executing the high volley.  But I digress...


You take a high volley like a lower volley, except that you need to be spaced farther away from the ball.  If you take the ball too close to you, the racquet will be in the wrong position and you will be swinging in a downward direction and the ball will slam into the net.  You can take a low volley close to you and a mid-range volley with an intermediate distance between you and the ball.  But a high volley needs spacing away from your body.


When the ball comes sailing high over the net right where you want to make a lovely, high volley, frequently that juicy ball gets slammed into the net.  The common strategy seems to be "WW" which means wait and whack.  Instead of moving to where you should be, it is common that the player just stands and waits and then whacks it into the net.  This is not a good idea.