Tennis Volley Tips For Extra Power & Control - It’s All About Body Mass

So if you want to get more power on the volley, you have to use your legs and your momentum of your body, your body mass going into the ball. And one of the main reasons why players are unable to do that is because they are used to moving like on the baseline. So when you're on the baseline, you're waiting for the ball to start going. You see either you do split step or you're not doing a split step. You see where the ball is going and then you start going and maybe stepping in or playing open stance, but you're starting to move towards the ball after you see where the ball is going. So if you're applying this same approach at the net, where is much less time to react, you're not going to be able to start moving your body mass into the ball. You will run out of time. So I will ask Kaya to feed me a little bit faster ball. And so you can see that I will be always late if I'm kind of waiting. And then I'm trying to go once I see where the ball is going. If it's going forehand or backhand, I don't really have time to go forward. I just react left, right. And so when we are at the net, we have to start moving forward before we see where the ball is going for backhand or forehand. So that might sound a bit strange to you, but that's how we have to move. So I have two cameras running now. One is on me and one is on Kaya. And we're going to sync them together because I want to show you that when you see Kaya feeding the ball and I don't know yet the direction, I'm already moving forward and then I'm just going to change direction, whether it's forehand or backhand and go to that side so that you see that I'm going forward before I know the direction. This one goes in the bloopers category. By the way, these balls are all in. If I have to get out of the way, I can get out of the way. But I'm always going forward before I know the direction in. So we're going to play this in slow motion so that you see better. But this is a very important idea, not just for power, but also for topic number one, which was that you prepare on time that you're not too late. And one of the ways you do that is that you always move forward as your opponent is making the shot before you know which direction it is, whether it's forehand or backhand. And then you will just change direction based on what you see. So the next volley tip that's going to help you with power is a bit counterintuitive. And that's why most players don't find it. What most players do when they want power. So right now I'm demonstrating a forehand volley cross court into the open court. And I'm playing the ball cross court. So what most players try to do is they try to move in the direction where they're volleying. It seems very logical so that they want to go like this, right? So they move to the forehand side and then they're trying to move in the direction of where they're hitting. You will also see that very good from the back camera. I'm recording from the back so that you see that I'm going here and then I'm trying to move in the direction of the target. Now that seems intuitive, but actually it doesn't work well. What works much better is that you move through the ball or that you have like a 90 degree angle between where you want to play the ball and where you're moving. So right now I have the camera there at around 45 degree angle and I'm volleying there at around 45. So that's about 90 degrees. And so when I'm coming here to volley this forehand, which is a bit on my right side, I want to keep my body moving through the ball in this direction while I'm volleying that way. So if I demonstrate one more, if I move this way while volleying that way, one more, I'm going to have a much crisper shot for some reason. That's how it is. And I will have much better power on the volley and you will see also from the back camera how I'm moving this way into the ball, not into the target, but I'm moving into the ball and that helps with power. So again, I know it's counterintuitive, but that's how many things in tennis are. So I have to do this. Now I know your objection, which is if I move too much this way, I will lose the positioning at the net. So the answer is yes, you will. You have to, you have to recover quickly. But if you hit a good volley many times, you will not need to recover much because you will finish the volley with this one shot. So this would be your typical movement, move through the ball, complete the volley, then use this foot to push back and cover the net well. So let me share this same idea on the backhand side. So what players tend to do when they get the ball on the backhand and they want power, they're trying to move, they're trying to move in the direction of the target and you can see that this doesn't work well. I mean, I'm trying, I'm not cheating. I'm really trying to kind of like move there, but it's not a good idea. It's not a good idea. Somehow I'm fighting myself and you can see from the back camera that I'm trying to move in the direction of the target. And again, what is counterintuitive is that it's much better to just move through the ball. So I move here in this direction, one step or one more step like this and I will have good power. Even if I miss the ball, I have good power. So this way, so I'm moving, you see, this one was a very crisp volley. You will see from the back camera how fast the ball went and yet I was moving right into the ball. So I'm trying to move my body mass. I'm here and the ball is here a bit slower and I'm trying to move my body mass right into the ball. It's just that the racket angle is that way and I move my arm that way. So I give the ball direction that way. But in a way I transfer energy into the ball this way and the ball gets a lot of power. So this is one of the maybe counterintuitive tips on the volley. Yes, you sacrifice one step of the space but you gain in crispness, clean hitting and ball control and power. And many times that's gonna win you the point. But if not, you have to recover quickly. So if you wanna see how that looks like, choop, I'm back. So I go here, I volley and I can go back. So whether it's this foot and I go back but I do try to go through the ball in this direction and recover. So this little tip will give you a very good source of power without much effort.