Why Your Backhand Volley Is Letting You Down (And How To Fix It)

If you wish your backhand volley was better, here are three tips that are going to quickly help you, with tip number three being the most controversial. All right, tip number one. To hit a better backhand volley, be sure to set the racket head to the outside of your hand. What do I mean by this? Well, when we hit a backhand volley, we make contact like this, with the racket head slightly above the hand. You don't want them level, if you can help it, usually a weaker wrist position, and you don't want the racket vertical, like you don't see people hitting volleys with their racket straight up and down, like their racket's on a pro shop wall at your local tennis club, and you're volleying like this. You need to have the racket at an angle to the outside of the hand when you're striking the ball. So what does this mean? It means that's how you should set the racket. You should set the racket at the angle you plan on playing the ball. This way you can move the racket forward, and if you want, put a little backspin on the ball instead of the alternative, which is what I typically see, where players turn for a backhand and their racket is straight up and down, or worse, to the inside of the hand. You're not going to hit volleys like this, so you're setting the racket in a position that you're not even going to make contact with. So then you have to then find the angle, but once you find that angle, it just keeps going, and that's why people chop all the time on their backhand, hitting the frame, the ball floats, it feels super weak, because they have to find the angle, but they don't stay in it very long, because the body in motion tends to stay in motion, and they get the angle, even if it's at contact, but they're going down to find it, and then they chop, and the racket ends up upside down. The key to this, to instantly improve your backhand volley, is when you turn, really focus on getting the head of the racket to the outside of your hand. Now you've set the racket angle, and now you can go forward, because you don't have to find the angle, you can be solid through contact. Tip number two, really focus on the back elbow being up. Realize that your non-hitting elbow is partly responsible for the angle of the racket, so as you have a lower elbow, your racket face is open, which leads to chopping, again you hit the frame, the ball floats, and the shot isn't great. This is why in the ready position, I recommend to my students, that they have their elbows out. When you're at the net, think of your elbows pointing east and west, don't have your elbows point at your feet, get your elbows to point east and west. That's going to help you on the forehand volley, it's also going to help you on the backhand volley, because when you turn for a backhand volley, and this back elbow is up, the racket's more like a wall, which is how you want it to be anyway. So you can make sure that you're not chopping by keeping the racket on the outside of the hand when you set it, but you can also make sure that from the side view, that the racket isn't laid open a ton, or you'll see players like this, and they look like they're a waiter at a restaurant putting glasses on the table, because their elbow's so low. Keep this elbow up, that's what creates a wall, and that allows you to hit a much flatter and better volley. We're not looking for tons of spin on the backhand volley, tons of spin is created with an open face, well an open face is created by a low elbow, so you can see how this all works when you reverse engineer it. We want this non-hitting elbow up, that keeps the racket more like a wall, and as long as we get the racket to the outside of the hand, we can take the wall through the ball. All right, last one, here's the most controversial. Don't feel like you have to use the same grip on the forehand and backhand volley. Now, I know what you're already thinking, Ryan, there's not enough time to change grips between forehand and backhand volley. If you are saying that right now, then I know for a fact, you've never tried it. Because in the history of tennis, nobody has ever tried using a different grip on the forehand, and a different grip on the backhand, and come to the conclusion that there's not enough time. And if you do feel like there's not enough time, it must have been an overhead in doubles, where someone crushed the ball 100 miles an hour at you, and you were just trying to defend yourself. There is plenty of time to change your grip between forehand and backhand volley, and I'll explain why this is going to help you. Because it doesn't take any more time to change your grip as to not change your grip. Let me say that again. It takes the same amount of time to turn and volley with the same grip as your forehand volley, or to turn and volley with a different grip. It's the same amount of time. Because the grip change occurs in the prep. The same people who tell me there's not enough time, again, I will get to the reason why it's going to be in your best interest to at least attempt changing your grip on the backhand. But the same players who tell me there's not enough time to change the grip, are also the players who do not abide by tip number one. They'll say, hey, there's not enough time to change the grip, but then they turn for their backhand and put the racket behind their head, and then go to contact. How in the world is there not enough time to do that? But there's enough time to put the racket behind the head and try to find the angle at contact. It's hilarious to me. There's not enough time to make a split second grip change, but there's enough time to move the racket eight feet before contact. Ridiculous. So why am I even recommending that you attempt a grip change just to see if it helps you? It's because the grip change helps to square up the racket against the back of the ball. This is no different between the topspin one-handed backhand and the slice one-handed backhand, where you'll use different grips. You will use different grips on the topspin because it affects the face of the racket, so that you can spin rather than put backspin on the ball, or topspin versus slice. I want you to go out and practice hitting backhand balls where you change the grip slightly toward an eastern backhand, not to an eastern backhand, but go slightly past the continental toward the one-handed topspin backhand grip. Again, not on an eastern backhand, but slightly that direction, and watch how that squares up the racket against the back of the ball. Now, instead of having an open face and feel like, you know, you're chopping your volley, by changing your grip during the turn, and by the way, you change the grip like a pepper grinder, you go to a restaurant, they're like, would you like pepper? Say when. That's how you, the pepper grinder, you don't just change the grip with your right hand, you turn both hands, and it's a faster grip change, just like you could turn one part of the pepper grinder, but why not turn both? Double the grind, if you will, in the same amount of time. That's the idea. You turn the racket and the hand simultaneously, like your palms are turning away from you, and it makes for a really quick grip change, but that grip change is done before you even get the racket behind your head to get to the contact. It doesn't take any more time, and it helps square the racket against the back of the ball, so you have more of a wall, and your volley is so much better. So to recap, to hit better backhand volleys, work on setting the racket to the outside of the hand, so that you can keep that angle the whole time, and you don't have to chop. Be sure that you turn with your back elbow up, rather than down, because that will affect the racket face angle. You don't want to have this angle as the ball's coming. You need this, so back elbow up, and to really supercharge your backhand volley, give it a try. You might hate it. You might say, Ryan, I hate the grip change, but you might, you know what you're not going to say? You're not going to say there wasn't enough time, and if there truly is not enough time, there wasn't enough time to do anything, because the ball was slammed at you, and the grip change isn't going to help you in that situation. Keep the racket to the outside, high back elbow, and don't be afraid to have a slight grip change to help square up the racket against the back of the ball, and watch how the backhand volley might actually become your favorite shot. Looking to gain a ton of confidence by getting video of your technique or match play analyzed? Send me an email, ryan at twominutennis.net, and I'll give you all the details, including pricing, turnaround time, and I'll even show you examples of video lessons I've made for students in the past. So click right there to learn more about having me analyze your strokes, your match play strategy, even your footwork. Work on your backhand volley, and there's no doubt you're going to gain confidence, win more matches, and play much better tennis. This is Ryan Ritty from twominutennis.net. You got this!