The Volley Step-Foot in the air or On the Ground?

[mossback]

This is one of the big misunderstandings about volleying low balls. It is important to hit the low balls at eye level as much as possible, but it doesn't work to get down to the ball as you hit it. I went through this a lot 25 years ago with Paul Annacone. I wanted him to get down for his volleys, but it just didn't work for him. He messed up when he was dropping down for low balls as he was hitting them. If you remember, Paul was a relatively upright volleyer. He discovered that he was better off just having his head stable and reaching down for volleys rather than dipping down to get to the low balls. A great contrast was his doubles partner, Christo van Rensburg, who had one of the quickest bodies I have ever seen. He would hit instructional video demonstration form volleys with his knees scrapping the ground, even on reflex volleys. But the thing that is important is to have your head stable. If you want to be a good low volleyer, you have to be low to see the ball coming into you. It is not enough to get low just as you hit the ball. That's where I see a problem with what you are saying about the knee bend helping you with putting stick on your volleys. I think you will find you will hit them better if you get your whole carriage down low as the ball is coming into you. It still may be true that you are better getting that foot down just as you hit the ball. But for my money, I want to see that foot down just before you hit it, ... whenever possible... and that is only a small portion of the time.

How do you get your "whole carriage" down as you put it if you don't bend your knees? Your right knee bends as you make your turn and your left knee bends to adjust to the height of the ball. What do you mean " it doesn't work to get down to the ball as you hit it? What's the alternative? Drop the racket head while you remain stiff kneed? If you have all the time in the world
you still want to time the plant of the left foot with the hit. Also, I didn't say the knee bend is what helps you get the stick, it's the planting of the foot which means your weight is moving forward at that instant.

[mossback]

Look at this video of Ancic. His front leg is more extended in this clip because he really had to reach for this volley, but compare the timing of his foot plant with contact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFXSYJV9BE4

[tennis_chiro]

Look at this video of Ancic. His front leg is more extended in this clip because he really had to reach for this volley, but compare the timing of his foot plant with contact.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFXSYJV9BE4

That's a wonderful clip. It may be an even better example of the use of the "float step" to make your move to the volley. Ancic is one of the few who still knows how to do this.

As for your earlier comments, you are absolutely right, you can't get the carriage down without bending your knees. My point is really that you need to be down early. It amounts to lowering your butt about 3" more in your ready position as you look for the oncoming ball. If you are someone who cannot maintain a low ready position, you MAY actually be better off just reaching down (somewhat) for the volley rather than trying to have your whole body go up and down just to hit the shot and thereby moving your head around a lot. I agree I want the knees bent, but I want them bent early in the ready position and as they move forward (ala Edberg in his crouch) so they don't have to go down quite so far. Paul found out that he was better off leaving his head stable and reaching down for low balls. I could never get him to really have a classic low volleying position like an Edberg or van Rensburg. I prefer to train players to do that and make tham actually volley from their knees to get the sense of seeing how much easier it is to hit low volleys when you are down there to see the ball coming in. But when you only get down there just as you hit the ball (and certainly Ancic in this clip is lowest at the actual impact) it is too late. Ancic was already a good deal of the way down before he made that last move to the ball and he starts from pretty high up at 6'5".
After all that, I mostly agree with you, but I want to say the reason for the step is to get to the ball and get into position to hit the ball. He does a great job of getting the foot down just as he hits it here and that gives him a little more stick/zip on the volley, but he is not trying to lunge through the shot; he is trying to reach it. He gets that racket behind the ball and gives it a little shove
I gotta learn to post stuff on YouTube!

[mossback]

I understand what you're saying about adjusting your coaching style to Annacone, but that approach is not for everybody. Geniuses like McEnroe could get away with standing straight up, but part of the reason for that is that he used so many touch and angle volleys . The best vollyers of Annacone's era were Becker, Edberg, Cash...even Tim Mayotte was pretty decent. They all got down on the ball. I feel that's a superior approach for most players.

[tennis_chiro]

I understand what you're saying about adjusting your coaching style to Annacone, but that approach is not for everybody. Geniuses like McEnroe could get away with standing straight up, but part of the reason for that is that he used so many touch and angle volleys . The best vollyers of Annacone's era were Becker, Edberg, Cash...even Tim Mayotte was pretty decent. They all got down on the ball. I feel that's a superior approach for most players.

Overall, I am in agreement. But I'm trying to make the point that it's critical for a good volleyer to adopt a ready position (or float position) that is much lower than their normal ready position so the distance they have to travel from high to low is less than from their regular ready position. A player needs to see the ball coming in, not just be low at contact. Obviously, in a shot like Ancic's in your example, he doesn't get to his lowest point until the actual impact, but he is lowering himself over the entire length of that full stride as he covers a lot of ground. That enables him to better judge and feel his volley as he reaches it.
And Cash may have been the best at getting down of the lot. If his knees had held up he would have been much more of a factor. And he was a great example of being down and athletic early in his move to the ball.

[mossback]

Overall, I am in agreement. But I'm trying to make the point that it's critical for a good volleyer to adopt a ready position (or float position) that is much lower than their normal ready position so the distance they have to travel from high to low is less than from their regular ready position. A player needs to see the ball coming in, not just be low at contact. Obviously, in a shot like Ancic's in your example, he doesn't get to his lowest point until the actual impact, but he is lowering himself over the entire length of that full stride as he covers a lot of ground. That enables him to better judge and feel his volley as he reaches it.
And Cash may have been the best at getting down of the lot. If his knees had held up he would have been much more of a factor. And he was a great example of being down and athletic early in his move to the ball.

I agree 100% that a good vollyer must adopt a ready position that is lower than their normal ready position. That's absolutely crucial. My only point was that the front knee bend can be the variable that gives you the same
racket/arm head orientation depending on the height of the ball and that the simultaneous planting of the left foot with contact will give you the most stick. There are many other ways to hit a volley, but this is one way that has worked well for me.

[uspta2331024484]

Keep the feet moving

In my opinion when that front foot hits the ground it puts on the breaks and the upper body goes forward and and down, driving the ball into the net way to often. It's important to have everything smooth, level and moving thru the ball toward the target whenever possible.