Tipbit #39 – How Low Can You Go?

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Way back when I was a tennis coach teaching the low volley techniques, I would emphasize to my players to bend so low on their volley that they could actually see the ball through the strings of their racket, (remember that was a tennis racket).

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Technically nothing has changed, except you can’t see the ball through your solid paddle : -) Too many of us RFPBA members get a little lazy when a ball is hit below the net.
We tend to stand too tall, (image below on the left), that  forces us to extend our arm just to make contact, limiting both power and control.

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We need to bend our knees, dropping our body, (image above
on the right), with a slight forward tilt of our body; do not bend at the waist!  This position will help engage our elbow, shoulder, triceps and knees to work together fluidly.  Try NOT to drop your paddles' head (again see above image on your right), but try to keep it even or higher than your wrist. This compact position creates a stronger and a more controlled volley.

 

Don’t forget my opening statement in this tipbit about “seeing the ball through the racket”. To enable that to happen you must keep your paddle out in front of you and your head down on the ball. Because your contact point will be low, there is really nowhere to go but up. So, you will need to slightly open or tilt the face of your paddle back. You can’t go level or down because both of those shots will end up in the net. Visualize lower clearance over the net because if you pop it up and your opponents are at the NVZ, they’ll put your high volley away. You may even need to reduce your grip pressure to take some "air" out of the ball.

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Use my above illustrations and read my comments and if necessary make small changes to your body height and arm position and you’ll improve your low volleys in no time.

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                       C' ya on our Glen Park Courts. President Lueck