Volleying – The ultimate way to pressure and rush your opponent. I always feel simply by volleying the ball it adds an extra 50 or 60% on to the quality of your shot, or in other terms, you can hit a less accurate shot but it is still more effective than if you had let it bounce beforehand.
It is vital to push up in the court – by this I mean moving toward the mid-court line after every shot you play. Once you know you have hit a shot that is going away from your opponent you must push forwards. All the great players have always done this. Even without hitting your next shot, this aggressive movement and ‘hunting’ down the volley will pressurise and even panic your opponent into hitting a worse shot.
Once you have hit a volley the most common mistake I see people make is then retreat back in the court and assume a position behind the mid-court line. It’s like they’ve volleyed once and they think the hard work is done!
What is really effective is to hit two, or three or 4 volleys in a row. The key is to hold your central position after each volley, you have to put the pressure on and maintain it. This is the real secret. Maintaining pressure for more than one shot. Combinations of volleys.
An attacking volley does not have to go to the front of the court. The beauty of volleying the ball is you can pressurise your opponent without the risk of hitting the ball near the tin. A good, fast volley to the back of the court is an attacking shot, and then if you can back it up with another volley, this really piles the pressure on to your opponent.
A lovely example of Nick stretching to reach a volley. Most people would leave it, but by leaving the ball to bounce into the back corner, your opponent will recover their ‘T’ position and they will be in control.
LESSON – VOLLEY… AND KEEP VOLLEYING!
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