Home › Puzzle › Your drop volley clips the net, bounces, and dies against their glass. Point?
Your drop volley clips the net, bounces, and dies against their glass. Point?
A net cord in the rally is live. Bounce in, no return: point to you.
Your drop volley catches the top of the net, drops over, bounces once and rolls to the base of their side glass. Whose point?
A net cord in the rally is live. Bounce in, no return: point to you.
Why
Once the point has started, the net is simply part of the court. A ball that touches it and drops in is good, and if the opponents cannot reach it before the second bounce, the point is over. Net cords are luck, but drop volleys that catch the tape are often the product of a good idea, hitting soft and low over the net with the opponents deep, and a good idea that is slightly mishit still tends to win the point. The etiquette is to raise a hand; the rule is that the point is yours.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Put your hand up, take the point, and move on. Nobody minds a net cord if you acknowledge it.
Intermediate
A drop volley that clears the net by a hand-width is the aim. If it keeps hitting the tape, open the racket face a fraction more.
Advanced
The drop volley is a shot for when both opponents are behind the service line. Against a pair with one player forward it is a gift to them.
Common questions
Your drop volley catches the top of the net, drops over, bounces once and rolls to the base of their side glass. Whose point?
Yours: bounced in, never returned. A net cord in the rally is live. Bounce in, no return: point to you. Once the point has started, the net is simply part of the court. A ball that touches it and drops in is good, and if the opponents cannot reach it before the second bounce, the point is over. Net cords are luck, but drop volleys that catch the tape are often the product of a good idea, hitting soft and low over the net with the opponents deep, and a good idea that is slightly mishit still tends to win the point. The etiquette is to raise a hand; the rule is that the point is yours.
Why not theirs: the ball touched the net on its way over?
Only on the serve does net contact matter. In a rally the net is in play.
What should a beginner do here?
Put your hand up, take the point, and move on. Nobody minds a net cord if you acknowledge it.
How does this change for an advanced player?
The drop volley is a shot for when both opponents are behind the service line. Against a pair with one player forward it is a gift to them.
What do the rules say?
During a rally a ball that touches the net and lands in the opponents' court is good and play continues.
Puzzles like this one
They lobbed you deep. Smash it or play the bandeja?
Deep ball, high hands: bandeja. The shot exists to keep you at the net, not to win the point.
beginnerThe ball is at your feet at the net. What now?
A ball below the net cannot be attacked. Block it deep and wait for one above the tape.
beginnerCan you volley the return of serve?
The return of serve must bounce. It is the one ball in padel you are not allowed to volley.