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Your forehand volleys keep floating long. What is the fix?
Volleys going long: close the face a little and shorten the swing. Punch forward, not up.
Your forehand volleys are going long, floating over the baseline or into the glass on the full. What is the most likely cause?
Volleys going long: close the face a little and shorten the swing. Punch forward, not up.
Why
A volley that floats long has usually been hit with a racket face angled too far upward and with too much swing. The open face lifts the ball, the swing adds pace, and the combination clears the baseline or hits the glass on the full. The fix is to hold the face closer to vertical, slightly open on a low ball, closer to flat on a high one, and to shorten the movement to a punch from the shoulder. Contact in front of the body, with the racket head above the wrist, sends the ball forward and slightly down rather than up and away.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Make your volley swing shorter. Racket starts in front of you, moves forward a little, stops. That is the whole shot.
Intermediate
On a ball above the net, the face should be nearly vertical. Only open it for balls below the net.
Advanced
The long volley on the forehand often comes from the wrist breaking back at contact. Firm the wrist and let the shoulder deliver the racket.
Common questions
Your forehand volleys are going long, floating over the baseline or into the glass on the full. What is the most likely cause?
The face is too open at contact and the swing too long. Volleys going long: close the face a little and shorten the swing. Punch forward, not up. A volley that floats long has usually been hit with a racket face angled too far upward and with too much swing. The open face lifts the ball, the swing adds pace, and the combination clears the baseline or hits the glass on the full. The fix is to hold the face closer to vertical, slightly open on a low ball, closer to flat on a high one, and to shorten the movement to a punch from the shoulder. Contact in front of the body, with the racket head above the wrist, sends the ball forward and slightly down rather than up and away.
Why not you are hitting too softly?
Softer would keep it in. Long volleys are a face problem, not a pace problem.
What should a beginner do here?
Make your volley swing shorter. Racket starts in front of you, moves forward a little, stops. That is the whole shot.
How does this change for an advanced player?
The long volley on the forehand often comes from the wrist breaking back at contact. Firm the wrist and let the shoulder deliver the racket.
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.
beginnerThe ball is coming off the back glass. When do you hit it?
Move back with the ball, let it pass you, hit it in front of your body.