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A slow, dipping ball comes to your feet at the net. Volley or let it bounce?
A dipping ball at the net is volleyed or half-volleyed deep. Retreating to let it bounce gives up the net.
A slow ball with topspin is dipping toward your feet as you stand at the net position. Do you half-volley it or let it bounce?
A dipping ball at the net is volleyed or half-volleyed deep. Retreating to let it bounce gives up the net.
Why
The dipping ball to the feet is designed to make you retreat. If you step back to let it bounce, it bounces at your feet anyway and you are now in no man's land without the net. The answer is to hold your ground, get low, and play it as a volley if you can reach it before the bounce, or as a half-volley, racket behind the ball just after it bounces, if you cannot. Either way it goes deep and controlled, and you keep the net position that the opponents were trying to take from you.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Do not step back from a low ball at the net. Bend your knees, get the racket behind it and push it deep.
Intermediate
The half-volley is a block, not a swing: racket face vertical, meet the ball just after the bounce, push through.
Advanced
A chiquita to your feet means the opponents are advancing behind it. Your deep half-volley should go to the feet of whichever of them is further forward. It stops the advance.
Common questions
A slow ball with topspin is dipping toward your feet as you stand at the net position. Do you half-volley it or let it bounce?
Volley or half-volley it deep, and hold. A dipping ball at the net is volleyed or half-volleyed deep. Retreating to let it bounce gives up the net. The dipping ball to the feet is designed to make you retreat. If you step back to let it bounce, it bounces at your feet anyway and you are now in no man's land without the net. The answer is to hold your ground, get low, and play it as a volley if you can reach it before the bounce, or as a half-volley, racket behind the ball just after it bounces, if you cannot. Either way it goes deep and controlled, and you keep the net position that the opponents were trying to take from you.
Why not let it bounce and hit a groundstroke?
To let it bounce you have to step back, and the ball will bounce at your feet anyway. You have given away the net for a worse shot.
What should a beginner do here?
Do not step back from a low ball at the net. Bend your knees, get the racket behind it and push it deep.
How does this change for an advanced player?
A chiquita to your feet means the opponents are advancing behind it. Your deep half-volley should go to the feet of whichever of them is further forward. It stops the advance.
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beginnerBoth of them are at the net. What is the highest-percentage ball?
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