Improving Volleys Without Feeds
Bryan Brothers working on transition volleys
Footage: Annalee Berlin
Q: How do I improve my volley without having someone feed me shots or paying for a coach? I have a friend I usually just rally with
Having a friend that is your level, and has the same improvement-based mentality is arguably just as or more important than having someone feed you balls and coach you. Take advantage of it. Look at this rally progression. Easy to do, extremely hard to master.
Volley-Volley: Volley rallies are your best friends. Treat it like how you do a mini-tennis warm-up. Aim to get the ball about torso level high. One of the best methods to experiment and get comfortable with volley's in semi-realistic setting.
Volley-baseline: Straight forward. Because our baseline balls are in general more rehearsed and stronger, the balls will be faster. So you'll have to be fast and efficient with your volleys.
Volley-Volley No man's land: You'll be both in no man's land ( in between service and base line). This volley is usually the first volley, and is one of the most important volley's, often the least practiced. Essentially the serve for volley's. It starts the rest of your volleys. If you don't get this volley back you can't use the normal volley where most people practice inside the service box. While you are using the same volley, you need to aim higher, and drive through the volley more than if you were closer.
Transition between these different zones while rallying: You can see how the Bryan brothers start from the base line, and transition through each section of the court, adjusting their volleys in the process. They make it look easy, but it’s a result of constant practice, adaption and understanding each section of the court.