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Tennis - How to Contact the Ball Properly on the Volley

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Doug Kegerreis: Hi! I am Doug Kegerreis, President of Chantilly International Tennis, and today you are learning how to play tennis.

In this clip we are going to learn how to make contact properly on the volley that is, hitting the ball directly out of the air. In all my years of teaching tennis, the most common problem area in the volley is excessive racquet movement at the point of impact. Theres too much force and the timing is too difficult to be able to do that successfully.

So, I recommend that you do two things at the point of impact, you squeeze and freeze. That is you squeeze your fingers on the grip at the point of impact and that should allow your racquet to absolutely come to a freeze at the time of impact, that is your racquet will be absolutely still for a split second at the point of impact.

Now, what about grips? Again, I am not a big grip person. I believe that you can hit successful volleys using different types of grips. However, if you really want to use the most common grip and preferred grip for the volley, you use what is known as the Continental Grip, and that is halfway between the forehand and the backhand grip.

Whats good about that grip? Well, when you hit volleys directly out of the air, the exchange is rather quick. So, not having to change grips during quick exchanges is very helpful. Second of all, it places your racquet face in what we call a slightly open position, that means slightly pointing to the sky, and that is your desired racquet face angle for the volley, a slightly open racquet face.

Now, whats not good about these grips? It does tend to angle your racquet face to the left or to the right whenever you really want to point it straight ahead. So, you have to learn racquet face awareness on the volley as well. We talked about that as an essential skill for your forehand and backhand.

So, with this grip you have to have a target, you observe where the ball goes in relationship to your target. The next ball you hit, you adjust your racquet face angle a little bit, that process really allow you to learn where your racquet face is pointing, even when using the continental grip.

So, remember, squeeze and freeze to keep your racquet movement to a minimum. Try to keep your grip changed to a minimum on the volley with the continental grip being the preferred grip for this shot.

Thats it for the volley. Next, were going to move on the basics of hitting the serve.

Expert: Doug Kegerreis

Doug is the President of CIT. With 25 years of professional tennis teaching and management skills to his credit, Doug is the consummate tennis expert. In addition to his duties with CIT, he is a physical education specialist at Oakton Elementary School, and fitness director of the 4-Star Jr. Tennis Academy in Merrifield. "CIT has at its core a commitment to develop players who will continue to play tennis." More »