The Tennis Volley - Federer's Secret Weapon

The tennis volley has seen an interesting yet welcome return to the game in recent months. Having just watched Federer power through to the Australian Open title, one thing sprung to mind. He is beginning to volley a whole lot more. And it's not only Federer, many more players are beginning to volley again.

Federer & Tsonga we know about, Andy Murray & Andy Roddick yes of course but Davydenko, Nadal & Del Potro?? Some of these guys used to get altitude sickness just by thinking about moving up the court to the net. So why do it? Well it's simple! The easiest place to win a tennis point from is at the net.

Whether or not you can do it or not doesn't matter - it's a fact!! The other big factor is that it presents a totally different set of problems to the player stuck on the baseline.

Q. What's the one thing out and out baseliners get used to and therefore grooved into when they play other players that only play from the baseline?

A. The ball coming back to them from the baseline!!

So, someone coming to the net gives them a completely different "view" of the game and a completely different set of shots to play. Definitely a set of shots they hardly ever play on a match to match basis and maybe a set of shots they may never have played!!

Suddenly, they have to come up with other shots than just keeping the ball deep in the court. If they do that then it's an easy volley and the end of the point. But what is the take away for you?

What is it that you need to think about doing in your game to make this work for you? Well, all the things I said above are true, plus this fact. The hardest shot in club tennis is the passing shot. This means that you don't have to become really good at the volley to be effective.

You just have to give your opponent more chances to miss..........and they will. And we all know that they won't always miss because of poor technique don't we?? They will also miss because of the mental pressure you are putting on them.