Steal This Drill: Low Volleys

The general consensus among most coaches (and players - current and former) who know a thing or two about the game of tennis is that up-and-coming juniors do not spend enough time honing their volley game. They learn to bash and belt from the baseline but anything inside of the service line is a foreign language to them.

What complicates the situation further is that the "modern" game (seriously, folks, Western grips and open stances have been around since tennis was played on wooden courts) seems to emphasize certain characteristics that do not translate to the volley game. For example, big backswings and open stances don't fit very well when playing at the net. Furthermore, too many players emphasize their forehand - thereby having a predetermined set-up - whereas the net requires a degree of neutrality in order to properly react to both sides relatively quickly.

Lastly, modern technology "evens out" the advantage between the baseline player and the net rusher. That's not to say that the attacking player receives no advantage but, as anyone who has grown up with a wooden racket in their hand would tell you, it was way more difficult to pass with a heavy, wooden racket - particularly when the defender was on the run. 

Therefore, having a good technical foundation at the net is even more important nowadays than "back in the day." So here's a drill to teach you how to properly move, get low and "punch" the ball. Set up a cone around 8-9 feet from the net (orange circle). The feeder (red square) feeds soft, dipping balls side to side right when the player is ready to "round the cone" (blue line). In this drill, the player does not have a racket in hand. Instead s/he lunges forward and across (left foot on the forehand; right foot on the backhand) and catches the ball with BOTH hands (THIS IS IMPORTANT) out in front (the ball is discarded to the side).

This drill teaches the net player to: (1) ATTACK the volley with his legs; (2) make contact with the ball IN FRONT; (3) by using both hands to catch the ball, SQUARING the correct shoulder in front; (4) NOT OVERRUN the volley (lunge slows the forward momentum); and (5) focus on CORRECT recovery. As the player gets better, the cone can be pushed further back in order to simulate a different angle of attack. The racket can be introduced after the player masters the proper movement and upper body positioning (preventing the player from stabbing or flailing at the ball). Remember: Volleys = LEGS! 

Here's the Beast from the East in action demonstrating proper execution of this drill: 

ABOVE: knees bent (back knee is well below the front knee); arms in front; left shoulder in front. 

ABOVE: power lunge forward with left foot; attacking the ball with both hands; back straight; head still. And notice the hind foot acting as an anchor (slowing down the forward momentum). 

ABOVE: attacking the ball with right foot; both hands in front; right shoulder forward; ball is at eye level. 

ABOVE: left knee WAY below the right knee (PERFECT positioning); attacking the ball with both arms in front of the body; ball is eye-level; perfect balance. 

It's A Question of Motivation

Are you tired of seeing the same movie again?  You prepare for weeks, honing your forehands, backhands, and serves for the big tourney, getting up early in the morning for treadmill and bicycle workouts, monitoring what you are eating (by the way, the training is the easy part of tennis, anyone can do it), and at 3-4 down a break in your first match (against an equally skilled player), it all comes tumbling down.  You start to think, "Uh oh, here we go again..."

How many times have you seen this movie?  And the movie ends with the same ending everytime- mean spirited temper at yourself, at your opponent, at the entire world, ending in a quick 6-4, 6-2 loss.  You get off the court and you and your coach both agree you need to hit a lot more forehands because that's what broke down at the 3-3 game, thus deciding the first set.  

I assure you, THAT AIN'T IT.  

What's killing you is the poor thinking.  Everyone is liable to get tight, make a few errors at inopportune times, but what's inexcusable is allowing the same mistakes to continue.  A smart player will remember from practice or previous matches his forehand is susceptible to breaking down in these crucial situations, so intuitively, he will not ask so much of this shot.  And if he does miss his share of forehands, he certainly won't let his terrible forehand affect his emotions to the point where a break of serve turns into 4 more breaks of serve.  

Now, juniors, college players, and professionals are all guilty of thinking the worst and allowing a cloud of negativity to take over.  Players start making eye contact with the coach/parent/boyfriend/girlfriend after each lost point (never the winning points) to say as if, "I don't know what to do!  Can't you see how bad I'm playing."  (If you are the victim of the DIRTY EYE, leave the court or pull them off the court, its childish).  All these shenanigans get old after a few episodes...nobody likes to watch Star Wars Trilogy or Back to the Future 30x in a row!  It gets old seeing the same silly movie over and over again. 

Most players are unaware of how poorly they are acting and if they are aware, most will say they can't control it.  I disagree and here is why.  It is all a matter of motivation.  They have a choice in this and here's how I know.  The next time a player pulls the "poor me" or "f*%# m*" cards- tell them you will end their life with a bullet.  

Of course, this is all theory, but if you really think about it -if someone had a gun on the sidelines, ready to shoot you in the leg everytime you said or did something stupid emotionally, I promise you would stop. Controlling your emotions will not guarantee a win, but it greatly increases your odds of winning.  That's all you can ask for.  

Shorter Players Can Have Great Serves

If you are a shorter player, chances are you have been told over the course of your lifetime that you need to give up the idea of having a big serve and settle for getting a high first serve percentage. There is nothing wrong with this line of thinking if you have maxed out all your options (practiced for hours and hours) coupled with intense hunger (relentless energy and willingness to learn), which means you have given it your best effort and your best option is to just start the point with a safe slice serve.

However, if you are hungry enough, young enough (adults, it's never too late!), and lucky enough to have a equally motivated coach who knows what they are talking about (proof is in the pudding, they have a great serve themselves) - shorter players can have great serves. To be honest, the serve is not as complicated as people (usually teaching professionals) make it out to be. Here are some simple tips:

1) Continental grip
2) From beginning to end of stroke, your grip on the handle should be a 1 or 2 out of 5, 5 being tight (Kind of like holding a bird in your hand, don't want to kill it nor do you want it to fly away)
3) Swing as fast as you can (a loose arm and wrist will creat a wrist-snap) 
4) Do not move your feet (simpler-the-better to start, less moving parts that could breakdown)

Without fast racquet headspeed, your serve will never be great. It's as simple as that. The serve is a trust shot, full commitment. Once you get the racquet headspeed, then developing a legit serve can happen. With the racquets of today, shorter players can have monster serves, monster kicks, and monster sliding serves.

Here are some creative ways to improving your pop on the serve: 

1. In the first drill, try to stay close the back fence on one side of the court ("S" for "server" get it?) and aim at first directly into the opposite back fence. Try to hit 10 in a row without any arc whatsoever...that is, straight as a bullet; fence to fence. After you hit ten, aim the next set inside of the opposite baseline (#2). Thereafter, 10 inside of the service line. Again, try to focus on power, not on hitting (reaching your target) with arc. The purpose of this drill is to isloate the fast-twitch muscles in your shoulder and core. 

2. In the second drill, start out at the fence again and hit ten serves inside the service box. After your first set, move in 2 feet and hit another ten. Then move in 2 feet again. Work on hitting "up and through" the ball. As you get closer, that power that you're developing will be channeled into a proper technique.

3. The "machine gun" drill is also a good way to loosen up and isolate the shoulders, arm and core. Grab 4 or 5 balls in your left hand and serve those balls (from service line) in rapid succession: toss and hit; toss and hit. Hence, the name of the drill. Feet should remain firmly planted on the ground. 

4. Reader "tweener" has suggested that to work on pronation, the server should practice serving from the knees. This is also a good way to isolate the shoulders and work on developing the forearm strength. Thank you, tweener, for your advice. This is the type of input that we're looking for on this site. 

5. Lastly, it's important to recall our previous tip regarding power. If you want to improve your serve speed, you must practice hitting fast serves. If you want to run a fast sprint, don't train for a marathon. Speed of the arm and power generated by the body need to be integrated into the motion. Assuming that your serve components are there, start cranking the serve. Since serving "hard" is draining, appropriate rest should be taken until your body builds a tolerance to this type of workout. Bear in mind that a lot of players' career have been stunted by the mentality that "I'm short and therefore I'll never be a good server". This is like saying "I'm tall and therefore I don't need to practice my serve". What's one thing have to do with another?! Sure, certain players might not hit 150mph. But it may be possible for them to hit 120s or 130s. However, they're never going to get there if they settle for 90s in practice. Boundaries of your physical abilities must be continually pushed - little by little.  

If you have the tennis bug and you are willing to put in the work, don't settle for a serve that is slower than falling snow. The time will be well spent and I've never heard of anyone who doesn't like to win.

Tennis Mummies

Does this look familiar (<-)? It's the sight of a run-of-the-mill junior tennis player immediately before the match. If you've been around junior events long enough you will learn to spot the mummies - they are usually wearing track suits, hands straight by the sides, walking aimlessly with stiff legs from bag to tournament desk to bathroom and back. Sometimes they are chatting with their friends although it;s usually in monosylabic grunts. I've always wondered why it is that some kids get so...cold immediately before the match. Why are they shivering so much?! Did the temperature suddenly drop after exiting the car? Weird...

It turns out that shivers are actually reflexes - controlled by the nervous system - produced automatically by the body to keep us safe. When your body temperature drops below a certain level - say 98° - your nerves send a signals saying "I'm cold". What happens next is that your muscles contract and loosen really fast (causing friction which increases body heat slightly) causing you to shiver. What does this have to do with tennis? Researchers have conducted many tests on lab animals to see how their body temperature changes with fear. In these lab experiments, scientists use infra-red thermography to get images in skin temperatures to see the animals' response to a fear agent. What they have generally found is that the animals usually froze into immobility with a significant drop in skin temperature. It's the same with people faced with fear, anxiety and nerves - although some may experience a rise in body temperature a lot of players will experience a drop in body temperature; their feet and hands become cold; body trembles. For some players, muscle tension will increase and breathing will become shallow (i.e., less oxygen entering the system) and labored.

In a match, this usually translates into 3-4 poor first games. But here's the kicker: rather than doing something productive to keep warm and "stay loose", some of these player will continue to walk around stiffly all bundled up in their track suits. I never understood why these players - if they care about the outcome in the first place - don't engage in some productive exercises to warm-up and "shake off" the anxiety. Jog in place, jump rope, run some sprints, play some practice points...anything to keep the blood flowing to the limbs and oxygen entering the system. Perhaps nobody told them regarding the physiological importance of "being limber". Warming up is not just important for the strokes but also for the body...the heart, the lungs, the muscles, the eyes, etc. As a player, it's important to enter the tennis court "firing on all pistons". If you wait 3-4 games to find a way to settle down, it may already be too late. As you get older, "comebacks" from 3-4 games down will be much more rare. Therefore, if you're the type who freezes under pressure, find a way to stay loose and limber. Start setting warm-up rituals early. All the "great players" hame them (I bet that even Nadal's pre-match sprint is a last second way to burn off some extra nervousness. And his jumping and running in the locker-room before the match is legendary).

Initially, it's better if you (junior player) get on the court sweaty (and perhaps a little tired) than "not warmed up at all". At  least you're ready to pounce on the ball from the word "GO!" As you get older and more experienced, you will be able to fine-tune your warm-up rituals to suit your needs and energy levels. But don't wait until the start of the match to do something that could have been addressed without a racket. 

Practice Makes...Imperfect?

Let's study these two pictures of the GOAT in action. Besides his impeccable preparation and picture perfect timing can someone tell me if they notice something that stands out?! I'll give you a hint...the head. Still not enough? OK, how about this - the eyes. Specifically, which eye is in front on the backhand and which eye is in front on the forehand?

After studying the picture for a few seconds, you will notice that the right eye is in front on the backhand while the left eye is in front on the forehand. Immediately before the contact point, let's try to guess which eye "sees" the ball first? I think that we can all agree that, under most circumstances, the eye that's in front (linearly speaking) of the other picks up the moving object first. Ocular dominance, sometimes called eye dominance, is the tendency to prefer visual input from one eye to the other. According to the article from Science Daily, "[i]n normal binocular vision there is an effect of parallax, and therefore the dominant eye is the one that is primarily relied on for precise positional information. This may be especially important in sports which require aim, such as archery, darts or shooting sports."

Why is this important for tennis players? Well, for one thing, much like baseball players, tennis players are engaged in a hitting activity. As suggested in the psyched.com article, a study of several University of Florida baseball players suggested that the best players were cross-eye dominant (i.e., batted right; but had a dominant left eye - the eye that saw the ball first): "College varsity level baseball players are twice as likely as the general population to have crossed dominance. The incidence of central eye dominance is considerably higher than the general population. The best hitters were centrally eye dominant or crossed eye-hand dominant." See also this abstract.

Much like hand-dominance, eye dominance is both innate but can also be trained. For example, Nadal is a natural righty but he has learned to play tennis left-handed. With respect to eyes, a player may very well be naturally right-eye dominant but by practicing a certain way - for example, hitting thousands of forehands (on one side of the body) and only a couple of hundred backhands (on the other side of the body) - it is possible that the player will train the left eye to take over. This could be detrimental to the backhand since, on the other side of the body, the left eye may be "further back".

As a result, it's possible that the player may be seeing the ball - and striking it - early on the forehand but late on the backhand (i.e.,  hitting it only when the ball has entered the field of vision for the left eye). If you suspect that this may be the case - for example, if you find yourself striking certain shots "off the front foot" and others "off the backfoot" - then, perhaps, your stroke is not to blame... maybe you've practiced a certain shot so much that it has had an effect on the eyes which, in turn, have affected when and how you hit another shot. I mention this because, often times, I see juniors hitting forehands in a 4:1 ratio to backhands (backhands are, sometimes, a mere "afterthought" if the forehand doesn't work out). There is at least some risk that disproportionate training - intentionally or inadvertently - on one side of the body may lead to an imbalance in perception which can have a detrimental effect on your strokes (and what you can do with the ball - i.e., someone who sees the ball late and hits it late might be unable to go down the line very well). The good news is that it seems that occular dominance (or balance) can be restored. Some baseball players use eye patches when doing their batting-cage practice (see The Baseball Coaching Bible by Jerry Kindall and John Winkin, p. 138) so there's no reason why a tennis player with a similar issue can't do the same (i.e. put an eye patch over one eye in order to train the non-dominant eye to see the ball sooner) on the ball machine or backboard.