Drop Volleys On Clay

Here's a thought for everyone who plays on clay or Har-Tru -- Should all volleys (or at least the great preponderance) be drop volleys? You know those feathered touch shots hit with soft hands that drop just over the net? The type that John McEnroe made famous?

After growing up playing predominantly hard court tennis, I now play on clay. And, since I'm an attack player, coming to net and volleying away my opponents' passing shots is a big part of my game.

The classical approach to volleying is probably to volley deep and into the open court. Of course, sometimes you need to volley behind an opponent but, on hard court, if you volley with some sting to the open court, you can probably hit a winner.

Attacking on clay is a whole different animal.That's why, when you watch the upcoming French Open, you may not see too many points ending with volleys.

On clay, volleys sit up and give quick opponents enough time to hit either good passing shots or devastating lobs. Many quick players on clay play a defensive style of game, they stand quite far behind the baseline and just keep returning the ball until they can for get an error.

So, I've discovered, the hard way I might add, that deep volleys don't work that well on clay. Recently, I've begun hitting a lot of drop volleys and angled volleys,using soft hands, and my appreciation for using all the inches of the tennis court has greatly increased.

If your opponent is deep behind the baseline and you hit a drop volley, it's almost physically impossible for your opponent to run up and get to the ball. The short angled volley works the same way.

The other factor to consider is that most clay courters want nothing to do with approaching the net. Hittng drop volleys draws your opponents in, so that even if they get to the ball, they'll be at the net which is a place they usually don't want to be.

Watch the great clay courter Rafael Nadal play these next few weeks. When he hits a deep penetrating groundstroke which pulls his opponent very deep or wide, Nadal sneaks in and hits a winner drop volley. He's learned that when your opponent is deep and wide, that the play to make is to hit the drop volley.

Until next time,


Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Tactics Like Hitting Drop Volleys On Clay guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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