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Ball Machine Drills: Approaching and Volleying

Groundstrokes Level 1

Complete these warm-up drills in five minutes to get your strokes and body warmed up.

  • 1 Short Court Narrow

    Intent: Warm up. Go through “self-checklist”. Set your topspin and slice swing path at an easy pace. You should only need to hit a max of 40-50 balls in this drill.

  • 4 Baseline Narrow

    Intent: Find your range for the opposite baseline. Utilize basic front-foot pivot footwork pattern.

Volley and Overhead

  • 1 Volley Narrow

    Intent: Easy balls for anyone to warm up their volleys and focus on technique.

  • 2 Easy Overheads

    Intent: Gentle lobs alternating deuce and ad court so you can work on your basic overhead timing without too much backward movement.

  • 3 Low Volleys

    Low balls in a variety of directions, so you can working on volleying up and over the net and hitting drop volleys.

  • High Volley Low Volley

    Intent: Alternating high and low volleys in random directions

  • Volley Close

    Intent: Medium-paced sitter volleys delivered in random directions so you can practice moving forward and putting the ball away.

  • Volley Overhead

    Intent: Alternating volleys and overheads so you practice your front and back movement and recovery.

Midcourt

  • Midcourt

    Intent: A series of shots intend to land near your feet if you are standing just behind the service line. There are some high balls mixed in.

  • Midcourt Variation

    Intent: A series of low shots, high shots, and lobs intended to challenge you if you are standing right behind the service line. This drill is for advanced players. If you are beginner/intermediate, then stick with the basic Midcourt drill.

Transition

A key consideration when doing these drills is to move forward explosively before contact the ball. Start behind the baseline and then move forward into the court to contact the ball and then proceed to net.

  • Short Ball Attack

    Intent: High, short fast-paced balls that you can attack on the rise. Place the recovery circle a foot inside the baseline in the center of the court. Move forward on diagonals to attack alternating balls on your forehand and backhand and return to the recovery circle between each ball. If the pace is too fast, you can slow down the feed rate for more recovery time.

  • Right Approach Left Volley

    Intent: A short ball to the Deuce side of the court followed by a passing shot to the Ad side of the court. Start at the baseline, then move forward to hit the approach shot from well inside the baseline. Then be ready to move very fast to split-step inside the service line so you can reach the volley on the other side of the court. You will need to move quickly!

  • Left Approach Right Volley

    Intent: A short ball to the Ad side of the court followed by a passing shot to the Deuce side of the court. Start at the baseline, then move forward to hit the approach shot from well inside the baseline. Then be ready to move very fast to split-step inside the service line so you can reach the volley on the other side of the court. You will need to move quickly!

  • Approach 3x Volley Lob Easy

    Intent: A 5-ball sequence so you can practice approaching the net, hitting three varying volleys, and putting away an overhead.