Returning a Volley
Most of the time, you will return your opponent’s volleys with groundstrokes from the baseline area. Just as a player hitting volleys has less time to react to your shots, you will have less time to return your opponent’s volleys.
The first rule is not to panic. You don’t have to hit harder to win the point on the first shot once your opponent has approached the net. Sometimes it takes a setup shot first, followed by a true passing shot (a shot that passes your opponent at the net). Just place the ball where your opponent will have difficulty returning it. You have four return choices:
Passing shot to the backhand side
Passing shot to the forehand side
Jam shot at your opponent’s body
Lob over your opponent’s head
If you can control the ball well enough to return it directly to your opponent, you’re good enough to hit it away from the net player.
The second rule is to expect your groundstrokes to be returned quickly. Move into position and get your racket back sooner than you would during baseline exchanges. Don’t be surprised at quick returns. Learn to expect them. In tennis, predicting where and how your opponent is going to hit a shot is called anticipation.
Elite tennis players can predict the direction in which opponents will return the ball (some of the time). This skill of anticipation is one of the most valuable assets a player can have. Although reaction time is often perceived to be an inherited characteristic, skilled tennis players use visual information (the ability of an opponent, the type of shot, preparation time, the position of the racket face, the court surface, and the position of the opponent’s feet) to react to and anticipate the type, direction, and pace of balls returned to them. Although you may not yet have reached the level of a highly skilled player, it’s not too early to begin developing an awareness of the factors that determine where a ball is going.
Tennis: Steps to Success Jim Brown,Camille Soulier