Wall to the Ball

Both Roger Federer and Bianca Andreescu square the face to the incoming ball – though still moving forward they have both “aligned the wall to the ball.”

Tom Stow often introduced the simplicity of the volley technique by using a stool or chair such that the player would be still, be centered, and would make contact with the fewest moving parts.

I am using a ball machine and attempting to hit the ball precisely back to the machine (sometimes I was able to do just that).

But this concept, “wall to the ball” was the descriptive phrase from Bill Maze about the McEnroe volleying technique.  Bill had played doubles with Mac at Stanford and then for a time on the pro tour – and in dialogue I had asked Bill to tell me something about how Mac did it.

At first I thought he was joking – but in time it made sense and I have used it as a method to simplify technique.

Let me know how this works for you!

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