March 2019: Tim Henman Backhand Volley

[arturohernandez]

They look old school for some reason. No one seems to volley this way anymore. I wonder if it has to do with having grown up with different rackets/strings.

[stotty]

Henman has great volleys and touch in the forecourt, but Mac stands alone to me. Pat Cash was right there also.

McEnroe was a volleying anomaly. He was a 'feeler' more than a 'puncher' yet it worked for him. He always popped and nudged the ball into spaces in a way that was uncanny to watch. At the net, he had even greater feel than Roger, and that's saying something. Roger is volleying really well at the moment. He did a beautiful forehand volley off a sneak attack against that German bloke in the first round. He got right underneath and hit it with such perfect feel. There was nothing that outstanding about it other than he did it so perfectly.

[nemo1965]

Hm... not sure why our top current ten don’t get credit for being great volleyers. I think Federer can be counted
as one of the best volleyers in history.

No.

Roger has fantastic touch and hits fantastic approach-shots... but he is not able - like Edger and Heman - to hit a reasonable flat but controlled deep first volley that builds up for the finishing shot: the angled cross-court volley. He always slices the ball, often inside out, and that is what gives players like Djokovic and Nadal that extra chance to pass him.

Look at Henman and compare that to Roger 'walking' through the ball on the way to the net. Henman drives the ball from his shoulder with almost no turning of the underam, he takes the ball with him, as it were. Roger uses much more arm and I think it is a weaker shot.