The Forehand Swing Volley

The swing volley—common on both tours.

The swing volley—once considered a radical shot pioneered by the likes of Andre Agassi—is now commonplace on the pro tour for both men and women. Players rip the ball from all corners of the court directly out of the air, with little fear or reservation.

Let's explore the technique and tactics of this modern shot. This month the forehand swing volley and next month the backhand.

The footwork setup is critical for this aggressive shot. Players must move quickly and urgently forward without hesitation. The mindset of attacking any high floating balls is also key. Players need to have the confidence to attack with no fear. Footwork builds this confidence.

The swing volley is usually played inside the court, in the midcourt or near the service line. This means the short sprint forward to the floating ball is important. Players should explode forward and setup with a semi-open stance or a closed to neutral stance. I train both setups with my players.

In any stance, it's important to setup with a wide base and good posture. In Spain this is often called the "support system." From that base of support, players will often rise up off the ground, exploding up into the ball. It's important to also train the landing, making sure it is balanced and stable.

The mindset of attacking floating balls is key.

From the landing, players can wait in the midcourt for the next ball—or more commonly—use the swing volley to enter the net area.

It's important to "make the ball run," as they say in Spain. I tell my students to "make the ball dip," or curve in the air. This emphasis encourages them to be whippy and flick their wrist and forearm. I want elasticity and acceleration. The extra topspin on the ball provides a margin of safety. In my experience, players often play the swing volley too flat. It's important to get under the ball and brush it aggressively.

I tell my students that shaping the ball helps the consistency of the swing volley. I'm not sure exactly why but I have found that my students often miss the swing volley in the net. It's a common place for errors. Therefore I stress shaping and dipping the ball to get more margin over the net.

It's important for players to understand that if they are in a good position to hit a swing volley, they have already achieved a strong advantage in the point. They don't have to get too aggressive with the shot. The choice to move forward and take the ball out of the air is already aggressive enough without trying to force the shot too big or powerful or flat.

I encourage players to hold their gaze at contact like Roger.

I'm a big fan of Roger's technique and the way he stabilizes his head position at the contact.

I encourage my students to hold their gaze the way Roger does. What I've found is that there is so much adrenaline and excitement when attacking a swing volley—and with the other player hustling to recover—it's easy for the player to get distracted and take his or her eyes off the ball. Keeping the head still helps control the balance of the body and prevent miss hits.

As I mentioned, whip and elasticity is key during the swing. If you are relaxed in your wrist and arm, multiple finishes are possible. Finish variations are limited if the wrist and arm are not relaxed. If a player Is too tight in the musculature, it's hard to reverse or buggy whip the finish for example. Coaches sometimes encourage variation of finishes but don't address the stiffness in the player's arm.

I teach students next gen finishes on the forehand swing volley.

Vertical reverse and hook finishes are common on lower contact swing volleys. Lower inverted finishes are common on higher contact swing volleys. As I have written before, I'm not a big believer in the old school follow through to the neck. On the swing volley, I encourage my student to follow through in more next gen ways.

As I mentioned before, players need to understand that, by moving forward quickly, they are already in a strong position. They are winning! They have taken the advantage in the point. I tell them to focus on taking time away rather than overpowering the ball. Many players get too ambitious with the swing volley rather than understanding that they are winning with position and time control—not just power.

In my experience, players frequently miss the swing volley long. While it's important to clear the net, I actually advise my students to aim short to adjust for the shorter distance available from the midcourt or service line to the opposite baseline.

It's possible the serve and swing volley will replace classic serve and volley.

I frequently see players extend and lift as if they are hitting a shot from deep behind the baseline. Players need to adjust their targeting short to account for less room available for the attack shot. They actually need to extend less and scrape the ball more.

If it's feasible, using a short angle swing volley is a great play—and also a great entry to the net. Usually a sharp angle would be hit on a wide and lower contact point ball.

I love the serve and swing volley play. It's a riff off the classic serve and volley. It's common to get floating balls off a big power serve or a strong wide serve, which allows the player to pick off returns directly out of the air. The player needs to be encouraged to be aggressive, have no fear, and to attack those floating returns!

The swing volley can run the ball through the court better than the traditional flat or slice volley, and the ball can be hit harder. The extra topspin also makes it safer than a regular volley.

I also love to teach my players to hit a big return and then look to finish with a swing volley out of the air. This is a great one two punch combination that can really demoralize the server.

Power and touch: a swinging volley followed by a drop shot.

Toni Nadal has a saying, "Velocidad y Habilidad." He likes to see players combining touch with power. I teach my players the same principle. It's awesome to combine a powerful topspin swinging volley from the midcourt, rise to the net, and then hit a soft drop shot or angle finishing volley to win the point.

The typical advice is to hit the swing volley on high balls between the hip and shoulder. That's good advice. However, it's wrong to limit players to only high balls. In my experience, my students have been able to attack any height ball directly out of the air—including low balls. The key is mindset and following the technical principals outlined above.

The swing volley is a great tool to use against moonballers and pushers. Especially in the younger age divisions, moonshots are quite common. I teach my players to counter a pusher by taking their lobs out of the air. This is a key strategy for dealing with pushers.

Don't limit the swing volley to high balls only.

The swing volley is versatile and can be used in different situations at the net both offensively and defensively to get out of tricky situations. For example, the swing volley can be a good substitute for a smash at the net.

The swing volley is here to stay. It may even become perfected to the point of replacing the traditional volley. I would not be surprised to see a future down the road where top players rarely hit a traditional volley and primarily go for the swing at net.

I highly recommend incorporating the swing volley into your practices. One easy way to do this is by setting up different point situations based on the tactical areas and patterns mentioned previously. Good luck amigos!

The Forehand Swing Volley

Chris Lewit