This drives me nuts …
You’re up at net and your doubles partner puts up a lob.
And the first thing you do (sorry, not actually picking on you!) is automatically start to back up.
Erghhhh …
You’re up there at net because it’s an advantage in lots of different ways, but especially when your partner plays a lob over an opponent’s backhand side.
Here’s what I mean.
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I worked a lot on my high backhand and it was very good relative to the rest of my game. If it was in my wheel house I might challenge the net player. In this case the net player is far enough back yet close enough to put pressure on, and the guy hitting the high backhand is a little too far back and doesn’t have a lot of time to really set up to clobber it, if he has the shot. I would now try to keep the lobber back and not give him any angles and wait for something better.
Hey Mike.
I agree. Try to Paul, the lobber, back and just get back to neutral …
Brent
Brent
I reckon Phil ought to try and volley to the opposing net players feet – he won’t be able to smack that volley hard but it will be difficult for the receiving net player to react quickly and get out of trouble
I would hit the ball right at the volleyers feet. It dosent need to be hard. Chances are he wont be able to control it or its going to come back high with an easy put away.
Hey Cyp.
IF you can get the ball played down to the net player’s feet, that could work.
Brent
Hi Brent! I would play the backhand smash down the middle towards the T. The shot is low to the net person so if they try to pick it up the respone should be weaker or they probably hit it late and into the net. It also puts the ball back to the oppenent’s backhand which is usually not as strong as the other wing. I like the down the middle because from a “defensive” position, it gives me a lot of court to hit into and keeps the play in front of me and partner
Hi Joseph.
Down the middle might work IF your shot doesn’t stay up high, so you’re right, it’s got to stay low as it gets to the net player.
Brent
I like the lob volley, very high to the backhand corner. I’d be thinking that I’d just been knocked into a major defensive situation, as that lob must have been *perfect* for Brian not to have taken it. I’d be looking to buy some time and, if the lob is deep enough, hopefully get back up to the net in time for the next shot. I don’t want to end up on my heels in no-man’s-land with my opponents both at the net, looking at a sitter. I don’t even fear *fronthand* overheads from deep in the court – even from great players once they’re gettin old like that.
Morning Kevin.
Not a bacd choice.
You’ve got to have really good balance and awareness that this type of shot, a lob volley, is a possibility.
Not sure that most of us do …
Brent
With as much time as I spend in trouble, practicing that sort of shot is a high priority. And, playing with old guys who never consider the possibility of covering their *own* lobs – even if their partner is coming in behind his serve – has led me to practice that shot a *lot*. There are definitely some tricks to it. *And*, if said partner won’t even bother to *cross* once you’ve hustled back behind him to cover said lob, you have the option of maybe not hitting the “perfect” lob volley and maybe allow that partner to learn a little lesson the hard way.
Once I see that he is in a somewhat defensive position I like to take a step towards the net and also towards the middle. The opponent is thinking to play it safe back to the deuce side which he thinks is the open side. But I can cut that off and poach. If he hits a winner down my alley then so be it.
Morning Mike.
Smart …
Brent
I would hold my ground at the net and get ready for a return at me or down the middle. If he can hit the alley with his high backhand volley, good for him.
Ditto on my comment above to Mike.
Brent
I think the play we are discussing is the movement of the lobber’s partner…
If I know/see that there is a backhand overhead coming, I try to hold my ground or push forward to cut off the short cut shot to the alley .
What I see is that most players are comfortable hitting a backhand overhead/high volley across their body – in this case, to the alley. That’s also where they can use their wrist snap to generate pace if the play a true backhand overhead.
In order to place it down the middle or to the deuce alley, they have to firm up their arm and reduce the pace.
So, if I can go into his favorite hitting spot, we have time and position to counterattack.
Hey Kirk.
Good analysis.
My shot type and direction always comes with what angle will this shot give my opponent depending on where I end up after playing the shot.
In this case, I’ll be thinking much more about my court position, where I am on the court after my shot.
Not all shots are opportunities to end the point, in fact most shots in doubles aren’t.
We always need to assume our shot is coming back – where do we want to be on the court IF it does come back.
Brent
The best shot to is to hit the high backhand volley to the person who is deepest in the court and recover to try and set up the point again. The net player should realize the shot is to the weaker side and will be ready for a volley!
Morning Roger.
Smart choice …
Brent
The player at the net should stay there, on the tips of his toes, no flat footing, glue his eyes to the raquect of the executer, or server in this example. Once the server is irreversibly commited to hit the ball, the player at the net should come in closer to net to put away the return wherever it is aimed. If the server tries a lob, this should be left to the partner of the player at the net. Of course, if the server were one of the Brian brothers, it could be risky because he could hit the ball hard and straight to the chest of the fellow at the net, what could require great hands and reaction time from him.
Orlando …
Very well stated.
Brent
Hi Brent,
Two best choices are hit deep down the middle or angle sharp cross court. Deep down the middle will probably get past the net man who didn’t back up, or at least make it a tough volley. If it does get past then the baseline player has to hit a backhand with two opponents controlling the net. The sharp angle cross court has a better chance of an outright winner but might be a tougher shot to execute.
Cheers,
Richard
Hey Richard.
Down the middle is good IF your shot gets down quickly so that you don’t give Bill, the player up at net, a chance for a waist high volley.
Brent
Lob over the net man’s backhand side.
Heu Chuck.
Could work …
Brent
High backhand volley deep and down the middle.
Morning Gary.
I don’t like deep with your shot selection.
Down the middle is probably OK, but dep means you risk it staying up pretty high as it travels past the net player, Bill.
Brent
High slice backhand volley down the alley and out of the court, aiming for a bounce just before or at the net player’s feet.
Hungry …
It sure looks open, but that shot requires extraordinary technique, strength, and flexibility.
Oh, and a ton of practice …
Brent
Backhand smash down the middle at the T nd follow in hoping for a poor return.
Don’t know about you Bert, but a high backhand ‘smash’ isn’t in my available toolbox
Brent
It depends what he can do with his backhand overhead. If he can smash it, go for the net man’s right hip. The problem is that few people have a good backhand smash.
Can he angle it sharply? That’s a precision shot — to skim the net and land near the doubles sideline. I’d assume not many people can hit that shot reliably, either.
How about a lob-volley over the backhand of the net player? That would be effective. But the lob-volley is a difficult shot — all the moreso on a high volley / overhead. (I’ve seen clips of Federer hitting a lob with his forehand overhead; I don’t know whether many people can do that off the backhand side.)
A defensive play would be to slice it low down the middle. At least it’s not likely to be an immediate error, and done well it would not provide oppornents a put-away opportunity.
Good reality check on those shots.
I’d be thinking about where I am on the court and what shot I could hit that buy me and my partner an extra second or two of time to try and re-group for better court positioning.
Brent
I agree with the lob – especially if the net man tends to close on the net or at least lean into a possible volley!
Morning Warren.
Good call on thinking about Bill’s, the net player, tendencies.
If this was later in the match, and you’d never played against him before, you might have been able to pick up on a tendency such as closing the net too much.
That lob volley just might be a great choice.
Brent
I was putting myself in Bill’s place – I tend to close on the net too much. I would HATE a good lob volley!
From the video it looks like it’s a short lob to the backhand side. If that’s true, I would drive a volley to the net persons feet (the net person is back far enough and the ball is high enough to do this).
If the ball is actually deeper than it looks, the returner is in a defensive posture and the ball needs to be lobbed into the Ad court corner.
Morning Will.
It’s not a short lob. If it was, right, a shot angled down at Bill’s feet would be a great choice.
Brent
cross court away from net player
Morning Kathy.
Smart, high percentage play that allows Phil, who’s having to handle that high backhand volley, to re-claim a better court position …
Brent
Lob over ad player!
Cross court deep away from the net player.
I love my backhand high volley so I would hit it AT the net man. But most players should lob the net man to the corner i.e. to his backhand.
Fire it up the middle inbetween the other team
Hit down the middle
I personally think that Phil should hit his high back hand return, straight down the T, as near to the service line as possible.. ….
Admitedly, i doubt i would be able to pull this difficult high back hand shot off.
go back to the guy that lobbed or hit a bh volley down the middle or lob over the ad player’s head. .
getting the ball back to the guy that lobbed may be the easiest choice.
High backhand volley for most players is hard to control. The high % shot is back down the middle. If the net man gets to it it will be a popup. Or the deepman will hit a backhand which can be handled. To answer the question re the netman requires some knowledge of the opponents ability. Since it is a high backhand I’d probably hold my position.
The. Backhand lob. Player has two shots one down the middle the other down the alley. Down the alley. Is probably the best shot because the other partner could have a chance to get to it
The guy takes the high backhand is now the terminator of the team. The logical shot is short to short. He should hit it to the target in the area where Bill is.
Bill should close on to the net as a backhand reply in this situation and standard would usually be weaker in return and could be cut off and volleyed away. If they counter lob, then the rear player should cover that and possibly then Bill would cross to his right to cover the deuce court side net.
I think the right shot for Phil is a medium paced high backhand down the middle bouncing level with Bill and on to Paul’s backhand drawing him forward. If he aims deeper down the middle he risks Bill intercepting it and volleying it. And if it is a little short it will encourage Paul to play it up – to give Phil or Brian a high volley. The volley wide of Paul’s forehand is a tough one to make and requires pretty quick footwork to get in position. The volley straight at Bill’s feet would be good, but Phil seems to have already got his shoulder well round making it hard to open up and go at Bill.
Brent,
I just received my first shipment of Life Shotz this afternoon. I’ll start tomorrow with breakfast then jump in the car and see you in the desert at the Babolat.
Two good choices, one fair choice. It doesn’t look like the lob is going to be too deep or too short. Safest choice is to block it back medium deep to Paul. He’s moving into no-man’s-land and a moderately deep volley could pin him back, maybe even force him to half-volley which would give Brian or Phil a sitter. The third-best shot would be to angle it cc under two conditions: 1. Phil’s contact point is no further back than the service line and 2. Phil possess some sting on his BH volley. Knowing Phil, he had rotator cuff surgery and may not be hitting the high BH volley with enough pace yet (he still has plenty of game without that shot, however). The other really good choice would be to hit deliberately at Bill’s shoe strings. Knowing Bill, he is VERY consistent but the net is not where he’s best and his volleys lack power. Phil could drop a firm volley at Bill’s feet then close hard for a probable sitter. If the lob pushes Phil back, however, this would NOT be a smart thing to attempt. In that case, there’s only one good choice and that would be back at Paul.
If he has enough power in his high backhand, then back at the net player’s feet; if not, a lob over the net player. The sharp angle is very risky from his position
Great example, Brent.
Correct shot is center court right at the “T”, service line depth and slightly favoring the opponents net man side. Putting it away from him but at the depth of his feet, hopefully his heels!!!
if He is a little off balance, slice it back to the lobber, low, and look for a second ball….on balance with the ball in front I agree with a hard backhand volley at the T…if ball is a low lob and you get it in front hit a hard short drop volley (fun and risky)
Morning gang …
I’m at the Babolat senior tournament at the Mission Hills CC in Rancho Mirage (Palm Springs) CA.
If you’re in the area, stop by and say hi.
I’ll try to find some time today to jump online and respond to more of your great comments.
Have an absolutely awesome day out there today!
Brent
Mixed, only??
Men’s 60 dubs and 40 mixed…
Brent
Woulda been fun to have seen what you and Hugh coulda done in the 65′s dubs. . .
I’m with Andy’s proposed deep tee shot
I’m with Andy’s deep deep shot proposal
If I were Phil I would try to play it back to Paul since he is in the back court. If I were Bill I would be looking to pinch the middle.
Hello Brent, a bit late to the give and take here, so will just say that recently I have become aware of the lob volley and I’m trying to build it into my game.
Often we talk about the need to set up our partner. However, what is interesting is discovering ones partner is not in a position to or even thinking about taking advantage of such a setup shot – one of those soc/rec issues that is a rough one to overcome as I think it often reflects lob fear and lack of setup partners vs mostly singles oriented partners.