The Tennis Volley: How to Play at the Net (and Why It Still Wins Points)

There is a particular kind of nerve involved in walking forward in tennis. The baseline is comfortable: you have time there, room to swing, a second or two to read the ball. Step inside the service line and all of that disappears. That moment, when a player commits to the net and punches the ball away before it bounces, is one of the most satisfying in the sport, and one a lot of club players quietly avoid.

This guide is about the volley: what it is, how to hit one that actually goes where you want, and why coming forward still wins points even in an era built around the baseline.

What is a volley in tennis?

A volley is any shot you hit before the ball bounces. That is the whole definition. Where a groundstroke waits for the ball to land and come back up, a volley takes it out of the air, usually near the net. Because you are closer to your opponent and cutting off their time, a well-placed volley is one of the quickest ways to finish a point.

The trade-off is that you have less time too. A volley is not a scaled-down forehand or backhand; it is its own shot, with its own grip and its own, much shorter, motion. You do not need a special tennis racket to volley well, though a manoeuvrable frame you can get into position quickly certainly helps; if you are unsure what suits your game, our guide to choosing a racket walks through weight, balance and head size in plain terms.

The grip: nearly every volley starts continental

Here is the single biggest shortcut to better volleys. Use one grip for both sides. Almost every good volleyer holds the racket in a continental grip, the same one used for the serve and the slice, and keeps it there whether the ball comes to the forehand or the backhand. There is simply no time at the net to switch grips as you would on the baseline.

The continental grip sets the racket face slightly open, which is exactly what you want: it lets you meet the ball out in front, add a touch of backspin for control and drop the ball short when you need to. If the terms bevel, continental and eastern are new to you, our guide to tennis grips explains how to find each one on the handle. Learn the continental grip once and your volleys, serve and slice all improve together.

How to hit a tennis volley: punch, do not swing

The most common mistake at the net is treating the volley like a groundstroke and taking a big backswing. On a volley the pace is already on the ball: your job is to redirect it, not to generate power. Think of a short, firm punch rather than a swing. A reliable volley comes down to a handful of things:

• Racket up and in front. Keep the head above the wrist and the whole racket in front of your body. You should be able to see the strings and the ball at the same time.
• Little or no backswing. Take the racket back only as far as your shoulder turn naturally carries it. Any more and you will be late.
• Meet the ball out in front. Contact happens ahead of you, not beside you. A slightly open face adds backspin, which keeps the ball low and controlled.
• Step in. Move forward into the shot with the opposite foot. The firmness comes from your body weight moving through the ball, not from your arm.
• Short follow-through. The racket finishes just in front of contact, with no big finish over the shoulder as there is on a forehand.

Get those right and a high ball becomes a simple put-away, while a low ball becomes a controlled block that drops into the court. The volley is as much about stillness and timing as it is about movement.

Footwork: the split step is everything

Good volleying is really good movement with a racket attached. The key habit is the split step: a small hop that lands just as your opponent strikes the ball, so your weight is balanced and you can push off in any direction. Without it you are flat-footed and reaching; with it you arrive in position to punch the ball cleanly.

This is where the right footwear earns its place. The quick, short, sideways steps around the net put real demand on your shoes, and running trainers do not offer the lateral support you need. Proper court shoes are built for stop-start movement, and our tennis shoe buying guide covers how to match the outsole to your surface.

Serve and volley: a lost art worth knowing

For decades, the fastest route to a title was to serve and sprint forward. Serve-and-volley tennis, where a player follows the serve straight to the net to finish with a volley, produced some of the sport's great stylists: Pete Sampras and Stefan Edberg built Grand Slam careers on it, Patrick Rafter made it look effortless, and Martina Navratilova dominated the women's game by living at the net. On the lawns of Wimbledon especially, points were often over in three or four shots.

So why has it all but vanished from the professional game? Several things changed at once. Court surfaces were slowed down, giving opponents more time to line up a passing shot. Players grew bigger, fitter and better at returning. And crucially, modern polyester strings let players hit heavy, dipping topspin passes that drop at a volleyer's feet. For a sense of how much string choice shapes the way the game is played, our guide to tennis strings is a good place to start.

None of that makes the net obsolete. Even today's baseline-first stars come forward to finish points, and at club level, where returns are rarely as punishing, a confident volleyer has a genuine weapon.

Should club players come to the net?

Yes, and more often than most do. At recreational level a huge number of points are lost rather than won, and nothing pressures an opponent into an error like a player standing at the net. You do not need to serve and volley every point; you simply need to recognise the right ball to move forward on: a short reply, a weak second serve, or any shot that lands around the service line and sits up.

To improve your volleys, keep it simple. Practise with a partner feeding balls gently to each side so you groove the continental grip and the short punch, add the split step so moving in becomes automatic, and aim deep or sharply cross-court. Resist the urge to over-hit; a firm, well-placed volley beats a wild one every time.

The net is where points end. Spend a little time there in practice and you will stop fearing that step forward, and start looking for it.