5 tips for perfecting your backhand volley

The volley is an important shot in tennis because it gives a player the opportunity to be aggressive and end points quickly. The backhand volley can be a tough shot to master, but with a little work, it can become a true weapon on the court.

Hitting the best volley possible requires you to prepare your whole body, not just your hands and arms.

• To do this, make sure you turn your hands, arms, torso, legs and feet.
• This will ensure that when it comes time to hit the ball, you'll be able to step into the volley and give it a real punch.

It might sound scary to move your head towards a moving tennis ball, but doing so will help you figure out how to get close enough to a ball to hit a backhand volley.

• Move your head toward the ball with your racket back then, once you're an arm's length away, you'll be ready to stop, step into the ball and hit it.

As you set up for your backhand volley, you'll want to hold the neck of your racket with your non-dominant hand.

• When you're hitting the volley, you'll want to let go of the racket with that hand and use it for balance.
• Use your dominant hand to punch through the volley and pull your other arm back in the opposite direction.
• This pull between your arms will help balance you and ensure that you swing (or punch) through your volley.

When it comes to making low volleys, make sure you bend your knees instead of lowering or "dropping" your racket.

• You want to keep your wrist at essentially a 90 degree angle to your racket when you hit the ball.
• Dropping the racket to get a low ball instead of dropping your knees will result in a loss of slice on the ball and may result in either popping it up or missing it entirely.

Using a wall to practice your backhand volley on is a great way to improve your reflexes and form.

• Make a mark on the wall where the net is then hit the ball above that mark.
• Try to continuously volley the ball back to yourself from the wall over the net point.

These five helpful tips should help you improve your backhand volley and achieve tennis dominance.