The Forcing Approach Shot

Developing the approach correctly will yield opportunities even for players without great natural volleys.

The approach shot is vastly underutilized in today’s game. This is true at the pro,
junior and club levels. That is the bad news. The overwhelmingly good news is that if players understand
the right concepts and implement them, they can make the approach shot an important component of their
game, and significantly enhance their ability to win. By adopting and
practicing the principles presented here, they will find volley opportunities that can be exploited,
even with a net game that is not particularly potent.

Why are approach shots so rare? It is not that today’s players are incapable of learning
a good approach game. The problem is that they don’t develop it early enough, and therefore, they never
really become comfortable with it. If players are able to learn the various elements and put them together
at an early age, they will then be comfortable using them in matches. As in so many aspects of the game, your
comfort level drives what you are going to do. This article and the ones that follow will lay out a pathway to accomplish this goal.

Multiple Components