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© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
Scenario: You hate to volley. But, in doubles, you sometimes have to be at the net. Your partner will not let you play at the baseline, when he/she is serving.
The most obvious pieces of advice here, are: Learn to volley. Don't go to the net with your radical Western grip and hit every volley out of bounds or into the net. Don't try to kill every easy volley; don't swing at your volleys. The volleys go between your opponents, or at their feet. If they are playing back, a short angle volley is great. Keep the ball in play. Any volley (no matter how bad) can be a winner. Even a mis-hit volley can be a winner.
But, I have an idea for you, which may work well, before you learn to volley. Your partner is serving, and you don't want to volley. Your opponents know this, and are going to power the ball down the line, or at you. They want an easy point. Scared? So what? Guard the line. Forget the middle. They blast it down the line, and you hit it back. Nothing fancy. But the harder they hit it, the more winners you hit. Like I said above, any volley can be a winner. Your opponents will be impressed. They won't hit it to you very often, after that. And they will tell you that you are a great volleyer.
Does that sound like you are putting a great burden on your partner? He she has to cover the middle. No, no burden. They won't hit very many wide cross-court shots. They will either go down the middle or down the line. The server can deal with the middle. He/she will be happy that the opponents are no longer hitting winners down the line. His/her serves are not being torn apart.
So, nobody is hitting down the line against you, because you burned them with a couple of volleys. Should you take one down the middle? Absolutely. But, expect to become the target again. They will try to keep you honest. But you will probably enjoy winning some more volleys.