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You have just played a ball off the corner. Where do you go?
Play the ball, then get out of the corner. Home is the middle of your half, two metres inside the glass.
You have hit a ball out of your back-left corner, near where the glass panels meet. Where should you recover to?
Play the ball, then get out of the corner. Home is the middle of your half, two metres inside the glass.
Why
The corner is a place to hit from, never a place to wait. After every shot from the corner, recover diagonally forward to the middle of your half, a couple of metres inside the back glass, before the opponents hit again. From there the next ball is in front of you and the walls are helping: a ball into the corner comes back off two surfaces toward your new position. Stay in the corner and the next ball is played away from you, into space you can no longer reach.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Hit the ball, then take two quick steps toward the middle of your half, every single time. Waiting in the corner is how you get stuck there.
Intermediate
Recover as you finish the swing, not after watching the ball. The two things happen together.
Advanced
Corner recovery is where fitness shows late in a match. The player who stops recovering fully in the third set is the one who loses it.
Common questions
You have hit a ball out of your back-left corner, near where the glass panels meet. Where should you recover to?
Recover to the centre of your half, off the glass. Play the ball, then get out of the corner. Home is the middle of your half, two metres inside the glass. The corner is a place to hit from, never a place to wait. After every shot from the corner, recover diagonally forward to the middle of your half, a couple of metres inside the back glass, before the opponents hit again. From there the next ball is in front of you and the walls are helping: a ball into the corner comes back off two surfaces toward your new position. Stay in the corner and the next ball is played away from you, into space you can no longer reach.
Why not move toward the middle of the court, next to your partner?
Then the left side is empty. Recover to your own half, not to the centre of the court.
What should a beginner do here?
Hit the ball, then take two quick steps toward the middle of your half, every single time. Waiting in the corner is how you get stuck there.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Corner recovery is where fitness shows late in a match. The player who stops recovering fully in the third set is the one who loses it.
Puzzles like this one
The ball is at your feet at the net. What now?
A ball below the net cannot be attacked. Block it deep and wait for one above the tape.
beginnerThe ball is coming off the back glass. When do you hit it?
Move back with the ball, let it pass you, hit it in front of your body.
intermediateYour partner got pulled wide. Where do you stand?
The pair moves like one body. When your partner is pulled wide, you take the middle.