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After a bandeja cross-court, which way do you recover?
Recover forward and toward the middle, on the diagonal of your bandeja. The reply comes back that way.
You hit a bandeja deep cross-court. As you recover to the net, do you move straight forward or on a diagonal?
Recover forward and toward the middle, on the diagonal of your bandeja. The reply comes back that way.
Why
Recovery after the overhead is not just "back to the net", it is back to the net on the line the reply will take. A cross-court bandeja produces a reply that comes back cross-court or through the middle, so the recovery is forward and slightly toward the centre, along the diagonal of your own shot. Recovering straight forward to the line leaves the middle open for the ball that is most likely to come. It is a matter of a metre, but the metre is the difference between a comfortable next volley and a lunge.
What this means at your level
Beginner
After you hit the overhead, walk forward toward the middle of the net, not straight to the side.
Intermediate
Split-step as they hit the reply, wherever you have reached. Recovery and readiness are two different things.
Advanced
The recovery line changes with the target: after a line bandeja, recover more toward the line, because the reply comes back down it or through the middle from that side.
Common questions
You hit a bandeja deep cross-court. As you recover to the net, do you move straight forward or on a diagonal?
Forward and toward the middle. Recover forward and toward the middle, on the diagonal of your bandeja. The reply comes back that way. Recovery after the overhead is not just "back to the net", it is back to the net on the line the reply will take. A cross-court bandeja produces a reply that comes back cross-court or through the middle, so the recovery is forward and slightly toward the centre, along the diagonal of your own shot. Recovering straight forward to the line leaves the middle open for the ball that is most likely to come. It is a matter of a metre, but the metre is the difference between a comfortable next volley and a lunge.
Why not straight forward, back to your line?
Straight forward leaves the middle open for the most likely reply. Angle the recovery toward it.
What should a beginner do here?
After you hit the overhead, walk forward toward the middle of the net, not straight to the side.
How does this change for an advanced player?
The recovery line changes with the target: after a line bandeja, recover more toward the line, because the reply comes back down it or through the middle from that side.
Puzzles like this one
They lobbed you deep. Smash it or play the bandeja?
Deep ball, high hands: bandeja. The shot exists to keep you at the net, not to win the point.
beginnerBoth of them are at the net. What is the highest-percentage ball?
Only the lob moves a net pair backwards. Everything else invites them forward.
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.