Volley Dinks
Why this drill
Taking the dink out of the air steals time from your opponent and keeps you off your heels — but it demands softer hands than letting it bounce. This drill isolates the air dink until it feels as safe as the bounce version.
Setup
Both players at their non-volley-zone lines, cross-court diagonal.
The drill
Dink rally in three rounds. Round one: everything off the bounce, as a control. Round two: every dink taken out of the air — no bounces allowed; a rally of fifteen is the target. Round three: player's choice, but call "air" or "bounce" out loud before each ball so the decision is deliberate. The air dink should land as short and as low as the bounce dink did; if it floats deeper, you are pushing through it instead of absorbing it.
One thought to take on court
Meet the ball in front with a dead paddle — the air dink is a catch and release, not a hit.