Aggressive accomplished tennis players look at a short ball return as an opportunity to attack their opponent by either using a sharp angled shot or a well placed approach shot to set up a put-a-way volley. Less experienced players are often caught by surprise when an opponent hits a short ball as a result of their good shot or a mishit. I noticed that these players often react to the short ball like they would react to a ball hit deep into their side of the court.  The first thing they do is pull their racquet back. This shifts part of their weight backwards, too. Therefore, they are leaning back when they should be exploding forward. I tested this concept with one of my young students. I measured the time it took her to reach the net when she pulled her racquet back first and then measured the time it took her to reach the net when she exploded forward and adjusted her racquet on route to the net. The time savings was .4 seconds.  A savings of .4 seconds might not seem like much but it can equate to 2 - 4 extra feet. Enough to return a ball that a player was not able to return before. We continued to test this concept during the rest of the lesson and she was able to return balls that she previously was unable to get. 

George Haley