Ramy Ashour is probably the only player on a constant basis who after a not perfectly executed volley nick attempt is not shy to go for a second one straight afterwards, and often with success. This one is even more special as he hit it by jumping very high and slightly from behind his body.
You might say: genius, and that you can not teach this. I however will keep saying that if you force your players to stay on court for solo "angle-sessions" - feeding themselves all around the court, different angles, different heights, with aiming to put the ball each time into the nick, drop or smash - they will end up feeling the kind of geometry that is needed to find the right lines at the right times. I do not deny Ramy's genius, but be assured, he has spent more time doing these kind of solo sessions than anyone else in the world.
The other thing to note is how extremely Ramy bounces to prepare for his split-steps. You probably remember our post about the split-step, but to be honest I wouldn't recommend to many people to try to implement this boxer-kind of movement as it is very very demanding. It's part of Ramy's genius that his stamina is capable to deal with such a high rate cardiac investment, but for more ordinary people it is also possible to have an excellent split-step in a much more economical mode (best examples probably would be Gregory Gaultier, Peter Barker or Karim Darwish for this version).
The other thing to note is how extremely Ramy bounces to prepare for his split-steps. You probably remember our post about the split-step, but to be honest I wouldn't recommend to many people to try to implement this boxer-kind of movement as it is very very demanding. It's part of Ramy's genius that his stamina is capable to deal with such a high rate cardiac investment, but for more ordinary people it is also possible to have an excellent split-step in a much more economical mode (best examples probably would be Gregory Gaultier, Peter Barker or Karim Darwish for this version).
But there is another reason to today's post; does anybody remember, or even better: posses on video a similar shot, just executed in even more extreme conditions by Jonathon Power? He did it against Peter Nicol, but from the very back of the court, jumping even higher, and if I remember well, he has even climbed on the side-wall to reach Nicol's lob. I don't know where and when I saw that rally, it's been now a few years that I desperately try to find it on Youtube, with no success. Anyone has got good news for me?