The Return of Serve and Volley: Can It Happen?

[GeoffWilliams]

I don't like long matches, so I hit a lot of winners to shorten them. Too old and fat for grinding, although I do see the advantage of hitting three slow balls and one fast one. I do it to disguise my true game. All the pros do it. None of these guys match my power, but some are good at the net, usually with touch and drops, not the power volleys I can lay down. I've never played anyone that can hit a volley 85mph.

[don_budge]

A bit of advice...

Another, on a kick serve hit my me out wide, and the opp. sliced a very good return, down the line, which I had to sprint out full steam to reach, as it was heading for line, and got to the ball low, yet, absolutely killed it about 60 mph cross court 30 feet away from the guy.

There's nothing like hitting a deadly volley for a blazing winner 30 feet away from the opponent. Hitting a great groundie passing shot is like it a little, but easier, so it's not as satisfying.

Take it for what it's worth. If you are playing in the 55 and over crowd if you have the choice between hitting a screaming winner out of reach of your aging opponent and hitting one that is just within his grasp that he might make a lunging effort at it, only to barely get the ball back to you so that you might send another volley to some other remote part of the court in order that he might just barely reach it, only to send yet another weak effort back at you so that you might...well you get the picture. Now that is satisfaction...keeping your opponent in a point that he has no chance of winning and putting some mileage on his limits of endurance. Make him run that 30 feet and then make him run it again if you can.

Torture him...death by a thousand cuts. Make sure that at the end of the match you have taken his legs out from under him so that when you reach match point he is wobbling in front of you almost begging you to end it and you have only to take that Head racquet out once more from it's sheath with all of that wonderful stringing...to apply the loving and sweet coup de gras. Then kindly shake his hand and don't forget to say something nice. Just a thought! There is nothing like torturing your opponent by just hitting the ball out of his reach or just having him barely reaching it, only to pop it back up to you. Winners are great but the real joy is in seeing your opponent stretched to his limits...over and over.

It really sounds like you are having a ball, you are like a kid in a candy shop...keep up the good work and congratulations!

[GeoffWilliams]

I thought I was going to win the mill valley tournament, and had six set points against Virgin, but he psyched me, and I got a calf pull. He said, "You have to play to my pace!", as I was wiping sweat off my brow, on a hot day and sunscreen burning my eyes.

I should have said, "I have 20 seconds regardless, and the sweat is burning my eyes with sunscreen." So I let him rush me, and lost the match due to that, instead of sticking to the towel.

[johnyandell]

GW,

Awesome win at Peeble Beach 55s! I know how tough those 55 guys are cause they used to kick my ass in the 45s... Way to go.

JY

[GeoffWilliams]

Rpm string studies have shown, that a gut main and a high cof cross, such as alu power, l-tec 4s, cylcone, etc., produce the greatest amounts of spin. Gut alone, no, but a gut/poly hybrid can produce more rpm than poly alone: Hence, Roger at wilson premium (vs team gut)/alu power rough 17g, (48.5/46.2lbs) Djoker at: vs team/alu power, (59.5/57lbs) Murray at alu power/vs team,(61/61lbs) and even Roddick used a poly/gut hybrid: hurricane tour/vs team at about 63, although he dropped down to 57 latter stage.

Why is that? Why would gut snap back better than pure poly? Gut has more friction, so it's counter intuitive. All those natural animal fibers, grabbing and sticking. Pros don't use silicone spray on strings. The crosses, with the high cof, (less friction with a high number), are teflon infused, but when that teflon wears out, the snap back reduces, and so does the number of balls in, and depth increases due to less rpm. The edged strings, like msv hex, or rpm blast, or bhbr, etc., in a full set, are also high rpm jobs. I believe the best dollar/rpm for the buck is a poly/poly hybrid, a high rpm set in mains, and a high cof/power string in cross, to get the best of both worlds: high rpm coupled with high power we all love.

The gut fibers in main, tend to grab at the ball and dig into it, but when used as a full set, those same fibers produce too much friction for snap back, so the bed causes the ball to sail long too much. When coupled with teflon poly, the gut slides easily, and its own natural fibers also grab at ball in main.

Yesterday I won the pebble beach 55s, singles, and used msv hex 1.10mm/poly star energy 16L cross, in pro stock babolat roddick pure drive gt +, leaded and siliconed frames. Deadly spin, yet, high power and control. I came into net about 60 times a match, and broke opponents serves 11 out of 17 serve games. I held 80%. (Got to work on my serve still.) Good pop on volleys, yet, huge spin to pass/kick serves, and deadly rpms the old guys had not seen before.

I hit some awesome volleys (missed too many), one on a half volley break point against me, that was at my back hand ankles, and drove it cross court short angle for a net skimming deadly paced winner off the inside edge short porch.

Another, on a kick serve hit my me out wide, and the opp. sliced a very good return, down the line, which I had to sprint out full steam to reach, as it was heading for line, and got to the ball low, yet, absolutely killed it about 60 mph cross court 30 feet away from the guy. An open level match was playing right next to us, and the guys clapped, and the pakistani guy said, "Nice volley." I've never had any open guy take time out of his own match, during play, and say anything about my shots in my life! He said it because he knew he could not have hit that shot himself.

The main reason why serve/volley is gone is this: It's harder to learn and takes way more skill to hit shots at your ankles than it takes to hit them after the ball bounces and slows down to half speed. When the ball doesn't bounce, the ground has no chance to slow it down, so even slow balls at net can move faster than groundies that have bounced! Easy to jam yourself when you have half the time to hit the shots.

Net play is all about the reps at net in attacking mode, not just sitting there as you are fed easy balls you will never see in a match. It's for the explosive and fast players, who are able to keep their balance when stretched out wide, who are able to split step low for faster lateral movement, who are able to stomp on their volleys, eat their volleys, with short punches off ready position out front, who are able to "catch" their forehand volleys with non dom arm out front in line with frame hand so that they are coiled non dom. shoulder at ball contact, even if hips are open, shoulders are not on fh.

There's nothing like hitting a deadly volley for a blazing winner 30 feet away from the opponent. Hitting a great groundie passing shot is like it a little, but easier, so it's not as satisfying.
When I practice volleys, its only while I serve and volley, so I only face real time shots, hit by players trying to kill me, not feed me. Can't tell you how many times I've seen the ball go past me in an hours time of serving practice. LIke sweat off your brow, you wipe the last shot from memory. Got to have a short term memory for volley play. You are going to be passed. You are going to be broken. You are going to be beaten by guys who can't volley. Short term memory. Sampras lost 19 times in a row as junior when he switched to a one hander serve volley game. How many of us out there would have lost confidence and quit the game?

The truth is, this site is for those who want to improve, and who care more about that, than winning.
Whether you turn the corner on a shot or a style or a form or a technique, or an emotion or equipment, it's all freedom of choice, freedom of will, freedom of intention and energy and desire to improve, and the wins only are a resulting effect, not the journey with your family that it took to get to the vacation spot.

[johnyandell]

Would love to get your thoughts on Kerry Mitchell's latest article - "The Return of Serve and Volley: Can It Happen?"