The Swinging Volley and the Future of Attacking TennisJohn YandellThe swinging volley: it happens more and more but does anyone notice what it means?
Novak Djokovic did it at Wimbledon. So did Andy Murray and Roger Federer. But no commentators seemed to notice. I am talking about serving and then hitting a swinging first volley for a winner. Is the swinging volley a situational shot in the pro game? Or is the basis for the reinvention of attacking tennis? The swinging volley has been around for decades. Andre Agassi hit it. Martina Hingis hit it. John McEnroe claimed to have invented it. Serena and Maria Sharapova regularly hit swinging volleys off both sides. Eugenie Bouchard swings on virtually all midcourt volleys. At Indian Wells in 2015 I saw Philip Kohlschreiber hit a swinging backhand volley for a winner. Both Roger and Novak hit numerous swinging volleys in the final. Most of the other men’s players also hit them, even Rafael Nadal. I believe that pro tennis is at a tipping point. The swinging volley is going revitalize the attacking game, including the addition of a radical new form of serve and volley. Currently there is no net attack strategy that works in pro tennis on any surface, including grass. Serves or approach shots followed by classical volleys no longer create enough pressure to allow players to finish points on a consistent basis. True, in the last few months, Federer has gone to the net much more frequently and actually beat Novak Djokovic on a slick hard court in Dubai, hitting some sensational classical volleys. All top players even Nadal now hit swinging volleys.
But in general attacking the net is at best a situational, complimentary strategy. If it worked on a regular basis you would see many more tour players doing it. There are obvious conditions in the current game that prevent successful net attack: the slower court speeds, the incredible, athletic court coverage of modern players, and especially the dominance of the spin game. The levels of spin on the forehands have almost doubled in the past 15 years. The poly string revolution is the main factor, but advances in swing technique have allowed players to take further advantage of what poly can do. How could swinging volleys change the game? By taking advantage of poly in the same way as the groundstrokes. Swinging volleys hit with modern swing patterns and polyester strings can be the same kind of high velocity, heavily spun weapons. In fact they can be more devastating because they are hit from much closer in. As I mentioned, there is already an increasing use of this weapon on the tour, something that has been building for years. What would happen if players set out to hit them intentionally at every opportunity? The answer is the creation of a new attacking style. The swinging volley goes back decades in the pro game.
You can look through the original Stroke Archives on Tennisplayer and find numerous examples of attacking sequences that include swinging volleys as either transitional or finishing shots. These include players going back two decades and more: Monica Seles, Nicolay Davydenko, Juan Carlos Ferraro, Jennifer Capriati and many others. As with almost all change at the top of game, the rise of the swinging volley has been driven by the instincts of players. They intuitively feel the swinging volley is a shot that can win points out right or create pressure that allows them to finish. What I see coming: a player who makes the final leap and adopts the swinging volley as a repetitive, preferred strategy--as a shot he is consciously looking to hit at the first opportunity. A player who hasn’t been told or doesn’t believe he can’t hit a blistering top spin swinging volley from knee level or lower. A player who loves to create extreme pressure, and then finishes with a variety of possible shots—another swinging volley, a classical volley, an overhead, or even a drop volley. Imagine a great server, maybe about 6’5" with the world class explosiveness of an NBA player, a player who can kick the ball above shoulder level (or higher) at 125mph (or higher), a player who can also get into the court a step or two further than the great serve and volley players of the past, a player who blasts swinging volley winners on either side, but also closes for more traditional finishes when appropriate and/or necessary. When that happens think back, be honest, and acknowledge you heard about that prophecy from me first. Well, actually, the first guy I heard it from was the man who invented "spaghetti strings." Imagine great servers looking to come in and hit swinging volleys at the first opportunity.
If you are too young to remember that, Click Here to read about the original string innovation that increased spin far more than poly, but was quickly banned. Werner Fischer was the German eccentric who evented the string configuration Illie Nastase famously used to snap Guillermo Vilas’s clay court winning streak. Fisher didn’t think the increased spin would destroy attacking tennis though, in fact the opposite. 50 years ago he predicted that the increased spin would lead to the rise of swinging volleys and an entirely new version of the attacking game. He didn’t anticipate poly strings, but I think his prediction is about to come true. After it happens, and probably only then, you will see developmental coaches follow suit and incorporate the systematic use of the swinging volley into training. (Of course we can always hope there is a coach with the vision to lead the way and train the first serve and swinging volley champion from the ground up.)
But beyond the pro game I think the shot is just as applicable, maybe even more applicable at all other levels. More to come on that in the next article, including actual measurements on the velocity of swinging volleys compared to classic volleys for players below the pro level. Plus analysis on how to develop swinging volleys for yourself. Stay Tuned!
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