Serve and Volley Player

We are going to take a tactical journey through the most important game styles - what each style relies on to succeed, and how it matches up against the others.

The Serve and Volley Player

To become a successful serve-and-volley player, you must be tough and extremely quick. You do not need to concentrate for endless baseline rallies - but you must have a good serve, think quickly, and finish points fast.

In today’s game we do not see pure serve-and-volley players that often. With the evolution of racquets, the speed of serves and returns, and the physical strength of modern players, living at the net on every point is a hard life.

That does not mean the skills are obsolete. The best modern players still steal free points with the occasional serve-and-volley, especially on grass, indoors, or on big points.

Perfect historical examples: Patrick Rafter, Stefan Edberg, and - most successful of all - Pete Sampras. In a more recent era, Radek Stepanek was a good example of someone who still brought net pressure as a real identity.

Characteristics

• More comfortable in the front court, finishing points off at the net
• Looks to put instant pressure on the opponent’s return
• Hits targets on the serve very well, and volleys to the appropriate spot on the court
• Serve T, first volley behind
• Serve wide, volley to the open court
• Serve body, volley short angle, cover the line
• Plays the match on their terms and at their rhythm

Tactical patterns

• Serve wide, first ball to the open court
• Serve T, first volley behind
• First volley deep, second volley short
• First volley to the weaker side
• Defensive volleys: keep them deep and in front of you
• Volleys deep through the middle to take away the angle on passing shots

How this style wins (and loses)

Wins when:

• Serve location forces a weak return (body, wide stretch, or T jam)
• First volley is deep and disciplined
• The player accepts that some days the returner is too good - and still mixes net pressure enough to plant doubt

Loses when:

• They follow in on poor serves
• First volleys float short and sit up
• Footwork to the net is late, so every volley is a lunge

Practice ideas

1. Serve location + first volley only: ignore winners; grade the first volley depth.
2. Body-serve series: serve into the body, volley short angle, recover to cover the line.
3. Two-volley finish: coach feeds a return; you must play first volley deep, second volley to a target.
4. Modern hybrid: play sets where you S&V only on 30-0, 40-0, 40-15, and second-serve returns of weak second serves.
5. Chip-and-charge link: train the same closing skills from the return side - see Chip and Charge.

Watch: Sampras pressure at net

Watch how serve location and first-volley discipline create continuous pressure:

Also useful historical film already on the site style of play: