The Edberg kicker

[35ft6]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Mate, that's why they call it serve AND volley. You use your serve to set up the first volley.

Was making the distinction between him and the way many players approach charging the net today, which is only when they expect a very weak return or perhaps no return at all.

Edberg's serve wasn't really like Sampras's at all.

You missed my point. The same in that it seemed like all their serves were the same kind of serve, just the pace was different.

I called service line in enough of their Aus Open matches from 88 to 2001 to be able to make a very informed comparison and you're talking apples and oranges.

Maybe I needed to see Edberg in person. Just on TV, his serve didn't really look like a big kicker even though his backbend would suggest it might be.

The kick serve is a weapon on all surfaces, especially hard (that's why Rafter won the US Open and not Wimbledon). The kick forces a weaker and high return, especially if you can get it up to your opponent's backhand and/or moving away. It also gives you extra time to get in to the net in order to make best position for the first volley.

Yeah, we all know this. Just seemed at the moment I wrote that post that guys like Mac and Edberg didn't really use kickers that much. It was more mixing up the placement. But I could be wrong. The kickers I really appreciate are ones I've seen in person. Maybe the TV is misleading. I associate kickers with off speed, almost slow serves that land short and explode off the court. Edberg's serves always looked too fast. Oh well...