Serve and Volley tips/instruction.

[Asclep]

I have entered a mens 3.0 singles tournament that is rapidly approaching. I am going to try and Serve and Volley since all of my friends told me that is my best chance to win.

Any hints for someone who primarily plays doubles and is going to try singles? I already noticed I hit alot of forehands/volleys into the doubles alley. I also frequently miss overheads/volleys that I "NEVER" miss in doubles.

Any hints or websites showing strategy would be great.

[chance]

In dubs, your partner guards the line. Therefore you can hit wide serves, especially in the deuce court, and not have to worry about that angle provided your net man/woman is trustworthy/staying at home. However in singles, you would hesitate to approach cross-court unless you had a clean winner for that reason. Therefore, I have never liked the idea of "swerve" and volley. I tend to serve mostly down the "T" and especially into the body on the deuce side. This cuts down on passing angles and may gain you a weak reply if it jams your foe. When you catch your opponent leaning toward the center, a slice out wide will probably net you a service winner and at least keeps them honest. In the add court, I still like the kick out wide. It does generate the angle, but you got to prove to me that you can pass me w/ a head high backhand before I'll give in. And again, I think the body serve is the most under-rated serve in tennis and will net you some freebie points on weak replies, provided you don't net the volley first. Last, just like doubles, you will win significantly more points off your first serve, so do what it takes to make it go in (i.e. more kick/topspin first serves for better precentage).

[Hawaii 5.0]

A common misconception about the serve in S&V is that is must be big.A slower, but heavily spun serve will allow you more time to get in and take a better volley.Bigger does not mean better because if you hit a 120mph flat bomb you might make it 3 steps in, but if you hit a 80 mph slice out wide your inside the service line and in better position.

The slice serve should be hit much more shallow than any other serve becuase if you slice, not matter how much slice, and it hits ths corner anyone can hit it back, but bring that same serve in 3 feet and your opponent is 6 feet off the court and in the fence if they don't cut it off, which many don't at that level.

The body serve is a great idea, but must break late to be effective.The serve down the T is good as wel as the deep heavy topspin down the middle approach, don't forget to use the dropshot.

[Asclep]

Thanks guys for all your ideas. I will go out and practice my slice out wide serve and my dropshot. My dropshot is horrible and my slice serve tends to go more toward the deep corner when it lands.

When you hit a slice out wide to the deuce side (I am right handed) do you normally get a crosscoart reply? I noticed that 80% of the serves I serve out wide (heavy spin) tend to come back extreme crosscourt or land out to the right side of the court.

One of my friends told me if you serve heavy slice/spin and they hit it down the line just clap because 99.9% of the people at my level wont be able to do that more than 20% of the time.

[brijoel]

a nice heavy kick up the middle on the deuce court will force an awkward reply from them back to you off their back hand(if they are right handed ofcourse). on the add side, i tend to like to try to either jam them with a big flat one right up to their feet, slice it hard up the center pulling away from their forehand so they cant get much stick on it, or for a second serve kick the hell out of it as wide as i can while keeping it reasonable, lol. all of which will force mustered replies as long as at least moderate pace is kept up and if done right, 80% of those returns will end up crossing back through the center of the court, and my flat ones at the feet usually force an overhead for me when i can catch them off gaurd.


really the best advice one can possibly give is to keep mixing it up. dont ever let them know what it is you are gonna give em, ESPECIALLY when S/V'ing.

if you are going to be attacking the net be very sure to lean in on your serve so that you are forced to begin to move in and literally "rush" the net. the further in you can get while still being prepared the better.
im literally half way into the court at the least by the time my opponent is going to be returning my serve.

above all esle just keep calm when you get passed, S/V'ing is not the easiest style of play to master. especially when someone really gets some stick onto their return.

[Verbal_Kint]

Serve and Volley players have a large ego and a bad memory

Marnix

[brijoel]

^^^versus baseliners who dont have the guts to come in.........lol

[Asclep]

Hmm.. I will have to work on the ego.. the bad memory I have.. What were we talking about again???

[Asclep]

I played another practice singles match last night....

I dont know why but in Singles I tend to pull up on my shots instead of hitting through them like I do in doubles. It might be a subconscious reflex to try and keep the ball in the court which keeps me from hitting topspin and then it sails out anyway..

I dont know the guy I played against told me I am in the same position he was when he started. He would frequently lose to people he should beat then after playing singles 2-3 times a week for 2 months it clicked and he started playing like he played in doubles/practiced.

My volleys also tend to sit up alot more in singles. My opponent last night told me that I was pushing/guiding the ball on alot of my volleys instead of doing a smooth volley.

Any hints on how to keep my mind on going for "my shots" and not getting tentative?