How to stop/beat s&v?

[Jinzui]

I am a 3.0 player and i hav a problem wit beating volleyers at the net. i was fine beating them b4 wit passing shots and lobs, but lately my opponent has improved n exceeded myself. So i am asking for any tips on how to beat the person at the net from the BASELINE. If ur answer is passing shots/lobs can u explain in detail how i can improve on it? thx much appreciated.
Plus: my opponent has really good net coverage. He's a s&v player.

 

[Mick]

if your opponent is really good at the net, you have to prevent him from getting there all the time by hitting deep and powerful ground strokes and come into the net yourself. Remember those exhibition matches that Federer played against Sampras ? Federer doesn't come to the net very much but when he played Sampras, he had to come to the net because if he didn't, Sampras would be there and it's tough even for Federer to hit passing shots or lobs all the time when a great volleyer is up at the net.

 

[Jinzui]

wow u mentioned my fav. player Sampras. sweet...i mimic his Sampras Smash, which is fun

 

[Mick]

cool. now you need to learn how to volley like a 3.0 Sampras and take away the net from time to time

Jack Kramer once said that "the best offensive player will always beat the best defensive player." If you let a good volleyer come to the net all the time, you will be playing a defensive game and it's pretty tough to win a match from that position.

 

[CAM178]

Hit dippers to their feet. That will force them to crowd the net. Once they start crowding, then lob. Repeat as often as desired for best results.

 

[jorel]

i just read on the Tennis website... they were doing the greatest shots ever ... and when it came to lobs... the greatest lobber ever said he would lob early and often to the point of utter insanity. his reason was that even if he ate some of those lobs.... lobbing constantly gets to your opponents mentally and fustrates/tires them out during the course of a match... so my advice would be to lob early and often to tire your opponent out (my assumption is that your opponent practices volleying much more than he practices overheads) and if you get a lob over his head... approach net and take the aggressive and take the net away from your opponent

Michael Chang defeated J Mac by "topsin lobbing him to death"

 

[quicken]

Volleyers have a lot of difficulty with shots that they have to deal lower than the net, so hit a short spinny ball to them if they are at the net, have them dig under to retrieve the ball which will almost surely result in a sitter, then you can smash that away.
If that spinny dipper is not an option for you, your best bet is to train Nadal passing shots... No I am just kidding, your best bet is to lob your opponent, top spin lob are the best, but if you cant, slice lobbing is also great, just try to get them deep so you dont get smashed at.

As someone stated above, the best choice is not to make them come up to the net, this probably can be achieved by placing deep shots which will make them harder to make an approaching shot. So practice

 

[dennis10is]

If you are playing at the 3.0 level, there shouldn't be anyone who can effectively serve and volley. That said, try this simple thing, aim all your shots to land on the service box T. You will not be able to hit there, but it doesn't matter as long as it is close. If your opponent is also 3.0 that should give them problems.

Even at the higher level, that return is very effective. There is more than just getting the ball to bounce on the T but for now you can start with this.

 

[Legend of Borg]

Tough. S&V players are dangerous if left unchecked. I would suggest slicing the ball and generally keeping it a bit lower, so you don't give him many opportunities to finish the point. Also, when playing a S&V, you simply have to learn to lob. It is essential. Sometimes slapping a forehand right at the player is effective, althought not sportsmanship like behaviour. Most players at that level don't have the reflexes to catch the ball. That's it and good luck.

 

[CAM178]

This gets back to basic strategy (strategery. . .I loved that word from SNL), which is to find your opponent's weakness, and pray on it. For s'n'v, they can be destroyed in any number of ways:
- if they're a step slower getting to the net (due to serve motion, age, weight, etc.), then chip the return cross court. It will be by them before they're to the net, due to that one step delay getting to net.
- play dipping cross-court angles. This will frustrate them, and eventually they will start to look for it. At that point, gently push it up the line for a winner. I will hit gentle winners all day long, as that will infuriate an opponent. It makes them think that you're easily beating them.
- dip it to their feet. This works especially well with taller players. You want them to crowd the net. When they do this, lob. Do this a lot, so that they start to back off of the net. This will open up more angles for you to work with.
- nothing wrong with going right at the body every now and then, especially with aggressive s'n'v. Keeps them in check. If you can generate hot speed on the ball, one of these should send the right signal. I rarely do this, but sometimes it can be fun, especially against someone you don't much care for.
- work on down-the-line topspin lobs. Works especially well on their BH side. Very few players have a strong BH smash.

 

[vndesu]

i have seen many cases like these. my friend who is a s&v, his form resembles off of sampras.
big accurate serve, good fh and 1hbh

but i find it where when it comes to passing shots you just wanna b relaxed and just do a regular follow through.

also for one great tip i havve gotten is that when you aim for a down the line shot, the volley is going to most likly end up diagonally on the opposite side so this would give you an advantage unlesss your s&v is a trickster.

 

[Bagumbawalla]

First thing to do is practice your return of serve. Get with a practice partner and take turns-- on serving while the other practices hitting alternately down the line and crosscourt. Developing a strong return-of-serve is the best thing you can do to frustrate a serve and volleyer. To a large extent, they count on getting a moderately weak return that thay can volley/half-volley depp to set up a placement/winner.

As you begin to improve on your return placements practice, then you can start adding extra topspin or hitting flat and deep so you cam mix up your shots.

Eventually, the one serving should start coming in behind the serve (like a real serve and volleyer). This will give you practice in several areas, make the practice seem more real, and will improve your general court play.

Next practice kust rallying and keeping the ball in play until one of you gets a short/weak ball. That person should either drive it or slice it deep and come in behind it while the other practices passing to the left or right, either using topspin to create an angle or dip the ball down lowat his feet, or try lobbing the ball over his head and near the baseline. There are other things you can try, but these are the most basic.

Keep practicing (hundreds of times) until you begin to relax and hit the shots more effortlessly.

In essence, there is no easy answer. In order to out-play an opponent, you have to improve and round-out your game- and that takes work.

 

[ChocolatePie]

Lobbing is a great and simple answer. A lot of players go for a killer topspin lob and a winner when the opponent is at net, but that is completely unnecessary.

All you have to do is swing your racket a little and hit a flat lob that'll hit the baseline. It's much easier to aim than a topspin lob. And by the time they volleyer gets back you'll be at the net to end the point.

 

[shojun25]

Like Mick said, prevent them from going to the net. I usually hit low slice shots deep in the baseline to keep them at net. While they are distracted with those shots, I chip up at net and go for a winner when the time is right.

Also, to beat other players, you will need to practice. Practice with lobs against one of your friends, and he can practice in returning lobs. A win-win situation. You can also play one vs two people - one person at net, while the second person is at the baseline. Provided that you are playing as the singles player, you can practice passing shots against the net player, while the doubles team can practice they teamwork and communication. Another win-win situation. There's probably more drills like this, but these are the main ones that I use with my teammates to get better at a single skill.

 

[Frank Silbermann]

Become a better-than-3.0 player. (You'll have to do that anyway to carry out most of the suggestions given above.)

 

[Loco4Tennis]

lots of good tips mentioned above by lots of people,
some of the ones i liked was variation of shoots like giving the rushing person lobbs to think about, even if you loose some it will make him hesitate how far he needs to come up
the shoot i think serve and volliers hate is the down the line return to the open court
while this is a great shot when its 3 inches from the line, its very difficult, but any such shot at your level even if its 1 or 2 feet from the line would be effective, you'll see that s&v having to scramble to get it, when and if they get it they should be weak returns and not the clear volley they were specting, just return the ball in the general direction
s&v need to rush the center, leveing plenty of space to the sides to exploit,
once you see him trying to cover your down the line returns, the variation of your shoot selection comes into play again

 

[35ft6]

Keep your returns low. And on passing shots, just pick a target and stick with it no matter what. Don't let his movements affect you.