Serve and Volley Rackets

S

stethemint

Rookie
Is there such a thing? I usually thought a racket with a lot of control and stability would be ideal rackets for Serve volleyers but if you look at some of the best guys in the world at it like Feli Lopez ( Wilson ultra 100, well Wilson npro open painted) Maxime Cressy ( babolat pure aero ) Dustin brown ( babolat pure drive ) the Bryan brothers ( babolat pure drive ) these rackets are the opposite of what I would have considered serve and volley rackets. Is it just personal preference at this stage? Currently using the tecnifibre tf40 myself but considering a switch to a more open string pattern as I chip and charge a lot I play very similar to feli Lopez so was considering giving the ultra 100 a bash or the new pure drive! Thought?
 
Shaolin

Shaolin

G.O.A.T.
Cant go wrong with a pro staff for s&v.

Heavy 12oz+ for stability and handle heavy for quick volleys.
 
F

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
I'm now 54, grew up learning to S&V on grass courts with wood racquets, and eventually trended toward more of an all-court game as I got older and started playing mostly on hard courts. Although my game has changed a little bit, I've never been able to get away from the old-school layout of a relatively heavy and head-light racquet.

That issue of whatever sort of frame we play with through our formative years is an interesting sort of intangible. A kid who builds a game while playing with let's say a Pure Drive might have a particular tennis DNA that's based on that sort of racquet. It becomes that player's "normal". Although I've seen different players exhibit levels substantially higher than mine, I know that many of their racquets would be horrible for me and my game - I've tried several of them and it usually ended badly.

Although we can make recommendations for what's typical with a S&V racquet, trust your own senses as you sample different gear. Only you can sort out just what's that best fit for you. Those racquets that the pros appear to be using don't really tell much of the story for us. Many have paint jobs to look like something that we can buy from a store, but many of them have an actual layout - weight, balance, stiffness - that's tailored to fit that player.

That being said, what's been my personal normal for a decent S&V frame has been a relatively heavy racquet by today's standards - 12.4-12.8 oz. - with enough head-light balance to make the racquet easy enough to maneuver. My frames balance at around 10 pts. HL. Not so many currently available racquets are really in my wheelhouse for S&V work, but it's not too hard to do a little tuning at home with lead tape to get a racquet dialed in toward a more natural layout for me.

In my experience, string patterns have never seemed to be a make-or-break aspect for any racquet. Be careful not to rule out an interesting looking option from your demo list just because of its string layout. Head size may affect just how much zip you get with your volleys, serves, etc. While an old-school mid with plenty of heft and stability may have been a S&V'er's dream back in the era of Pete Sampras, those don't seem to give me the inherent "pop" that I get with my 98" heads if I compare them now.

I have a pair of Volkl C10's in my bag, but mine have some lead added to their handles for a little more familiar feeling HL balance. They're stable enough through the ball for me in their stock layout, but seemed slightly sluggish with their stock balance. Other 10-series Volkls of the 325g range that I've played have been too light and unstable for me, but lead tuning brought my older pair of Organix 10 325g's up to around 12.7 oz. with about 10 pts. HL balance and they are profoundly better for me like that.

The heavier models from Yonex might have a lot of S&V authority, but I haven't tried any newer models. Their RDS 002 Tour and RD Ti-80 were two 98" models from a few years ago that were great for S&V right out of the box.

Other current models that might be okay at least for me could be the Head Prestige mp, Wilson RF 97A, Prince Phantom 97P, and Dunlop CX 200 Tour, but each of these aside from the Wilson would probably work better for me with just a little lead here and there.

Grip sizes seem to have trended a bit smaller in more modern times. That might make it easier to swing away from the baseline for some, but I've never been comfortable with attacking the net using any racquet having a small grip. That forces me to use too much grip pressure to maneuver the frame - never a good thing. If you catch yourself "white knuckling" a racquet when you go to the net, sample something with a larger grip size if you can.

If you can get good feel and touch with anything, even a stock Pure Drive, they you're probably onto that good fit that you want for playing S&V with authority.
 
S

stethemint

Rookie
fuzz nation said:
I'm now 54, grew up learning to S&V on grass courts with wood racquets, and eventually trended toward more of an all-court game as I got older and started playing mostly on hard courts. Although my game has changed a little bit, I've never been able to get away from the old-school layout of a relatively heavy and head-light racquet.

That issue of whatever sort of frame we play with through our formative years is an interesting sort of intangible. A kid who builds a game while playing with let's say a Pure Drive might have a particular tennis DNA that's based on that sort of racquet. It becomes that player's "normal". Although I've seen different players exhibit levels substantially higher than mine, I know that many of their racquets would be horrible for me and my game - I've tried several of them and it usually ended badly.

Although we can make recommendations for what's typical with a S&V racquet, trust your own senses as you sample different gear. Only you can sort out just what's that best fit for you. Those racquets that the pros appear to be using don't really tell much of the story for us. Many have paint jobs to look like something that we can buy from a store, but many of them have an actual layout - weight, balance, stiffness - that's tailored to fit that player.

That being said, what's been my personal normal for a decent S&V frame has been a relatively heavy racquet by today's standards - 12.4-12.8 oz. - with enough head-light balance to make the racquet easy enough to maneuver. My frames balance at around 10 pts. HL. Not so many currently available racquets are really in my wheelhouse for S&V work, but it's not too hard to do a little tuning at home with lead tape to get a racquet dialed in toward a more natural layout for me.

In my experience, string patterns have never seemed to be a make-or-break aspect for any racquet. Be careful not to rule out an interesting looking option from your demo list just because of its string layout. Head size may affect just how much zip you get with your volleys, serves, etc. While an old-school mid with plenty of heft and stability may have been a S&V'er's dream back in the era of Pete Sampras, those don't seem to give me the inherent "pop" that I get with my 98" heads if I compare them now.

I have a pair of Volkl C10's in my bag, but mine have some lead added to their handles for a little more familiar feeling HL balance. They're stable enough through the ball for me in their stock layout, but seemed slightly sluggish with their stock balance. Other 10-series Volkls of the 325g range that I've played have been too light and unstable for me, but lead tuning brought my older pair of Organix 10 325g's up to around 12.7 oz. with about 10 pts. HL balance and they are profoundly better for me like that.

The heavier models from Yonex might have a lot of S&V authority, but I haven't tried any newer models. Their RDS 002 Tour and RD Ti-80 were two 98" models from a few years ago that were great for S&V right out of the box.

Other current models that might be okay at least for me could be the Head Prestige mp, Wilson RF 97A, Prince Phantom 97P, and Dunlop CX 200 Tour, but each of these aside from the Wilson would probably work better for me with just a little lead here and there.

Grip sizes seem to have trended a bit smaller in more modern times. That might make it easier to swing away from the baseline for some, but I've never been comfortable with attacking the net using any racquet having a small grip. That forces me to use too much grip pressure to maneuver the frame - never a good thing. If you catch yourself "white knuckling" a racquet when you go to the net, sample something with a larger grip size if you can.

If you can get good feel and touch with anything, even a stock Pure Drive, they you're probably onto that good fit that you want for playing S&V with authority.
Click to expand...

Interesting that you should say that my current set up is my tecnifibre tf40 315 and I just added a leather grip to the stock form and it plays great. Not sure if exact specs but it’s around 345 strung and probably close to 10 PT HL which has been working very well. I’ll probably keep it to be honest but i just found it interesting as I would have thought my racket was perfect set up for Serve and volley aggressive tennis but a lot of the pros use thicker beams with wider string patterns. I suppose it’s all personal preference as you say!

Shame though as I won’t get to practise for quite some time as it stands!
 
G

golden chicken

Hall of Fame
Pro Staff Tour 90. Actually, the racket I've hit the best serves with was a Pro Staff 6.0 85 with a ton of lead in the hoop, but it was extremely demanding. As I am playing less and less, I'm finding the Tour 90 to be pretty demanding as well, so I've been tinkering with a 6.1 95.
 
sanister

sanister

Professional
I loved my Prince Precision Response for S&V. Sweet sweet racquet! Sold it a while back unfortunately.
 
heftylefty

heftylefty

Hall of Fame
When I was younger, by twenty years, I played a chip and charge came with an oversize Prince Graduate. Because of the fiberglass, the racquet was not too stiff.

I think it depends on your setup when using a racquet that's more than 95 square inches.
 
sanister

sanister

Professional
TennisHound said:
That’s because the Response 97 was not a very good feeling racquet.
Click to expand...
Well if you are referring to the 2013 reissue Response 97, then yes you are correct. That was a 68 RA, crisp playing racquet. Felt boardy.

The original Precision Response 660 was low sixties RA unstrung if I remember correctly and a decent feeling racquet overall. Even in that version there was the made in China and made in Thailand versions (former being more head light than latter). The QC even in those days was terrible, saw many guys complaining about their sets of racquets being so off spec from one another.
 
C

chatt_town

Hall of Fame
stethemint said:
Is there such a thing? I usually thought a racket with a lot of control and stability would be ideal rackets for Serve volleyers but if you look at some of the best guys in the world at it like Feli Lopez ( Wilson ultra 100, well Wilson npro open painted) Maxime Cressy ( babolat pure aero ) Dustin brown ( babolat pure drive ) the Bryan brothers ( babolat pure drive ) these rackets are the opposite of what I would have considered serve and volley rackets. Is it just personal preference at this stage? Currently using the tecnifibre tf40 myself but considering a switch to a more open string pattern as I chip and charge a lot I play very similar to feli Lopez so was considering giving the ultra 100 a bash or the new pure drive! Thought?
Click to expand...
I think it's about the personal feel for each person. I don't think the raquet matters as much as people think it does. I think Lopez or any of those other people you mentioned could take yours or my raquets and volley pretty much the same way they do with their raquets. I think it comes down to your technique at the end of the day.
 
O

ozbikebuddy

Rookie
Personally i think it comes down to what feels right for you, I personally have 2x VCore Tour97s, & just recently got 2x VCore 98+ (that are still fresh and unused), and yes i like extended frames, and dont find them an issue at the net :)

The thing is there are lots of options, I wouldnt say a ond Wilson hammer was a Serve/Volley frame, but when you look at the amount of lead Sampras used to have on his prostaff 85's, he was effectively using a hammer.

All i can say is try a frames, see what feels comfortable, maybe try headlight, just dont discount 1 type of frame over another off hand. Everyone is different, and pick the frame the feel right for you. It might be the 1 that many suggest, it could be the opposiste, but take the time to check them out. Tech in frames and strings changes so quickly.
 
F

flex

Semi-Pro
A lot of people mentioned the characteristics of: heavi-er and headlight balance

But I noticed that no one mentioned anything about stiffness rating...
Anecdotally, Sampras and Edberg who I think of when I think of serve & volley and the Pro Staff line are pretty stiff racquets. They prob don't want a noodle and want something stiff to punch the volley
 
O

ozbikebuddy

Rookie
flex said:
A lot of people mentioned the characteristics of: heavi-er and headlight balance

But I noticed that no one mentioned anything about stiffness rating...
Anecdotally, Sampras and Edberg who I think of when I think of serve & volley and the Pro Staff line are pretty stiff racquets. They prob don't want a noodle and want something stiff to punch the volley
Click to expand...

The ProStaff 85 was "stiff", but was only a 17mm thick beam, which meant it still had heaps of what i would term "give" in the frame. But lots of peaple loved the 6.1s too. Personally i loved the old Prestige 600, i had a Silver/Green frames without a Cap Strip just a set of normal green grommets, i loved this at the net. but there is nothing like that out there anymore. But these are my choices. a bit weight, headlight and some flex all work for me, but that's me. what would work for stethemint could be and likely will be, different.
 
2

2ndServe

Hall of Fame
golden chicken said:
My experience was to find the racket I served best with and then adjust the rest of my strokes to go with that racket.

If my serve wasn't a weapon, then I was in for a tough match.
Click to expand...

I'm of the same thought, basically you can only pull of so many good low volleys, stretch volleys, half volleys, you can't do this effectively any stretch past a set, plus the lunging low and stretching wide makes you slower on the next volley of overhead and it wears you down.

Besides finding the best serving racket you need to find the right string combo plus the right tension. If anyone has any tips on the that racket/strings/tension I'm all ears, I'm currently using a pro stock Prince rebel 95 longbody but trying a few others like dunlop cx and wilson blade

I also found 93/95sq and 85sq better serving rackets, to me the sweet spot "moves up" on the racket with a smaller head, the smaller head swings easier on the serve. I also like one with the sweetspot that is higher than center
 
Last edited:
G

golden chicken

Hall of Fame
I've been happy with NXT for serve and volley tennis. It has the extra power these tiny headed control frames need. I was not happy with Head Velocity in my Tour 90s. It is not powerful enough to simply block a ball back deep, at least, at the tensions I am using.

I might hybrid the two because I've been searching for a bit more spin as I've become less of a kamikaze and more of an all-court player.

I did find a Tour 95 I felt happy with right at the end of the season. We'll see how it feels next spring.
 
socallefty

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
I think post#5 by @fuzz nation is spot on. Players like racquets that are similar to what they developed their game with. There is no correlation to playing style. Just look at the racquets used by the top ATP doubles players - you can google and find a list online. They serve and volley a lot more than singles players and you will find a wide variety of frames including to my surprise a high number of Pure Drives, Aero Pro Drives etc. - the pros probably weigh them up.

I am a believer that there are no racquet specs suitable for baseline play, top spinners, 1HBHs, volleyers, big servers etc. You’ll find good players at all levels playing all styles with all kinds of specs. If you talk to them, their racquet evolution will mostly be racquets with similar specs from the time they developed their game. Similarly, I haven’t seen much correlation with strings and playing styles either.

If you have a feel for what kind of specs you liked in terms of SW, beam size, stiffness, head size, balance, static weight etc. in the past, the racquets you like in the future will fall in that range also. I like strung specs of 330-335, 19-22, 63-66, 97-98, 6-8HL, 11.9-12.2 ozs before adding an overgrip/dampener and many of them are great at the net and for serving. Current favorite is the Pure Strike Tour.

socallefty said:
Players like the racquets that are similar to what they developed their game with because their swing is based on those specs - I think this correlates more than any playing style preferring particular racquet types. If you look at the pro tour or college tennis or junior tournaments including doubles players who spend more time at the net, you still see a wide variety of racquet specs. I don’t believe there is a particular racquet spec or model suited to baseliners, net players, 1HBHs, big servers etc. to the extent that some people believe on this board.

Many middle-aged guys like heavy racquets around 12 ozs because that’s what they learned the game with in their youth and many have linear swings that require a stable racquet. Younger guys grew up with tweeners between 10.5-11.5 ozs and prefer them especially with a bit more stiffness as they have whippy swings that need higher racquet head speed (RHS). They think a 12 oz racquet will fatigue them as it likely reduces their RHS. Super-seniors over 60 are the ones who start gravitating to lighter, stiffer, larger frames that are different than the racquet specs that they grew up with.

Look at the racquets you developed your game with primarily and there’s probably a good correlation with what specs you like today - if you are under sixty.
Click to expand...
 
Boubi

Boubi

Professional
I would suggest a light racquet but not too head light eg extreme MP or tecnifibre RS 305
 
G

golden chicken

Hall of Fame
socallefty said:
I think post#5 by @fuzz nation is spot on. Players like racquets that are similar to what they developed their game with. There is no correlation to playing style. Just look at the racquets used by the top ATP doubles players - you can google and find a list online. They serve and volley a lot more than singles players and you will find a wide variety of frames including to my surprise a high number of Pure Drives, Aero Pro Drives etc. - the pros probably weigh them up.

I am a believer that there are no racquet specs suitable for baseline play, top spinners, 1HBHs, volleyers, big servers etc. You’ll find good players at all levels playing all styles with all kinds of specs. If you talk to them, their racquet evolution will mostly be racquets with similar specs from the time they developed their game. Similarly, I haven’t seen much correlation with strings and playing styles either.

If you have a feel for what kind of specs you liked in terms of SW, beam size, stiffness, head size, balance, static weight etc. in the past, the racquets you like in the future will fall in that range also. I like strung specs of 330-335, 19-22, 63-66, 97-98, 6-8HL, 11.9-12.2 ozs before adding an overgrip/dampener and many of them are great at the net and for serving. Current favorite is the Pure Strike Tour.
Click to expand...

I would love to try a pure aero sometime for S&V. My racket preferences evolved as my game developed. I started with a very light, very flexible 110 si box store racket, then moved to a TT Warrior OS, then to a Tour 90. I think I may be back on the way towards a player's tweener in my Tour 95 but that will have to wait until spring before I can say for sure I'll be switching.
 
Dartagnan64

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
My best volleying racket is the Prince Phantom 18x20. 12oz, 9 points HL, thin beam, tight string bed. I can put volleys anywhere I want. Not great punching power but fantastic touch and control.

Worst volleying frames for me have been thick beam power tweeners. Unless I'm hitting a hard drive volley. And still too many of those float long if I'm at all late. But those rackets tend to be great for overheads
 
socallefty

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
Some racquets have a really nice feel at the net that other racquets with similar specs don’t have - I don’t know why precisely that is since it does not seem to be captured by the spec sheet. I also don’t know if it is largely a function of the strings/tension/string hours on the demo racquets.

In the last couple of years, I demo’d 12 oz thin-beam racquets like the Volkl VFeel 10 (320), VSense 10 (325), Wilson Blade v7, Prostaff RF97, Babolat Pure Strike Tour, Pure Aero VS Tour, Pure Strike VS Tour, Head Graphene XT Prestige Midplus, Yonex Vcore 97Pro HD and VCore DualG97 (330). The four racquets I liked the best for volleying were the VFeel 10 (320), VCore Pro97HD, Pure Strike Tour (G3) and Pure Strike VS Tour.

I bought the VFeel 10 (320), Pure Strike VS Tour and the Pure Strike Tour to experiment with more strings and tensions. The Volkl and the PS VS Tour were both not very comfortable for me even with gut strings and so, I sold them quickly. I didn’t buy the VCore 97HD because I liked the other racquets better from the baseline. In the end, I switched to the Pure Strike Tour G3 as it suits me well from the baseline, net and serving - probably not a big surprise as my previous racquet was a G1 Pure Strike Tour.
 
T

Trinity110

Rookie
The Prince Phantom 100P makes me look like I know what I'm doing!

Seriously, my volleys took a quantum leap when I went from my beloved Triple Threat Hornet to the Phantom. So much that I totally switched, because eliminating weaknesses in a greater number of situations is so important.

My overheads improved, too, but that might have been a coincidence.

I also tried the 100X 305 for a while, and it volleyed like a dream as well.
 
n8dawg6

n8dawg6

Legend
socallefty said:
I think post#5 by @fuzz nation is spot on. Players like racquets that are similar to what they developed their game with. There is no correlation to playing style. Just look at the racquets used by the top ATP doubles players - you can google and find a list online. They serve and volley a lot more than singles players and you will find a wide variety of frames including to my surprise a high number of Pure Drives, Aero Pro Drives etc. - the pros probably weigh them up.

I am a believer that there are no racquet specs suitable for baseline play, top spinners, 1HBHs, volleyers, big servers etc. You’ll find good players at all levels playing all styles with all kinds of specs. If you talk to them, their racquet evolution will mostly be racquets with similar specs from the time they developed their game. Similarly, I haven’t seen much correlation with strings and playing styles either.

If you have a feel for what kind of specs you liked in terms of SW, beam size, stiffness, head size, balance, static weight etc. in the past, the racquets you like in the future will fall in that range also. I like strung specs of 330-335, 19-22, 63-66, 97-98, 6-8HL, 11.9-12.2 ozs before adding an overgrip/dampener and many of them are great at the net and for serving. Current favorite is the Pure Strike Tour.
Click to expand...
winner post here. not sure if anyone has mentioned sam groth, who was a straight up S&V player with a thick beamed tweener
 
caesar66

caesar66

Professional
Best S/V stick is going to be the one you use while committing to that style of play. It’s def more about what you do than the racquet. That said, I really like the Technifibre 315 xtc’s in my bag for serving and volleying. Both have leather grips and weigh in at about 12.4, but are very headlight, so you get the stability of that much mass with the low swingweight that keeps it maneuverable. I compare it to the feel/plow of a 6.1 with the maneuverability of a 6.0 95 in one package. Neither of those would be slouches in the serve/volley dept!
 
Shroud

Shroud

G.O.A.T.
stethemint said:
Is there such a thing? I usually thought a racket with a lot of control and stability would be ideal rackets for Serve volleyers but if you look at some of the best guys in the world at it like Feli Lopez ( Wilson ultra 100, well Wilson npro open painted) Maxime Cressy ( babolat pure aero ) Dustin brown ( babolat pure drive ) the Bryan brothers ( babolat pure drive ) these rackets are the opposite of what I would have considered serve and volley rackets. Is it just personal preference at this stage? Currently using the tecnifibre tf40 myself but considering a switch to a more open string pattern as I chip and charge a lot I play very similar to feli Lopez so was considering giving the ultra 100 a bash or the new pure drive! Thought?
Click to expand...
As you point out there probably isnt a type of racquet. Lots of sticks will work. I think though one common factor is if the string bed is locked. That is the easiest way to control the launch angle. Full gut full syngut all lead to a locked stringbed. So does high tension. So do tight patterns. Crucial at the net to plant volleys and direct the serve.

Brown uses poly in the 70s which imho helps control the launch angle
 
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