Serve and Volley

[babolat141]

Wow I was playing with a guy that i have never beaten before but then i got this crazy idea i said to myself you know what i think we are equally matched at the baseline but what if i serve and volley and then i tried it a couple times IT WORKS. Im usually a baseliner but now i have one more thing i could do now. I now have greater confidence is myself you all should try and serve and volley.

 

[5263]

Wow I was playing with a guy that i have never beaten before but then i got this crazy idea i said to myself you know what i think we are equally matched at the baseline but what if i serve and volley and then i tried it a couple times IT WORKS. Im usually a baseliner but now i have one more thing i could do now. I now have greater confidence is myself you all should try and serve and volley.

Pretty good that you could make it work so well out of the blue like that. Most need some work on the transition to net and hitting the right kind of volleys to avoid ending up like a target at net. If you can execute, there is a big advantage to being different and forcing the action like this.
Good job Man!

 

[babolat141]

I was actually suprised how fun it was i thought it would be very hard the way people describe it here but to each his own i guess

 

[lethalfang]

If your serves always draw weak replies, you don't need a great volley to win the point.

 

[Steady Eddy]

My two weaknesses are the serve, and the volley. Glad to hear it works for you. I'd like to see more of it on the tour as well.

 

[skiracer55]

That's cool...

...but you want to figure out why it worked. Were you putting away easy volleys? That could mean you've got a great serve, but it could also mean the other guy had doo doo for a return or didn't know how to return against S&V. What style of S&Ver are you? There's basically two styles:

- Serve a heavy kick serve, sprint forward, depend on great reactions to get enough volley winners to win the match. Proponents of this school were Edberg and Pat Rafter.

- Hammer a serve that produces a wounded duck for a return, go to the obvious spot for the volley, and pound it. Pete Sampras is the prime exponent of this school.

The first time you try it, S&V can seem like the greatest thing since sliced bread...until you run up against somebody who knows how to pick apart and S&V game. I'm an S&Ver myself, so I love it when people come into net on me, because I know exactly what to do to hurt them. So if you like S&V, by all means, keep it up, but keep expanding your, uh, S&V skills...

 

[Wheelz]

Wow I was playing with a guy that i have never beaten before but then i got this crazy idea i said to myself you know what i think we are equally matched at the baseline but what if i serve and volley and then i tried it a couple times IT WORKS. Im usually a baseliner but now i have one more thing i could do now. I now have greater confidence is myself you all should try and serve and volley.

That's cool and I actually had almost the same experience in my ladder league on Saturday. layed against an experienced player, very fun game. Like you, I like to play from the baseline, but this other player was also as consistent as me. Maybe I go to the net more, I like to go after every short ball. Then on the 2nd set, when my serve started to find my grove I decided taht I'll surprise the opponent and go to the net after my serve. I won 2 serve games at 0. I think the element of surprise was a big thing, but still S&V is awesome, I never thought I would play that one day.

Anyways are you planning on using it again ? I guess it depends of who you play, where you are in a game... I would use it as an element of surprise when I want to either change momentum or fininsh the opponent and when my serve is working.

 

[DarthCow]

I like to disguise my serve and volley ability, and use it sparingly. Ive found that in many matches ive tried it maybe 2-3 times in a row, and on the last couple of tries my opponent would be expecting it and make a pinpoint return or topspin lob.

 

[smoothtennis]

If you are having good luck with S&V, don't forget the Chip N Charge...it can be quite a lot of added pressure to the guy serving, especially if you already have him in trouble with the score.