Serve & Volley

Nmtennis08

New User
What techniques would you recomend for serve and volley(singles and doubles). Like where to place the serve, what kind of serve, speed, spin. Also how and where to approach the net. Any help would be aprieciated.
 

racquet_jedi

Professional
From my knowledge of S+V, there's one play where you use a slice serve on the deuce court(assuming your a righty)to pull them off, then you volley it into the open court. Serving into the body can force a weak return which you can punish, and then there's the high bouncing kicker to the backhand which can also force a weak return for you to put away, but so far, that's only singles...I'm sure there are more though.

I also know that on an approach shot, it's not a very good idea to hit cross-court because that gives them an return-angle to work with.
 

jmverdugo

Hall of Fame
Well i like to serve an volley from time to time, this is what i consider when i do it:

1. where is the place on the court where i most confortably volley. I know everybody says that you should get as close of the net as you can, but in my case i dont feel confortable volleying from so close to the net i prefer half way between the net and the service line.
2. Know how fast you are, how much time takes you get to your comfy volley zone.
3. Find which one of your services allows you to get to your confortable volley zone and also which is hard and akward to return for your opponent.
4. Practice every kind of volleys, you will receive them.
5. Work on your overheads, develope one that you can trust on, again harder doesnt mean better.

in my opinion is better a medium speed well put service than a flat laser beam service, remember that the fast the ball goes one way the fast it will come back.

I know this may sound unorthodox but it has worked to me, hope it helps you too.
 

ericwong

Rookie
IMO,

S & V is more of a guessing game. If your opponent guessed your toss right, he would hit a winner when you try to volley at the net. Why Sampras is successful in his S & V game was because his toss is so consistent that his opponent found it hard to guess whether the serve is going out wide or down the T.
If I were to play S & V, I would try to serve onto the opponent's weaker side and move quickly to the service line, waiting for a weak reply before I pounce the shot to the other corner of my opponent's side.


Cheers
 

Geezer Guy

Hall of Fame
If you serve down the middle the return is most likely to come back down the middle,
and you can volley it to either corner.

If you serve into their body the return is likely to be a floater that you can put away.

If you serve out wide they can pass you down the line or pass you cross-court (so don't S&V out wide).
 

Noisy Ninja

Semi-Pro
My serve & volleying game revolves entirely on alternating spin, pace, and location to keep the returner guessing. I utilize primarily spin serves to allow time to close into the net and volley. Flat serves are thrown in every now and then but usually placed down the T to reduce the angle of return. Your aim is to serve in such a manner that will facilitate your approach to the net to exert constant and persistent pressure against the returner.
My serving target depends on the type of returner:
For someone who's not a great runner and/or passer...my bread and butter tactic is to serve wide (slice or topspin/slice on deuce court; twist/kick serve on ad court) to entice a weak return that I can volley into the open court.
For someone who returns well, I tend to concentrate on serving down the centre and/or at the body to minimize his/her return angles.

One important thing to remember is to NEVER hurry your serve motion (i.e. finish the serve motion before sprinting towards the net); rushing the service motion more often than not will result in service faults. Once finished your serve motion and thrusting towards the net, take a quick split-step just as your opponent hits his/her return. This will allow you to gauge the direction of your opponent's return and move accordingly to cut it off. The first volley will rarely be a putaway shot and manufactured to facilitate your approach to the net. When in doubt, aim it deep. Keep closing into the net (while being mindful of a possible lob) and put away any successive volleys (usually angled) or overheads.

Hope that helps.
 

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
Usually in doubles, you want to go right in to net behind your serve. That's standard practice and solid advice, but I'll occasionally serve, stay put, and hit a good approach shot when the return comes back. This delayed attack on the net is handy if the returner is lobbing your serve back, wailing returns off your serve, or if you want to sneak a heater of a first serve here and there. If most of the returns are typical cross-courters with only medium pace, don't wait to close the net or you'll be giving away your initiative a lot of the time.

A slower spin serve is easier to follow in because of where you don't want to be when the return comes back; stuck in no man's land. You don't need to be literally breathing on the net tape for your second shot, but you do want to be in beyond that minefield where lots of returns will get stuck in your shoelaces. If serving up the middle doesn't generate blistering returns from your opponents in doubles, it's a smart area to go to because the returner typically has a smaller angle to hit through. If their backhand returns are really light though, just keep picking on that weaker wing. Get input from your partner on what seems to be more effective and whether you should try something different.

S & V in singles is a little more of a leap of faith and I'll rarely use it on consecutive points. I prefer to wait for a short ball that I can follow in behind a deep approach shot, but when I do it, I like to serve a mean kicker out wide to the backhand, follow it in, and volley through the open court. If I use it too much though, my opponent may start to counter that wide serve with a lob return or a low slice return down on my feet. The upside of S & V in singles is that it creates instant pressure for your opponent and you can try it early in a match to see if it makes him panic with low percentage shots.

In either situation, when you follow your serve in, remember to pause and split-step so that you can move most effectively to the return and make an assertive play on the ball. If you're too gung-ho to crash the net, a smart returner will just lob it over your partner and keep you scrambling.
 

In D Zone

Hall of Fame
You can serve pretty much any type of serve as long as you can get a weak return. Ball placement: wide out, down the tee or body shot. The key is to force your opponent in making a weak return.

That is why I work on mixing up my return, to avoid getting picked with an approach or volley to the net by my opponent. I play with a number of all court players that can move to the net anything.
 

Slazenger

Professional
What techniques would you recomend for serve and volley(singles and doubles). Like where to place the serve, what kind of serve, speed, spin. Also how and where to approach the net. Any help would be aprieciated.

I serve and volley almost exclusively in singles at 4.5 level.

One thing that helps is to be able to vary your volleys by varying the amount of spin on them. The more you can do with the ball with a continental grip, the better you are going to be out there when facing difficult awkward volleys.

Another is to have a great overhead.

Finally a good, well-placed serve. Being able to pick your spots is pretty much essential if you are going to serve and volley. If you have no idea where your serve is going when you serve and volley, you have no idea the possible range of returns and you are S&V-ing blindly. That's when it becomes a leap of faith.

Hope this helps.
 
Good info.

The only times I serve and volley successfully are when a) I know where my serve is going and b) I am aware of the most likely return that will come back.
 

downdaline

Professional
Well, all the tips above cover it more or less. I'll just throw in another tip and one more serve and volley method of my own.

TIP: Dont watch ur serve go in before moving in. Hit the serve and follow to the net. Of course, u can only do this if u have good control and placement of ur serve, which is something that i'd expect an s&v player to have. Always assume ur serve will go in.

Method: Here's one cruel thing that i do when im s&v-ing. Usually my serves are quite big, so as the match goes on, my opponents tend to sit back at the back of the court. In response, i developed a "dead serve", which is - i toss the ball with SPIN on it, then when i hit it, i i hit with opposing spin.

What this means is that even though it looks like i hit it hard and with spin, my serve is actually a floating shallow serve, and when it hits the floor it bounces very little will die before reaching the backcourt. This often sends my opponents scrambling forward and will try to just tip the ball over the net. From there, u can just slap a powerful volley past them as they are recovering.
 

jmverdugo

Hall of Fame
Other thing very important:

DO the split step. No matter where you are on your run to the net, as soon as you see your opponent is about to hit do the split.
 

ZenMac

New User
I just want to reiterate what Jmverdugo said, as that is what I've been working on myself lately:

When you serve and volley, you MUST STOP rushing in when the ball is being struck. Even if you are in no man's land, even if you are usually much closer to the net than you are this particular time, even if your serve was huge... gotta stop and do that split step. You don't just wanna rush the net, you wanna rush to the ball. :) If you are still moving when the ball is struck you're going to look stupid a lot of the time as you get passed.

Also, especially in doubles, pace is overrated on that serve. Slow and spinny will get you a long way, and gives you extra time to move in. (as others have said)
 

In D Zone

Hall of Fame
So should i approach toward the middle of the court assuming I serve out wide.

It depends... serving wide (assuming u are right handed) on the deuce is a risky proposition (to a right handed player). Opponent can go cross, down the line and even lob over you.

However, serving wide on the ad is in your favor (righty opponent). Normally opponent will return the ball towards the middle and to your forehand side.
 
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In D Zone

Hall of Fame
Edberg serve exclusively using the kick serve, which helped him with his S&V game.
I played with a guys that plays exactly like that, he managed to add some pace to his kick; he placed all of his serve to my left side. I had to jump forward to return the ball before the ball kicks out high. Of course, that was the intent to have you give him a weak return to the middle - where he's there waiting for my ball.
 
When serve and volleying I think two things are important. One, get that first volley deep and with pace. I mentally script the point before I serve. I want to volley to the receiver's backhand on my first volley, deep with pace. The second is to get spin on your serve. I find it very difficult to serve and volley with a flat serve. With me, my flat serve either is a immediate winner for me or it comes back way too fast for me to get more than two to three steps inside the service line (no man's land). A kicker or slice to the returner's backhand is ideal for serve and volley. I'm left handed so I want to slice the serve in the ad court. Pace is less important than spin. My $0.02
 

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
Well i like to serve an volley from time to time, this is what i consider when i do it:

1. where is the place on the court where i most confortably volley. I know everybody says that you should get as close of the net as you can, but in my case i dont feel confortable volleying from so close to the net i prefer half way between the net and the service line.
2. Know how fast you are, how much time takes you get to your comfy volley zone.
3. Find which one of your services allows you to get to your confortable volley zone and also which is hard and akward to return for your opponent.
4. Practice every kind of volleys, you will receive them.
5. Work on your overheads, develope one that you can trust on, again harder doesnt mean better.

in my opinion is better a medium speed well put service than a flat laser beam service, remember that the fast the ball goes one way the fast it will come back.

I know this may sound unorthodox but it has worked to me, hope it helps you too.

i agree with you on placement. yeah, a fast flat serve can do well for acing, but the fact is that people catch on real quick where you hit your flat serves, and serves with alot of spin are much more difficult to return, especially those aimed at the body. but to serve and volley, you'll want to focus on placement, and somewhat on pace. you'll want to hit a serve they wont be expecting in order to force the short ball.
 

tbini87

Hall of Fame
Other thing very important:

DO the split step. No matter where you are on your run to the net, as soon as you see your opponent is about to hit do the split.

yes, got to split step. every once in a while i find myself still dashing in and not preparing my feet for the volley. any shot not directly at you is nearly impossible to get to if still in full stride forward. split stepping and getting your feet under yourself is necessary! also remember to be patient with your shots, and that you don't have to go for winners on every volley.
 

turindev

New User
This is likely re-iterating some of what was said here, but what I like to do as a S&V player is keep the returner on their toes. After a while, they are expecting you to serve & volley, so they know they need to hit a low return. If you are playing at a level above 4.0, just throwing a kick serve and coming in will not likely cut it.

I like to mix up the serve by first hitting some of the 'typical' serves (twist wide on ad court, slice wide on duece court) to lull them asleep. After one or two of those, and a few down the T to mix it up, throw in some jamming serves. A twist serve wide to the forehand in the duece court (bouncing into the returner), or a slice serve on the add court that starts wide and curves back in can be very effective (providing your toss doesnt "telegraph" your serve spin). Mix your opponent up with a few of these and they will be (hopefully) less effective at hitting those evil low returns. The key is to mix it up... don't repeat a serve a lot unless it attacks a vulnerability that they can't do much about. If they are solid all the way around, keeping the variety will provide some easy points, or at least a lack of passing shots off of the serve. Just my $0.02!
 

Lindros13

Semi-Pro
...
Method: Here's one cruel thing that i do when im s&v-ing. Usually my serves are quite big, so as the match goes on, my opponents tend to sit back at the back of the court. In response, i developed a "dead serve", which is - i toss the ball with SPIN on it, then when i hit it, i i hit with opposing spin.

What this means is that even though it looks like i hit it hard and with spin, my serve is actually a floating shallow serve, and when it hits the floor it bounces very little will die before reaching the backcourt. This often sends my opponents scrambling forward and will try to just tip the ball over the net. From there, u can just slap a powerful volley past them as they are recovering.

Interesting. I've never tried to spin the ball in my toss. I'm going to give this a try for fun (and perhaps possible implementation into my game...but I have a feeling that this is not the needed component I'm in search of!)

Someone else may have mentioned this by now, but another important item for S/V is to throw your toss up and out into the court. This will force you to reach up and out into the court, which is not only good technique for serving, but this will also will enable you to land your feet into the court on your service follow-through and give you a half-step "head-start" on your advancement to the net.
 

Rickson

G.O.A.T.
What techniques would you recomend for serve and volley(singles and doubles). Like where to place the serve, what kind of serve, speed, spin. Also how and where to approach the net. Any help would be aprieciated.

Serve most of them up the middle, but don't let your opponent get used to it. Try to pull your opponent off the court once in a while with a wide serve, but be careful because you'll be giving him a nice angle to pass you.
 

Nellie

Hall of Fame
I have good sucess serving and volleying by heavy kick to people's backhands and looking to pick off the weak floating returns. If I am playing someone with a good two-handed return, I know I am in for a long day and switch to staying back. Also, you can vary how deep you come in to the court before taking the volley/half volley depending on the quality of your competition.
Against a strong returner, you almost have to stop immeadiately after the serve and look to hit a half volley off a blistering return before you can take a couple of steps to complete the approach.
 
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