Serve and Volley Tennis Lesson - The Complete Guide (5 STEPS)

Serve and Volley Tennis Lesson - The Complete Guide (5 STEPS)
Serve and volley is a bit of a dying art in tennis these days. Some players like Roger Federer and Feliciano Lopez still use this tennis tactic occasionally but the vast majority of pro players only use it in doubles matches and not in singles. Why?

The main reason is that tennis has slowed down since the 1990s. During the era of Sampras, Ivanisevic, Krajicek and many other big servers, many tennis fans and spectators claimed the boom boom game of ace or serve and one volley was boring. So in the late 90s, the powers that be started transforming the game as we knew it. They experimented with bigger balls, they slowed down court surfaces, they even changed the grass they used at Wimbledon and many of the players noticed that the faster grass courts of decades past were now replaced with a slower, higher bounce, that was exaggerated even more in warmer weather, with some players saying it played more like a hard or even clay court, and not a classic grass-court that rewarded players to attack the net.
The slower courts gave counter punchers like Hewitt and Nadal a real chance at winning Wimbledon and defeating the big servers.

Having said all that, this doesn't mean the strategy is totally useless these days, we see Roger Federer using it more often in his matches, keeping the points much shorter and saving energy over the course of an event.

Does Serve and Volley work at recreational level?
The difference in court speed and equipment has had some effect at club level, but serve and volley is still one of the most effective ways to win points at that level.

How To Serve and Volley in Five Simple Steps:
Step One - The foundation of executing the serve and volley strategy well is your serve. Knowing where to serve is half the battle. By serving down the T on both the deuce and advantage sides, you'll limit the amount of angle the returner has to pass you with. It's also important to know that when you hit a bigger, flatter serve and come in, you'll have less time to move into the net, so the slice and kick serves can also be a very effective way of reaching a good position when transitioning into the net.

Step Two - Transition steps. When you land after your serve, you'll be inside the baseline hopefully, you'll then have time for two or three steps before you need to split step when the opponent makes contact on their return. Those 2-3 steps have to be explosive, big and moving you in the direction of the serve you've hit. If you serve out wide, you move across the court to cover the down the line pass.

Step Three - The split step. A common error many players make on the serve and volley is they rush the net and forget to split. Or they split step and stop completely. Your split step should act as a tiny pause in the forward motion, but as soon as you recognize where the return is going, you should then carry on with the momentum you've created and close down the net for that first volley. Try to time your split step so that you land just after the opponent has made contact with their return.

Step Four - Your first volley. If the return is floating and easy to attack, you should move up the court and be aggressive with your first volley, using shorter angles to hit winners. If the return is mid-height or low, treat it as an approach shot, in general you'll either hit the first volley down the line or into the opponent's weaker side (the backhand for 90% of players).

Step Five - Finishing the point. After your first volley, continue moving up inside the service boxes. The closer you get to the net, the more angle will open up to you. Avoid getting too close to the net, as the lob will then become an easy option for your opponent. Around 6-8 feet away from the net is a good base to have, but move in after you see the ball coming towards you.

Video Timeline:
00:00 - Intro To Serve and Volley
00:52 - The Serve (step one)
1:37 - Serving On The Deuce Side
3:42 - Serving On The Ad Side
5:17 - Moving Forward After The Serve (step two)
8:16 - The Split Step (step three)
12:38 - The First Volley (step four)
14:26 - Finishing The Point (step five)
18:26 - Serve and Volley Examples with Analysis
24:39 - Outro

#tennis #serveandvolley #tennislesson

[TopTennisTrainingOfficial]

Inside the PDF we cover:
The Grips
The Ball Toss
The Power Position
Supination and Pronation
The Follow Through and Finish
Power Sources

[anishjoshi]

Do you have a PDF of this video? Thanks👍👍

[kenyang]

Really professional 2 guys to demonstrate how to play and use the strategy. It is easy to understand by watching their playing. Well done!

[GrungePopRecords]

Best serve and volley instructions! Thanks! I played a top player who beat me easily and then I watched this video and served and volleyed. I was up 6-5 when he retired…he chickened out I think because I was crushing it! Thanks for another great video guys!

[markbrown]

You two are the best one-two punch in teaching on the internet. Well done as usual!

[martyleyeti]

Best video on S&V ever made ! Great job guys. I dunno if you are professionals or not, but you''re better than 99.9% of us all for sure.
It's a shame players don't play S&V anymore like back in the days 3 of the 4 GS were on grass. Soo happy to see guys play on grass. I never did, and it looks really really fun.
Excuse my French, but I think that S&V is to tennis what oral sex is to sex : there can never be too much of it, and when it's not here, it's soon repetitive and boring. On the other hand, when it's here, the whole game reaches new levels of fun, with tons of new angles and fun stuffs to do. It's also one of the best way to conclude the action

[dougwrightuspta]

Excellent Solid Advice. Continue to promote and explain Serve and Volley... It's a dramatic and exciting strategy that is being lost in recent years for the most part.

[pedrogonzales]

I used serve and volley all the have a big serve and was quick, so it gave me the best chance of winning. I modeled my game after Stefan Edberg. Now I serve and pray

[keshavahuja]

Ty sir Simon for the wonderful content I am eagerly waiting for this video to turn live. I am not good at serve and volley thing and literally thinking 💭 about it at night before going to bed and went I wake up in the morning I just get a notification a new video posted by u. Ty so very much👍🏻

[georgepalavi]

Great, comprehensive video. I want to improve my S and V game and this helps a lot. Thanks

[jazibahmed]

Amazing I've always been an agresive baseline player but now I know how to counter players using this style
You guys are awesome keep up the great work 👌

[cameronkromanamiri]

Great Video! Have watched a lot of your videos and they really have helped me out! I really like those tactic videos👍🏻 Keep up the good work!!

[ReidVV]

Very comprehensive on the serve and volley. Thanks. You're always kindly asking for lessons we'd like to see. Here's the $64, 000 question. We all know most rec players play too much and practice too little. If you were to design a weekly or monthly practice routine for recreational tennis players to follow for general improvement/maintenance of their play and fitness, what would it be (now there's a PDF for you!).

[colinbyer]

Really been looking for this, I’ve recently started charging the net so I’m looking forward to this

[zbyszek]

3:33 a dog going into the net for volleys XDDD

[andrewbccoast]

awesome breakdown and volley variety. love the pup running around too. english countryside tennis. ☺️

[gerardmiller]

Great video guys. Very informative to see that little 'punch cut' on the volley to generate the necessary backspin, something we discussed on a related post over on Instagram in the last day or so Simon. (I was bemoaning my under-hitting of volleys off medium paced shots). Grew up playing on grass too, so this was also a lovely trip down memory lane :)

[jamesjin]

Thank you, the textual explanation is really useful.

[sahilagrawal]

I have been trying to find some vids to improve my serve volley... my serve was good enough to get short balls and my volleys are also pretty good but I wasn't able to link the two. Thanks for helping me out with the transition - I'll try tossing the ball more out in front and using a stutter step instead of a split step!

[adityabasu]

Great video.
Can you please make a detailed video on the controlling the direction of shot? Especially the one-handed backhand and the slice backhand.