Where have all the Serve & Volley Players gone?

Answer 1

The game has just gotten too fast. Service returns in particular.
And with players generating so much pace on their own serves, it makes it near impossible to follow them to net and be able to make that first volley in a decent position in the court.

I'm not a great Tim Henman fan, although I admire his game. However, he's about as good as they come when you're talking about serve and volley players. And he went as far as any serve and volley player could hope in this modern era of tennis. Patrick Rafter was the last serve and volley champion. And again, he'd be plateau'ing in the 5-15 spots in the world in today's men's field. And Pat hasn't been out long! The game has just evolved that much, that quickly in the last few years.

I don't foresee any serve and volley player being able to be a grand slam contendor in today's game.

Some will mention Sampras, but he wasn't a serve and volleyer. He was an all-court player with a HUGE serve. Same as Federer. These guys can volley with the best of them, but their games aren't built around a true serve and volley philosophy. They basically followed big serves in and knocked off the weak returns with some great volleys. This style may eventually become recognized as the serve and volley game of the modern era, but it's not like an Edberg or McEnroe who spun in off pace 1st serves in the hopes of gaining a few extra feet to make that first volley.

Answer 2

Racket technology has limited the capacity for serve-and-volley to be effective to very few courts and tournaments. Ball selection also can contribute, and, as grass is the main surface where serve-and-volley might flourish, court composition may count for more here as well.

Remember that not too long ago there was a Sampras-Ivanisevic final at Wimbledon in which only one point contained a rally of more than four strokes. Serve,return, first volley, first pass, and the point was over. Since then, the courts have been grown differently and the balls have changed, and looking at pictures of Centre Court before the final weekend one can see enormous differences from even ten years ago of how the court wears during the tournament.

Then again, last year's women's final at Wimbledon between Mauresmo and Henin probably thrilled the assembled grouping of Past British Champions they assembled in the Royal Box (I think they had all the living ones except Virginia Wade, or nearly so), and may give some hope for the serve-and-volley crowd. After several years of Big Babe Power Tennis, the match went over extremely well, and may encourage the powers that be to treat the surface to favour the all-court players, which might let the surface dictate the rest.

Answer 3

Well...first...anyone who grew up on clay only..meaning europeans and namely spaniards never learned to serve and volley..because truly they only play on clay and i know many people who never playe don hard until they came to the US...and clay is just to slow for someone to win consistantly from the net...and u now look at the top players...there are a ton of spaniards and other baseliners...at the moment there is a great amazing group of baseliners...the problem with this is..when the next generation of tennis players (which i am a part of) see this they dont see anyone except maybe Federer ever serve and volleying..so there like oh...lets learn how to hit 1 billion groundstrokes in a row in and compeltey leave out volleys form our game plan...well..thats unfortunate because a great serve and vollyer id far greater then a great baseliner...even with harder serves and harder returns...y the heck would u come in on a flat serve anyway...serve and vollying seems to translate to the common person as hit a roddick serve and come in...well..its not...SandV's put themselves at way to high a risk by coming in so they have to play smart palce it well...Sampras had a huge serve but he could also spin it out wide or kick it way up to get an ace or easy volley...and i will say that i serve and volley every first serve and when i am palcing my serve well i do not get broken...theres now ay for ur oppoenent to get the ball past u when ur at the net when they are lunging or mvoing outta position for a ball...Serving and vollying has unfortunalty left the game...excpet a few people seem to stand out during grass season like Moody like every hard hititng american and of course the FED...but unfortunatly that isnt a lot...and it need to be borught back...for its unstoppable when done right

Answer 4

The Serves are actually to fast to get in behind, and when a returner does get a return in there is so much pace on it from the serve that the !st volley is very hard to make. Federer has great Volleys , but he even waits for a short ball to come in behind.

Answer 5

With the power in the game now, it's simply too easy to rocket a return of serve winner past a true serve and volleyer.

I used to love watching Stefan Edberg play. He was one of my all-time favorites. And as one other poster said, Henman has done about as well as a serve and volleyer can do in the modern era, but in today's game a true serve and volley player is gonna get crushed.

Answer 6

The current players in the league want to play longer matches. There aren't really any serve & volley players, unless you count people who can play all- around

Answer 7

the best serve and volley player of all time was deffinetly pete sampras. but now the game is so fast and it's just base line play.

Answer 8

I beat them all