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  • The death of Serve and Volley

    THE DEATH OF SERVE AND VOLLEY
    BY : GEOFF WILLIAMS
    There are four factors that have caused the death of serve and volley tennis, the once dominant strategy. Factor #1: Equipment advances: String and frames. String has changed. No longer are any top players using all gut string jobs. The hybrid has come: gut/alu luxilon. Or in Murray’s case: alu/gut. This hybrid is responsible for a higher rpm than any other string job. The Teflon infused alu luxilon has allowed the rougher gut to slide, in unison, so that it grabs the balls in correct frequency, not too soon, and not too late, and the elastic gut is able to grab the ball and create more spin than just all alu string jobs. The stiffer alu has also tamed the gut’s power and tendency to go long on hard hit shots. It also has allowed more rpms so that shots don’t go long. Edged string such as rpm blast, the one Nadal uses have also created more spin.
    FRAME LAY UPS
    Frames have changed as well. Just like golf, with huge drivers, the square inches of a typical frame have risen from the old days of 55-65 sq. inches, to an average of 98.5 sq. inches per frame. This has increased the size of the sweet spot from about the size of a dime, to the size of a dollar bill. Connors won 109 tournaments with that small sweet spot, hitting flat for the most part, with very little rpms. Those days are dead and gone now. The typical male atp fh has about 2200-3300 rpms. That compares to about 1100 rpms in the old days with all gut string jobs and small sweet spots in wooden frames. Graphite lay ups changed the ability of a frame to withstand larger stress, and larger frames, and still remain viable. Wooden frames could not withstand larger sq. inch build outs without warping and breaking. They were made primarily of bass wood layered pieces, glued together, and were too heavy to be wielded by most normal people. Borg played at 410 grams strung at 80lbs with all gut. No one plays that heavy or that tight any more. The game has changed. It demands lighter frames and quicker reactions, as serves and ground strokes have become heavier, faster, more dangerous than ever before than with all gut string jobs. Gut/poly hybrids have allowed the best of both worlds to accrue: A powered control like never before available, especially If strung by a stringer with knowledge of his player’s abilities, and the fore sight to match the string tensions to the frames’ frequency. Only the best stringers have the ability to get the most out of a given hybrid/frame combination. It’s like a top piano stringer. Sampras knew this. So did Lendl, who pioneered string job obsession. Lendl discovered that even the best string jobs did not last long, so he began to change his frames every 8 games, and Sampras followed suit. If you have already invented the wheel, why bother to change it? It’s perfect already. Now virtually all top singles players do that same thing, other than Davydenko, who is no longer a top player. Doubles players don’t bother, and they don’t make as much money either, hitting fewer shots as a whole as well, so they pay for far fewer string jobs. The average sq. inch of pro male frames is 98.5 inches. A far cry from the days of Sampras/Becker/Edberg, who all played heavy and small frames, at 18 x 20 closed patterns. Sampras at 389g. Becker at 395g. Edberg at 405g. So why did all the best volleyers of all time use such heavy frames? Because they needed a heavier serve. The serve was more valuable than volley reaction time. So equipment changes killed off serve and volley. Top players like Djokovic use frames that only weigh about360g. They use vs gut/alu hybrids that allow a synchronized snap back, and powered control, with full rpms available. No other string job allows as much spin as gut/alu.
    The lay up of the frames has also changed, as has the manufacture. Light weight, high strength materials, first pioneered in aerospace have dominated frame lay ups. Graphene, high modulus graphite, braided graphite/Kevlar, volcanic compounds, ceramics, have all intruded into frame lay ups. Frames are made by rolling the lay up on thin round long rods on a heated table, which are reinforced at key points, and placed into metal molds which are then heated, and air forced into the molds to expand them into the extremity of the metal molds. Air bladders are used. These make ups are far stronger and far lighter than wooden frames used to be. Space age advances.
    The modern tendency of players coming up is to use full copoly string jobs, strung at low tensions, with lighter frames, to achieve faster rpm and more rpms. The combination allows more spin and jamming shots. And this allows base line players to pass volleyers no matter how bad the position.
    COURT AND BALL SPEED
    The court speeds have also caused the game to slow down, allowing more time to get set, run down approach shots, and pass. Balls have been slowed down as well at Wimbledon, ie. Thicker felt on the balls causes the felt to stand up and become fluffy faster, which creates more air friction, slowing the balls down. The grass has been slowed down as well. Why was this done? The game had become too robotically fast, with no rallies at Wimbledon. The Us and Australian open also slowed down their hard courts, to create longer rallies. All contributing to the death of the serve and volley game. Court builders add more sand to the paint jobs, which creates more friction, slowing the balls down. These slower conditions have allowed Nadal to become dominant, as he has created the most rpms the game has ever seen. He has a winning record against all the top 30 players.
    TECHNIQUE:
    Player technique has also caused changes. More players use extreme top spin to pass now, and to rally with. The atp type III fore hand has created more top spin, with a shorter stroke. All top atp players use it now. Not only does it make it easier to pass, but it makes it easier to stay consistent no matter how hard nor fast you swing at the ball. Two handed back hand domination has also contributed. Two handers don’t develop the confidence in the one handed slice approaches or the one handed slice volleys. So the gains in returns and cross court short angles have helped to kill off the net men. All past great serve and volleyers have been one handers. Laver, Sampras, Becker, Edberg, McEnroe, Rafter, etc. all have been one handers.
    LACK OF VOLLEY PRACTICE
    Most players don’t practice the volley nor the serve and volley game much any more. Juniors are not taught as their coaches know the style is not viable other than as a change up. So the ability to become confident at the game no longer is dominant as a style, as it is not practiced. The skill level to learn all the volley variables is far higher than ground stroking, as you have half the time to volley. Even a fast hit ball will slow down to half speed after the bounce. No such slow down on even an easy volley. Half volleys, hit offensively take years to learn. Touch drops the same. Over heads as well take many years to perfect. The foot work for volleying is far more varied, far faster, as are volley lateral movements. Injury is therefore more likely. Serves have to be heavier, have more dynamic power and spin to be effective against even lower level pros, as their return games are so dominant. There are many pros without great serves, and none without great returns, other than the very tall such as Isner and Karlovic. Taller men tend to have stronger serves and weaker returns than the average pro. The longer arms and legs take longer to react on return, and allow a longer kinetic path way to create stronger serves.


    SOLUTION TO THE DEATH OF SERVE AND VOLLEY

    Speed up the balls. Speed up the courts. Then and only then will the net men be able to make a living. Something is seriously out of balance, when Raonic, lose 5 of 6 tie breakers to Nishikori, with a serve that’s 20% faster. Speed up the balls and the courts, and we would see Raonic become a serve and volleyer full time. Who misses the Sampras/Agassi battles? Or the Borg/Mcenroe battles? The equality of the game is gone, and it’s out of balance now. No variation in style will kill spectator interest, and the equipment manufacturers will sell fewer items due to lack of public interest in the game…..

  • #2
    The manufacturers have to lead the charge to speed up the balls and the courts. Public interest is waning due to the lack of contrasting styles, and they are selling fewer items. Tournaments are going bankrupt due to lack of ticket sales. We have lost two ATP here in Calif. last year: the San Jose and the LA. It's typical even in slam matches to see the stadiums empty, esp. with earlier matches.

    The game is dying. Only public interest can revive it. And that leads us into the regimented destruction of player/crowd personalities as well! If you are emotional and interesting you get "handled".

    You get "penalized", up the rear. Remove equipment abuse penalties. Increase the time between points allowed. Remove language abuse penalties. Let's see some Nasty Mcenroes get away with climbing under the back fence tarp. Let's see Connors getting away with runing over to his opponents side of the court and rubbing out the ball mark with his foot!

    Let's see the audience allowed to make some noise during the points, just like any other pro sport (golf is a joke). Anybody ever go to a football or a soccer game and hear the crowd roar? BAseball, where hitting is the most difficult thing in sports, even allows the crowd to explode at will! The vestiges of the "gentleman" game still hold sway and are killing it off. Most of the public watching it are not gentlemen either. Tennis is no longer a game for rich people who happen to have a tennis hobby: It's a deadly serious blue collar fight to the death out there, sweating, cursing, racquet smashing, eyes bulging, screaming fire in the belly is what I'd like to see, instead of the penalized. I want to see the crowd standing and screaming during deadly rallies. It's only a matter of time. Raonic is a good example of someone with no belly fire, and he gets admired for it, as he loses for it. Fist fights on change overs would increase viewer ship. Even little chest bumps: gilbert/, becker/curren, Venus/whoever, are still remembered. At least Brad did throw down in a juniors match, and got thrown out of the ncta for it.
    Last edited by GeoffWilliams; 11-02-2014, 09:22 AM.

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    • #3
      Problem is, speeding things up could lead to ace festivals by Cilic, Raonic, Karlovic, etc. (hmmm all "ics"....), which is pretty boring for spectators. Probably the only solution is bring back wooden rackets, and speed up the courts... (dream on... )

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      • #4
        Originally posted by gzhpcu View Post
        Problem is, speeding things up could lead to ace festivals by Cilic, Raonic, Karlovic, etc. (hmmm all "ics"....), which is pretty boring for spectators. Probably the only solution is bring back wooden rackets, and speed up the courts... (dream on... )
        When I become commissioner...

        Kyle LaCroix USPTA
        Boca Raton

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        • #5
          Originally posted by klacr View Post
          When I become commissioner...

          Kyle LaCroix USPTA
          Boca Raton
          Geoff, as usual brilliant posting. You're posts are worth membership to this site and more. RESPECT. Keep up the great work here. We're all discussing your stuff on this end every day, and dissecting everything you post.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by gzhpcu View Post
            Problem is, speeding things up could lead to ace festivals by Cilic, Raonic, Karlovic, etc. (hmmm all "ics"....), which is pretty boring for spectators. Probably the only solution is bring back wooden rackets, and speed up the courts... (dream on... )
            Yeah, it's a tricky one Phil. But there has to be an answer. We need a surface where getting to the net will reap rewards, where ALL players will work that out. The problem is the game has become so powerful that if you speed up the court things are likely to swing the other way. In Formula 1 they have been known put blocks on technology to make racing more watchable...and safer. A backward step in technology would work best, not that it will happen, but it would work.
            Stotty

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            • #7
              Let's all make a commitment to work on what we can actually control...Technique. Until one of us on this forum becomes the undisputed and untouchable king of the tennis universe we do not singlehandedly have the power to change court speed in pros, balls, or racquet technology. But we have a huge impact on our students. Let's start there. Our students respect us and listen to us. Thats not always a guarantee with the tennis corporation execs.

              Kyle LaCroix USPTA
              Boca Raton

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by klacr View Post
                Let's all make a commitment to work on what we can actually control...Technique. Until one of us on this forum becomes the undisputed and untouchable king of the tennis universe we do not singlehandedly have the power to change court speed in pros, balls, or racquet technology. But we have a huge impact on our students. Let's start there. Our students respect us and listen to us. Thats not always a guarantee with the tennis corporation execs.

                Kyle LaCroix USPTA
                Boca Raton
                Ok. I'll do what I can to make you commissioner but that seat does not exist yet. Students become masters. One vote for Kyle here. And I'd like to see him throw down on a change over, preferrably against Mac n smack! Ha, ha. Too bad we can't change the court during a match, from slow to fast, but that is on the horizon perhaps.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by hockeyscout View Post
                  Geoff, as usual brilliant posting. You're posts are worth membership to this site and more. RESPECT. Keep up the great work here. We're all discussing your stuff on this end every day, and dissecting everything you post.

                  Listen to this guy. He knows. Everything I post is true for me. If it helps your girl become world class, all the better. Teach her to use her mind first. Teach her to serve like Sampras and play like Henin. Get her a flex bar, the green one, and have her use it daily, as it will ward off elbow/shoulder damages, and balance out right/left side strength. They cost about $17.65 with shipping. I tried a stringing experiment today: tour bite 1.10mm. Mains at 80lbs. First cross down: 52lbs, 2nd: 57lbs: 3rd: 62lbs, next down: 25lbs, all the way to third from last down: 70lbs last three crosses. In a pro stock extended babolat. REsult: Not wild or uncontrollable at all. Deadly spin, when hit for it: deadly power, and good depth, and excellent returns. Heavy spin serves. VEry good control. Opponent was missing shots due to depth and spin was too heavy. Lots of moping over there. Any time my opponent is moping, I feel dominant. When you feel good about an experiment it's a beautiful life.
                  Last edited by GeoffWilliams; 11-02-2014, 05:38 PM.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by licensedcoach View Post
                    Yeah, it's a tricky one Phil. But there has to be an answer. We need a surface where getting to the net will reap rewards, where ALL players will work that out. The problem is the game has become so powerful that if you speed up the court things are likely to swing the other way. In Formula 1 they have been known put blocks on technology to make racing more watchable...and safer. A backward step in technology would work best, not that it will happen, but it would work.

                    When Phillopousis was radared with a woodie, he hit 124mph. With his own dunlop mfil 200 (I have one if any one wants it) he hit: 127mph. So a return to woodies would not change things at all. Advances in player technique have trumped equipment.
                    Last edited by GeoffWilliams; 11-02-2014, 05:47 PM.

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                    • #11
                      IF I win the open I entered, I will be the oldest guy in norcal history to win an open, and the youngest guy. I plan to serve and volley on seconds.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by GeoffWilliams View Post
                        When Phillopousis was radared with a woodie, he hit 124mph. With his own dunlop mfil 200 (I have one if any one wants it) he hit: 127mph. So a return to woodies would not change things at all. Advances in player technique have trumped equipment.
                        Gonzales and others hit the 125mph mark too. From a static position, with a good motion, players could serve big even back then. Doing it all afternoon was perhaps another matter.

                        No, the real undoing of serve and volley for me is the ability of players these days to hit from wide positions...even when way off court. You just could not hit with so much power when pulled out wide with wood. It's the major difference between modern versus wood. I also think modern rackets, being much stiffer, are far better for bracing on return of serve.

                        The players who most benefit from modern rackets are the mediocre, average club players. It made the game far more accessible for the average Joe whereas with wood they may well have found the game too difficult and given up.
                        Stotty

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                        • #13
                          Think you are right Stotty...

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by licensedcoach View Post
                            Gonzales and others hit the 125mph mark too. From a static position, with a good motion, players could serve big even back then. Doing it all afternoon was perhaps another matter.

                            No, the real undoing of serve and volley for me is the ability of players these days to hit from wide positions...even when way off court. You just could not hit with so much power when pulled out wide with wood. It's the major difference between modern versus wood. I also think modern rackets, being much stiffer, are far better for bracing on return of serve.

                            The players who most benefit from modern rackets are the mediocre, average club players. It made the game far more accessible for the average Joe whereas with wood they may well have found the game too difficult and given up.
                            Those are good points. But I doubt any modern player will want to prove them! Why go back to such small head size and tight pattern? While the whole point of making racquets for the average joe was to sell more items, make the game easier was the driver for them to be sold. The end result has been to prioritize the slow game over serve and volley. Ace fests or not, the game has now slowed down so much. There is no chance for serve and volley guys who want to win slams and make a great living at it any more. And that won't change unless people stop buying racquets because of it. (Not going to happen.)

                            It's like the internet killing off book stores. Book lovers adapted. And players have had to adapt, ala Fed, who stopped coming into the net. Formula one restricted carbs because people were dying on the tracks. No one's dying due to the death of serve and volley.
                            Last edited by GeoffWilliams; 11-03-2014, 08:06 AM.

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                            • #15
                              Talking to a legend

                              This thread is fascinating although I thought the debate or at least conversation was over after my 7 part serve and volley series which was a polarizing topic and got the wheels churning. It began a conversation which was one of the goals. Moving on...

                              I made a phone call today.

                              Today is November 3rd. It happens to be the birthday of someone who has become a dear friend of mine over the last 18 months....Roy Emerson. Mr. Emerson turned 78 years young today. He's doing well and still going out for a hit as often as he can. Talks to his buddy Rod (Laver) all the time. He joked that I should fly out to California some day and play those guys in Canadian doubles. If he wasn't half joking, I'd be on a plane this week no questions asked. Anyways, I gave him a call to wish him a happy birthday and as usual, a quick and thoughtful call turned into a 35 minute conversation about life, death and everything in between. Including tennis. I'm not a big phone guy. If I talk on the phone to anyone longer than 5 minutes, it needs to be important and I need to seriously care or respect that person immensely. So Roy falls into that "important" and "Respect" category I guess.

                              I asked him about Serve and Volley. There was a slight pause. Then a monologue that sounded as if he had been asked or pondered it for the past decade. A monologue that I'll try to summarize for you...
                              He talked about the tennis of today. How much it has changed in the last 10 years. 15 years. 20 years. It's unrecognizable compared to when he played. Obviously. Not so much the skill level although he admitted players are physically bigger and ball striking is much more violent, but unrecognizable due to the commercialization of it all. The lights, the cameras, the post match celebrations and the player's quirks. Emo can do without that. But understands the evolution of it. It's the sign of the times. If it means more money for those involved and it trickles down and gets more people interested, then its good for our sport.

                              As for serve and volley? Be careful how we word things. Serve and volley as a style, tactic or strategy may not be dead. Something that is capable of being used often or sparingly by anyone at any level is not extinct. It can never die. But it has definitely gone into extended hibernation as a full-time style on the big tour. What is dead Emerson admits is the skill set required from players to do it consistently. Smart serving, solid volleys and the attitude. Emerson doesn't blame the players for not wanting to learn. But when players like Djokovic and Nadal are so great defensively and you lack confidence in the forecourt, why in the world would you dare get to the net? Only if you were brilliant, crazy, stupid or brilliantly crazy or brilliantly stupid would you do it. Or if you had Coach Harry Hopman threatening to run your bum into the ground if you didn't.

                              Technology has changed things. Made things tougher for some, easier for others and a blessing for the tennis consumer. No excuses for no serve and volley, just a tough time now and for the foreseeable future but players and the game find ways to adjust, adapt and reinvent. Until then, let's just enjoy Roger's attacking and also hope that big Canadian kid understands what a wonderful serve he has.

                              The conversation ended with a final birthday acknowledgment and the promise to speak soon around the holidays.

                              That's Roy. 28 Grand Slam Titles. For a reason.

                              Kyle LaCroix USPTA
                              Boca Raton
                              Last edited by klacr; 11-03-2014, 06:40 PM.

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