The semifinalists at the Atlanta Tennis Championships have one thing in common: they usually play from the baseline.
Big serves followed by grinding ground shots have replaced the quick-point beauty of rushing to the net for a shirt-staining dive.
“The serve-and-volley game is extinct,” ESPN commentator Cliff Drysdale said.
Taylor Dent was the last notable serve-and-volleyer on tour and he retired last season with four championships, none since 2003.
What happened to the style that served Pete Sampras so well in winning 14 Grand Slams?
Technology.
Since Sampras’ last title at the U.S. Open in 2002, changes to courts, racquets and strings have made the game almost too fast. On serves, balls are turning into fuzzy yellow bullets, zipping between 100 and 140 mph. Improvements in string technology have allowed players to wind up and use returns as weapons, compared to at least 10 years ago when returns were hit and hope. Servers who try to rush the net now are likely to see a return whizzing past them before they can react.
To give themselves the best chance to win, players are clinging to the baseline, looking to set up winners by mixing angles and power. The heavy topspin forehand drives players back and sets up either a cut backhand or cross-court winner.
Even Roger Federer, winner of 16 Grand Slam titles, has backed away from the net during the course of his historic career. He used that style to defeat Sampras in the fourth round of the 2001 Wimbledon, considered Federer’s breakthrough win. More than 250 serve-and-volley points were played in that match. By comparison, 11 such points were played in Federer’s 2009 Wimbledon championship over Andy Roddick.
“The game is so quick,” Drysdale said.
Winning the baseline game is more than firing big serves. Like the pitcher who throws a 95 mph fastball but can’t get anyone out, without the proper placement and quick feet those fast serves can come back just as fast. John Isner, a former Georgia standout and another fast server, said he rarely tries to serve as hard as he can. Precision, not pace, is the key.
“Look at Federer, he doesn’t hit giant serves, but his serve is effective because they are very precise, and he mixes them up really well,” he said.
Returning serve also is key, otherwise there could be more matches such as the 183-game marathon between Isner and Nicolas Mahut at the 2010 Wimbledon. In that match, the longest in tennis history, there were just seven break points. Isner won three, Mahut one.
On Friday, Gilles Muller defeated Kevin Anderson, one of the hardest servers on tour, in the quarterfinals of the ATC by keeping his returns in play and winning just enough break points.
The serve-and-volley style can still be effective. Rajeev Ram, known mostly for his doubles play where the style is a necessity, defeated Lleyton Hewitt on Thursday by mixing volleys into his attack. He played Ryan Harrison late Friday. Some big servers, such as Isner, Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick, will also mix it in.
While Isner played Yen-Hsun Lu on the Stadium Court on Friday, a group of teenagers practiced on an adjacent court. During their 10 minutes of back-and-forth, neither player attempted to come to the net. Two of the boys, Walker Duncan, 15, and Chanmeet Narang, 15, who train at the Racquet Club of the South, remember watching Sampras. However, growing up while watching mostly baseliners, they couldn’t name a successful serve-and-volley player currently on the men’s tour.
They are taught the style. They said they spend about 20 percent of their practice time volleying, but three of the four boys said they usually hang back during matches.
“It is fun,” said Narang, who said he volleys because he has poor groundstrokes.
An older tennis fan said he would love to see more players try, even if he understands why they don’t.
“I really miss it,” Walter Jospin said. “It’s a lot more exciting. It’s dull watching the men and women hit it back and forth.”
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