Roland Garros Tennis Lessons - Marcos Daniel - The Serve and Volley!

From an elite group of 356 tennis players, men and women, how many can, know how or go to the net on a serve and volley combination? Five? Perhaps.

The reason why many more do not go to the net (excuse) is 'that tennis has gotten much faster'! 

Does anyone really believe that todays players hit the ball much faster then Ivan Lendl, Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, or Pete Sampras?

Does anyone believe that Yannick Noah, Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras or Patrick Rafter would have stayed on the baseline against todays competition?  Of course not!  They would attack!

Why were the players above along with many others, able to attack and serve and volley?

Simple, they developed the skills necessary at a very young age. Which were:

- Solid volleys. (Half-volleys, low volleys, high volleys, put away volleys, touch volleys, angle volleys, punch volleys all volleys!)

- Superior movement at the net. (Cat like movement and instincts are required at the net)

- Great service deliveries.

- The service of a serve and volley player includes the following: Speed, power and spin variations. Length, placement and angle variations. Disguise.

- Like on anything in tennis, they applied consistency on the propose of serve and volley and the principle of constant pressure.

Any way the SERVE AND VOLLEY DROP-SHOT!

Marcos Daniel decided to serve and volley and apply one of the most successful tactics on this point. The drop volley.

Volleyers with little experience will think one dimensionally and that is volley solid deep cross or up the line.

Experienced volleyers know better.  Variation and surprise is their motto.  Rarely will they play the same shot twice in a row.

Marcos Daniel saw himself volleying a quickly dropping return full of topspin from Nadal and at the same time saw Nadal moving to the center of the court so he decided to hit a drop-shot volley right in front of himself.

As a result he gave no angles to Nadal to pass and on the other hand forced Nadal to come forward which is not his cup of tea.

Why was this the best choice?

- Most players spend endless hours on lateral movement, few train forward movement or go to the net. (Nadal is one of them!)

- Unlike other shots the drop volley shot requests a much faster reaction from your opponent and a sprint to reach the ball.

- Mentally it demoralizes the opponent because he realizes the impossibility of reaching such balls.

- Physically it evens out the wearing from your efforts in the serve and volley expenditure, with an equally brutal effort on your opponents reaching for the volley drop-shot.

- Tactically will keep your opponent guessing and off balance because next time he is thinking drop-shot volley and you play deep!

Like anything in tennis the volley drop shot is a great weapon but, it must be mixed with a variety of other volleys and ruses for it to remain fresh and tactically effective.

Some basic rules of the serve volley drop shot:

- Do get your first serve in and placed in the weakest return side of your opponent.

- In my opinion the best serve for serve and volley is down the middle line or hard to the opponents body. This allows for no angles of return, pins your opponent on the stretch to one side and opens the possibility of a winning cross court volley for you on either side.

- Strive for speed and maximum terrain gain in the first three or four steps toward the net.

- Use a strong wide split step timed with your opponents ball contact.

- Once the return is in flight go straight (diagonally) to the ball always in forward motion.

- Try to hit your volley above the net level if you can.

- For an effective drop volley at contact firm up your grip and wrist, cushion the ball with feel and a little back spin.

- Never take your opponent for granted do not lower your guard until the ball has bounced twice on the the other side!

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