Much of modern tennis involves players slugging it out at the baseline. Back in the ’80s and ’90s, this style was dominant in tennis, no doubt due to the fast courts of that era. But today, the art of serve and volley has been all but eliminated from the sport.
We rewind back in tennis history and take a look at the top men and women serve and volley players in the Open Era, starting with the guys.
#5 – Pete Sampras
Pete Sampras’ great strength in his serve-and-volley game was his serve. You couldn’t tell by the way he was tossing the ball in which direction the ball would go. “I’ve been playing serve and volley since I was 14. I was used to it. Today I have the feeling that when the boys go online, they are afraid,” he said in a past interview. Sampras drew inspiration for his attacking style from McEnroe, Edberg, and Becker. “My generation played intuitively. You felt the web. But that doesn’t happen overnight.”
#4 – Patrick Rafter
For Patrick Rafter, the most important thing about tennis was having fun. And he didn’t have that much fun from the baseline. Therefore his motto was: Attack! His unconditional serve-and-volley game carried the Australian to two US Open titles, two Wimbledon finals, and world number one. “You’ve had to play serve-and-volley since you were young. One cannot decide later to do this. That’s not how it works,” says Rafter. He is certain that his style of play would not have developed on today’s slower courts. “Someone like Djokovic would have humiliated me,” he believes.
#3 – Boris Becker
For Boris Becker volleyball is a “lost art”. The majority of players can serve well, but playing a good volley is even more fundamental with a serve-and-volley. “If you don’t practice volleys, you can’t play a good volley either,” says Becker. Like his compatriot Michael Stich, the German was also able to change his style of play when things weren’t going so well on the net. Becker doesn’t believe in a renaissance of serve-and-volley, but he sees a positive development. “The route to the internet is becoming more popular because it brings success. If you want to be a complete player, you have to be able to play the occasional serve and volley.”
#2 – John McEnroe
When it comes to choosing the best serve and volley player of all time, this name always comes up: John McEnroe. The American worked on this style of play for a long time. His first Wimbledon appearance in 1977, when he reached the semi-finals as a qualifier, reinforced McEnroe’s belief that he could become the best at the serve and volley game. “I think my speed, anticipation, and eye-hand coordination were better than the baseline players so I could beat them with my style of play,” he says in his biography. He was right!
#1 – Stefan Edberg
Stefan Edberg mastered the art of serve-and-volley more elegantly than almost any other player. What does it take? Lots of staying power. “It goes like this: fail, fail again, succeed, fail, succeed,” he said in a previous interview. “You have to use your strengths and work on them. A lot of people focus on their weaknesses instead of honing what they’re really good at,” he said. His offensive style of play also had its price – in the form of foot faults. Edberg holds the record for most foot faults in a match: a whopping 26!
That’s our list of the top five guys. Now let’s look at the women who made their mark in the tennis world using the serve and volley artistry.
#5 – Lori McNeil
What Stakhovsky was to Federer, Lori McNeil was to Steffi Graf. In 1994, the American threw the big favorite and defending champion out of the Wimbledon tournament in the first round. McNeil reached the semifinals that year and was ranked 9th in the world.
#4 – Zina Garrison
Zina Garrison has won 14 WTA titles in her career. In the WTA ranking she went up as high as World No. 4. Her best tournament was at Wimbledon in 1990, when she defeated Monica Seles and Steffi Graf in succession and then lost to Martina Navratilova in the final.
#3 – Yana Novotna
After Martina Navratilova, there was another Czech who inspired with serve-and-volley: Jana Novotna, who died far too early after a long illness in 2017 at the age of 49. Her risky attacking game also caused her to lose some clear leads. “Sometimes you don’t make the best decisions during a match and then you lose. In my case, my strong emotions may have often contributed to my failure,” said Novotna in a previous interview. Unforgotten: her Wimbledon title in 1998.
#2 – Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is, arguably, one of the greatest women’s tennis players ever. At just 5’4″, King wasn’t the biggest player on the court, but she definitely had the biggest game! Playing mostly in the ’70s, Billie Jean introduced the serve-and-volley game into women’s tennis. Before her, the concept was pretty much alien to the women’s game. King won a whopping 12 singles, 16 doubles, and 11 mixed doubles Grand Slam titles.
#1 Martina Navratilova
“I interpreted the game the way it should be played,” said Martina Navratilova about her tactics. What does the “grand dame” of women’s tennis mean by that? To storm in to net at every available opportunity. There will probably never be a player who can master serve-and-volley in its purest form like the left-hander. “If you stay behind after every serve, your opponent can block the return anywhere on the court and get away with it. You can push away these blocked returns with a serve and volley.”
Lastly, here’s a compilation video of some of Matina Navratilova’s best serve and volley points. See if you can recognize her opponents!