The serve and volley tactic is a great strategy to
use to attack the net and surprise your opponent,
but there's a very important footwork you must use to
help you win a lot more of these points.
Now here we have Murat Saffin,
former #1 in the world,
two-time Grand Slam champ,
and this is Gulbis.
This is back in 2009.
Let's watch this point and then we'll diagram it.
Now,
when Gulbis just served and volleyed,
he split-stepped,
and during that movement going forward,
you wanna split step around the time your opponent hits,
actually slightly after they hit.
And I want you to guess
where Gulbis split steps.
Does he split step on the court
here,
or here?
Does he split step?
And this is a really important distinction to understand
in order to win more certain volley.
Does he split step in front of the service line as he's coming forward?
Does he split step on the service line,
or does he split step in the middle of no man's land?
The answer to this is the key to winning more points
during a serve and volley.
So, let's look.
Here's Gulbis,
there's the serve,
and let's watch Gulbis's feet as he's coming forward.
There's the split step.
That's his split step.
The split step occurs
in the middle of no man's land.
Most recreational players I talked to about serving and volleying
think they're supposed to get up to the service line at least
by the time the opponent makes contact with the ball.
It's basically impossible to do that.
Unless your opponent is standing way back at the fence, or you serve so slowly
that you buy yourself the time to get into the service line,
which you wouldn't want to do because you're just hitting a very soft serve.
Now you'll always get people say,
yeah,
but if you get a kick serve,
you can get up there.
You can't.
It doesn't doesn't matter what serve you hit,
they're all going to be too fast.
So, what you want to learn is to split step in the middle of no man's land.
What you might want to do when you're practicing serving volley
is put like a drop down line or just a spot
in the middle of no man's land.
And when you serve,
you come forward and you split step and you can see that he's straddling
that spot.
Then,
he comes forward and volleys.
Now,
you'll notice his volley.
So, he's making contact right there,
his right foot is touching
the service line.
So, the split step happens in the middle of no man's land.
Here's the split step
line,
and then the first volley is around
the service line.
Many players think the split step is here and the volley is up here and it's just not.
If you're someone who serves in volleys and you don't think
of the footwork that happens in between the serve and volley,
what you're most likely doing is rushing the net.
To lose at a faster rate,
as Vic Braden would say.
And then, you're making yourself susceptible to a pass because,
or a lob,
because you're running in so fast that you
can't change direction to get to those balls.
You want to serve,
take two or three steps forward,
and then split step in the middle of no man's land.
That gets you balanced,
so you can come forward and have a much easier time of winning the point.
Now if you'd love to use the same strategies the pros use to win their matches,
then you got to pick up The Singles Playbook by Fuzzy Yellow Balls.
It's all broken down by the type of opponent you play against,
and it's over 50 pages strategy after strategy.
And what's really cool is each page comes with a QR code, so
you can watch a video of exactly how to use each strategy.
Just use my link in the description and pinned in the first comment.
And if you're looking for people in your local area to play against,
practice with,
or if you want to find a coach who's gonna be able to help you with your game,
then use my link in the description and pin in the first comment,
PlayYourCourt.com/2minuteTennis.
With my link,
you get 50% off.
So, practice your serve and volley with a split step in the middle of no man's land,
and there's no doubt
you're gonna gain confidence,
win more matches,
and play much better tennis.
This is Ryan Reidy from 2MinuteTennis.net.
You got this.