WEBVTT

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The serve and volley tactic is a great strategy to

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use to attack the net and surprise your opponent,

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but there's a very important footwork you must use to

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help you win a lot more of these points.

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Now here we have Murat Saffin,

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former #1 in the world,

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two-time Grand Slam champ,

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and this is Gulbis.

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This is back in 2009.

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Let's watch this point and then we'll diagram it.

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Now,

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when Gulbis just served and volleyed,

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he split-stepped,

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and during that movement going forward,

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you wanna split step around the time your opponent hits,

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actually slightly after they hit.

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And I want you to guess

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where Gulbis split steps.

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Does he split step on the court

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here,

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here,

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or here?

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Does he split step?

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And this is a really important distinction to understand

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in order to win more certain volley.

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Does he split step in front of the service line as he's coming forward?

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Does he split step on the service line,

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or does he split step in the middle of no man's land?

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The answer to this is the key to winning more points

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during a serve and volley.

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So, let's look.

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Here's Gulbis,

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there's the serve,

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and let's watch Gulbis's feet as he's coming forward.

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There's the split step.

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That's his split step.

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The split step occurs

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in the middle of no man's land.

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Most recreational players I talked to about serving and volleying

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think they're supposed to get up to the service line at least

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by the time the opponent makes contact with the ball.

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It's basically impossible to do that.

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Unless your opponent is standing way back at the fence, or you serve so slowly

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that you buy yourself the time to get into the service line,

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which you wouldn't want to do because you're just hitting a very soft serve.

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Now you'll always get people say,

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yeah,

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but if you get a kick serve,

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you can get up there.

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You can't.

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It doesn't doesn't matter what serve you hit,

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they're all going to be too fast.

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So, what you want to learn is to split step in the middle of no man's land.

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What you might want to do when you're practicing serving volley

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is put like a drop down line or just a spot

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in the middle of no man's land.

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And when you serve,

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you come forward and you split step and you can see that he's straddling

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that spot.

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Then,

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he comes forward and volleys.

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Now,

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you'll notice his volley.

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So, he's making contact right there,

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his right foot is touching

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the service line.

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So, the split step happens in the middle of no man's land.

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Here's the split step

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line,

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and then the first volley is around

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the service line.

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Many players think the split step is here and the volley is up here and it's just not.

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If you're someone who serves in volleys and you don't think

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of the footwork that happens in between the serve and volley,

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what you're most likely doing is rushing the net.

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To lose at a faster rate,

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as Vic Braden would say.

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And then, you're making yourself susceptible to a pass because,

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or a lob,

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because you're running in so fast that you

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can't change direction to get to those balls.

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You want to serve,

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take two or three steps forward,

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and then split step in the middle of no man's land.

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That gets you balanced,

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so you can come forward and have a much easier time of winning the point.

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Now if you'd love to use the same strategies the pros use to win their matches,

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then you got to pick up The Singles Playbook by Fuzzy Yellow Balls.

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It's all broken down by the type of opponent you play against,

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and it's over 50 pages strategy after strategy.

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And what's really cool is each page comes with a QR code, so

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you can watch a video of exactly how to use each strategy.

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Just use my link in the description and pinned in the first comment.

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And if you're looking for people in your local area to play against,

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practice with,

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or if you want to find a coach who's gonna be able to help you with your game,

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then use my link in the description and pin in the first comment,

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PlayYourCourt.com/2minuteTennis.

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With my link,

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you get 50% off.

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So, practice your serve and volley with a split step in the middle of no man's land,

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and there's no doubt

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you're gonna gain confidence,

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win more matches,

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and play much better tennis.

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This is Ryan Reidy from 2MinuteTennis.net.

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You got this.