Different Ways to Serve and Volley

Serving and volleying is not as big a part of the game as it used to be, but can still be very a very effective change up and should be a tool in every tennis players arsenal. As ever though, there are good ways and there are bad ways to do this, so how do you serve and volley effectively?

In regards to your serve, variety is key. There is no use serving the same or similar serves around the same spot, same height and same speed. Eventually your opponent will pick up on it and will punish you. Good variety comes from planning before the point. Try and pick three different combinations of serves and mix it up as much as you can every service game.

You can mix up your serves by changing the spin, height and pace. One very effective type of spin for a server and volleyer is the kick serve. This serve has a lot of topspin on it which makes the serve slow and loopy, but it kicks up hard and fast off the court. This is good because it gives you enough time to get in a good net position and if the serve is placed correctly, it should bounce high enough to get out of the hitting zone of your opponent, which will often lead to an easy to moderate volley that you can sink your teeth into.

As well as the kick serve you can utilize the slice and the flat serve. These serves are much quicker, which gives you less time to get to net, so you must make sure you make your opponent stretch enough, so that they can't get a good hit on the ball. The slice serve is very effective when aimed right at the body, spinning in towards your opponent. This boxes them up and often leads to a slow loopy return that you can put away into the open court.

Using these different spin variations, you can then start experimenting with where you serve. Your main aim with the serve is to open up the court as much as possible to make your volley as easy as possible. This is done by hitting angle serves out wide and following the ball in fast to put the ball into the open court.

Hopefully these tips will help you on your way to a better serve and volley game, good luck!