Wimbledon: The number of service volleyball players has shrunk to a tenth
Two decades ago, at Wimbledon, you could basically only win with a neat service-volley combination. This variant currently only represents a tiny nuance in lawn tennis.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Nov 10, 2021, 10:04 am
In 2001, as we do not allow two opinions, Wimbledon experienced the most atmospheric men's final of all time and world. And that on a Monday! Or better: on a Monday of course! Because suddenly fans came to the train who were not quite so serious about the etiquette (and festive clothes!) In the time-honored All England Lawn Tennis Club - and Pat Rafter and the champion Goran Ivanisevic gave the kind of support that they knew both of them from many Davis Cup battles.
Oh, Goran. Oh, Pat. Long rallies were not their thing, the balls and the lawn in 2001 did not give them that at Wimbledon either. No wonder, then, that in those glorious times 37 of the points were opened via serve-an-volley variation. The British journalist Nick Lester recently documented this on Twitter, as well as the fact that the value in question is only four percent in the current year, a little more than a tenth of the value in 2001.
Why is that? Certainly not just because Feliciano Lopez failed in round one to Daniel Evans and Mischa Zverev and Sergyi Stakhovsky didn't even start.
Lopez, Federer, Zverev - the serve and volley players are getting old
In fact, these three players are the first current candidates for the well-groomed service volley game. With the not inconsiderable addition that the 40-year-old Lopez will probably not be playing for much longer and that Mischa Zverev will hardly be able to train because of all the other obligations. Roger Federer could of course storm the network even after his service, but does not do so as often as he did in his younger years. And whether again at all remains to be seen in 2022.
Zverev, the elder, explained the trend towards baseline hammering in Vienna to tennisnet.com: The balls would get slower and slower, but the players hit faster and faster, as a volley artist there was hardly any time to react.
Only last week in Paris-Bercy, Novak Djokovic proved that the variant of following the serve on the network is a good surprise element. But of course Nole, reigning champion of Wimbledon, feels more comfortable on the baseline too. But if you really rely on serve and volley, you can still achieve great things nowadays. Ask Taylor Townsend, who in 2019 had set up her second home against Simona Halep one meter from the edge of the net. However, at the US Open, which is now almost considered to be faster than the places in Wimbledon. Another thing that would not have existed in the times of Ivanisevic and Rafter. However: The Australian was able to bring his offensive game to a successful end in New York. And won the title there in 1997 and 1998.