Events / Editor / 12 March 2007 /

Serve and Volley era has gone

AS the world's top players move into the second week of action at the Masters Series opener in Indian Wells, one of the big talking points is whether the serve and volley players are a dying breed.

Giant Croatian left-hander Goran Ivanisevic was the last pure serve and volleyer to win a Grand Slam, when he lifted the Wimbledon title in 2001.

Of course, grass is the surface where these smash-and-grab merchants are king....or at least they were.

No-one could touch Pete Sampras in his prime. His serve and volley game was made for Wimbledon, especially as his second serve was as effective as many a players' first delivery. You don't win seven Wimbledon singles titles if you haven't got a game that is made for grass and Sampras was in his element in SW19.

Dutchman Richard Krajicek, now tournament director of last month's Rotterdam tournament, was another deadly exponent of the serve and volley and he interrupted the Sampras seven by winning the 1996 Wimbledon title, before Pistol Pete returned to win the next four from 1997.

Before Sampras and Krajicek there were players like Michael Stich and the ice-cool Swede Stefan Edberg, who could dominate on grass with their power serve and potent volley.

Before that, there was Jimmy Connors but while Connors had the serve and the volley he also had the scrapping qualities that made him a player who would chase down every return from all corners of the court.

But even the grass courts are different now. The courts are slower because of the different seeds used in laying and preparing the courts.
Which raises the question: Would Sampras be as dominant if he were coming to Wimbledon for the first time today. Or would Britain's own Tim Henman have had such success on grass now that it is slower.

Remember, too, that while Sampras was great on courts that suited his serve-and-volley game, he never got beyond the semi-final at the French Open. He always struggled on the red clay of Roland Garros and often ended up leaving Paris earlier than a player of his ability should have.

The players of today have to be a more versatile breed for this is the era of the all-court player. While even the great Roger Federer has a big serve and a volley to match, he is a player for almost all surfaces and can produce the kind of all-court game that makes him such a great competitor.

Admittedly he has not yet won the French Open but he did take Rafael Nadal to four sets in last year's final and you can bet your bottom dollar that he will be making Paris his number one target this year.

He will still be the man to beat in June when the attention moves back to Wimbledon, but in recent years the famous lawns haven't been the exclusive domain of the serve and volleyer.

As recently as 2002 Australian Lleyton Hewitt, a renowned baseliner, lifted the title when he beat clay court specialist David Nalbandian of Argentina in the final.

While back in 1992 the ultimate baseliner Andre Agassi overcame the big-serving Ivanisevic in a David v Goliath encounter in a fascinating five-set classic.

In today's game all surfaces are of similar pace except for Roland Garros and the other clay court venues. So the hard courts of the US Open and the Australian Open are similar and should produce similar results.

The players today are also fitter with their conditioning coaches and trainers as key figures in the tennis entourage. Everyone has to be capable of playing from the baseline as well as being like Federer and able to come in for the volley.

This is why Britain's Andy Murray (7 to win a Grand Slam in 2007) already looks poised to enjoy even greater success of the world circuit than Henman has during his years at the top.

It's also why American Andy Roddick has realised that he isn't going to get by on his big serve and big forehand alone. Enter the aforementioned Connors, who has been called in as a 'super coach' to try to help add the volley as a deadly weapon as he tries to bridge the gap that exists between him and Mr Federer.

Of the serve-volley exponents only a handful remain, 6ft 10in Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and 6ft 5in Max Mirnyi of Belarus to name two. But Mirnyi's quarter-final showing in the 2002 US Open is the best either of them can muster.

These are two giants among the men's game but their lack of a real impact in the majors shows that the counter-puncher has the advantage these days.

The serve and volleyer may have been king once upon a time, but today the all-court athlete, especially a player like Federer, is the man calling the shots.

Interesting to note though, that Federer, who beat Sampras in five sets in their only meeting in the 2001 Wimbledon quarter-finals, visited him recently at his Los Angeles home to practise with the 35-year-old.

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