Serve and Volley over?

Sergiy Stakhovsky

Well I’m from Chennai and it’s that point of the year when the Aircel Chennai Open comes by…

In one of the qualifiers Sergiy Stakhovsky, the same person who slayed the King of Grass Roger Federer in his own backyard in Wimbledon, got knocked out in the qualifiers by 270th ranked Alexander Kudryavtsev.

Stakhovsky looked out of sorts as his serve and volley game didn’t suit the slow hard courts in Chennai. His hard hitting opponent who preferred standing on the baseline and milking the balls got his points rather easily.

Suddenly the thought arose “Is it the end of the traditional serve-volley type of players in tennis?”

In the seventies and eighties you were full of the serve and volley type of players like Björn Borg, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Martina Navratilova. Even in the nineties you had players like the legendary Pete Sampras and Croat Goran Ivaniševi? carrying the baton forward.

Then came the 21st century and the rise of Roger Federer. Although he too was initially a serve and volley player, he later changed his style and started playing the waiting game at the baseline. Nowadays you see fewer player opting for the serve and volley type of tennis. In the eighties, people were enthralled with quick, fast and tennis which was unpredictable. But nowadays you’re more prone to seeing a player sit in the baseline till his/ her opponent becomes tired of hitting more balls or gives him/ her a ball that can easily be hit. This type of tennis has made the games longer and less entertaining. Some may argue that this kind of power packed tennis is the right way forward but where is the mix. Where are the Becker’s? You may see a serve exceeding 200 miles per hour but the next ball the server would still be at the baseline. It’s more like the server wants the opponent to make a mistake.

Another problem for serve and volley players is that courts are becoming slower and slower. Therefore, their chances of beating a Nadal on clay or a Djokovi? on hard courts is a near impossibility. That’s the problem big John Isner is facing right now. Although he is about 7 feet tall, the clay court or the hard court doesn’t give him the advantage.

Even in the women’s section, you hardly find any serve and volley player. After Navratilova there has not been any single player to follow her type of tennis. It has more or less become power vs power.

Unless something really quick and really drastic happens, there might be no more traditional serve and volley players in tennis.