How to hit an approach shot in tennis

Approach deep. Earn the volley before you get there.

Traced from real footage

See it, eight instants at a time.

Every frame is traced from real match footage, so you see the shape of the stroke, not a drawing of an idea.

Auger-Aliassime's drive volley, instant 1 of 8 — Auger-Aliassime's drive volley: eight instants traced from the footage, frame for frame. Hover or tap to flip.

Auger-Aliassime's drive volley: eight instants traced from the footage, frame for frame. Hover or tap to flip.

Key facts

1
At Wimbledon, serve-and-volley fell from about 33% of men's points in 2002 to about 10% by 2008, while its win rate went from about 67% to about 68%.
Sports Illustrated, 2016, and essentialtennis
2
Over the same years at Wimbledon, women's serve-and-volley fell from about 12% of points to about 1%.
Sports Illustrated, 2016, and essentialtennis
3
The 2001 Wimbledon final had 243 serve-volley points, and the 2015 final had 32.
Sports Illustrated, 2016
4
Serve-and-volley didn't stop working. Players stopped risking it because the strings and the surfaces changed the maths of the pass.

Why it works

Net play is geometry and time. Closing the net shrinks the passer's window and lets you take the ball early. The approach decides how much of that window is left.

Depth pushes the passer back and takes away their angles. A low, skidding slice makes them hit up, which means the ball arrives above the net for you.

Direction sets the fan of passing shots. The shot you leave open is the one you must cover, so approach to the side that leaves the narrower reply and recover to the middle of what's left. If your first volley was hard, the approach was short or high.

The line to say on court
“The approach picks the volley.”

Drill: Approach and volley

15 min · with a partner

Your feeder gives you a short ball. Slice it deep down the line, split at the service line as the feeder strikes and volley the reply. Do ten on each wing.
Repeat with a topspin approach, ten on each wing.
Play it live: the feeder may pass or lob. Score only the volleys that finish the point or land deep in a corner.

Number to beat12 of 20 approach-volley pairs finished or landed deep

More drills like this: volley and net

Faults and fixes

A hard, short approach

Pace is mistaken for quality.

FixDepth first. Slice it if you're unsure.

No split step

You're still running at the passer's contact.

FixLand at the service line as they hit.

Stopping in no-man's-land

The approach felt like the end of the job.

FixKeep closing through the volley.

Recovering to the centre mark

It ignores the fan of passing shots you left.

FixRecover to the middle of the passer's angles.

Questions players ask

Should I approach down the line or cross-court?

Coaching doctrine says down the line: a shorter run to the net and a narrower pass to cover. Cross-court is the safer groundstroke but opens the line behind you. Through the middle gives the passer no angles and the shortest walk to your recovery spot.

Why do I keep getting passed at the net?

Usually the approach was short or high, you didn't split as they hit, or you recovered to the centre mark instead of the middle of their passing angles.

Is a slice approach better than topspin?

A low, skidding slice makes the passer hit up, so their ball reaches you above the net. If you're unsure, slice it deep.

Where should I split step when I come to the net?

At the service line, landing as the passer strikes the ball.

What this doesn't cover

The serve-and-volley percentages come from secondary write-ups of charted data, and only the start and end years are reported here. Whether the approach down the line really beats the middle is doctrine, not a charted result.

Sources

Sports Illustrated: "The steady decline of the serve and volley" (2016)
essentialtennis: "Serve and volley since 2000"
Match Charting Project
Brain Game Tennis: Craig O'Shannessy on net-play analytics

StrikeHow to hit a volley in tennis: punch, don't swingTo hit a volley, catch the ball on the strings in front of you with a continental grip, keep the racquet ahead of your front shoulder, and step across into the ball. Don't swing. Depth at the net comes from your body moving forward plus the pace the other player gave you, not from your arm. A slightly open face adds a little steadying backspin.Move and reactWhere to recover after your shot in tennisAfter you hit, recover to the line that splits your opponent's widest possible replies, not to the centre mark. That bisector moves with where they hit from: it matches the centre mark only when they are in the middle. After a sharp cross-court, it sits toward the side you hit from, so you can reach both of their widest replies.StrikeHow to hit a backhand slice in tennisTo hit a backhand slice, use a continental grip, start with the racquet head above your hand and the face open, and swing high to low and forward, carrying the ball toward the target. Don't chop down. Backspin makes the ball hang in the air and land deep, then skid low after the bounce, so your opponent has to hit up.Move and reactWhat is a split step in tennis, and when to do itA split step is a small hop you make before every ball, timed so you land around the moment your opponent hits. Start it on their forward swing. The landing pre-stretches your leg muscles like a spring, so you push off harder toward the ball. Land too early and the spring goes slack. Land too late and you're still in the air.