Friday, 08 April 2022 / Published in Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud, Miami, Serve And Volley

Tim Henman & Pat Rafter Would Chop Today’s Deep Returners

G’day,

I was sitting courtside in Miami last week watching Andy Murray battle Daniil Medvedev. Sitting next to me was Tim Henman.

Our discussion initially focused on Andy’s resurgence and how he is feeling better and better on court. Medvedev won the match 6-4, 6-2, pulling away from Andy after an even start to the match. We also chatted about the ultra-deep return position of Medvedev and other current players who like to stand a loooong way back to return serve.

The obvious counter-attack to that is serve and volley.

Tim (and I) felt confident that players such as himself and Pat Rafter would have a “field day” serving and volleying against current players that stand 5+ metres behind the baseline to return serve. We discussed how effective Rafter would have been hitting a heavy kick serve out wide in the Ad court and having so much time to get to the net before the returner even made contact with the ball.

It turns out Carlos Alcaraz completely vindicated Tim’s strategic sentiments just a few days later.

Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-4 in the Miami final, winning all 11 serve and volley points he played. Ten of the 11 were “Rafter-Esque” heavy serves out wide in the Ad court. He ate Ruud’s lunch with this key strategy, oftentimes finding Ruud 6+ metres behind the baseline trying to counter Alcaraz rushing straight to the net.

Good luck with that!

The Hawk-Eye graphic below shows Ruud’s return location vs. Alcaraz in the final. Yellow dots represent 1st serve return hit points. Blue dots are 2nd serve return hit points.

2022 Miami Final: Casper Ruud Return Hit Points

Ruud made contact with one 1st serve return more than seven metres behind the baseline. It’s almost impossible to win the point from there against a serve-and-volleyer.

Let’s go through the 11 serve and volley points and see exactly how Alcaraz dominated with this “first-strike” strategy.

Serve & Volley 1

Alcaraz serves and volleys for the first time in the match trailing 0-3 in the opening set but leads 30-15 in his service game. Ruud is so far back to return he may as well be in Cuba 🇨🇺🎾. Ruud goes down the line with the passing shot and misses it wide.

Serve & Volley 2

Have a look at where Ruud is standing to return serve. He is almost eight metres behind the baseline trying to win the point against Alcaraz who is already made it into the service box. This is exactly what Henman was talking about. Hitting a passing shot from there is basically a one-in-a-hundred chance.

Ruud goes down the line with the return and Alcaraz softens his hands and hits a super safe forehand volley into the front of the court. An extremely routine volley.

Serve & Volley 3

Ruud is once again about as far back as he can go. He lobs the return and Alcaraz rushes forward to hit a simple forehand volley winner into the open court. It’s crazy to think that standing almost eight metres behind the baseline and LOBBING the return is Ruud’s highest percentage play. It’s not.

Serve & Volley 4

Alcaraz is now serving at 4-5, 40-30. A pretty big point in the context of set one as Ruud is only three points from winning the opening set. Alcaraz goes with the serve and volley again but switches it up for an ace down the T. Nice mix.

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Serve & Volley 5

It’s mind-boggling to think that Ruud has not yet adjusted his return location and moved closer to the baseline to take away Alcaraz’s serve and volley. Alcaraz is trailing 0-15, so goes with the highest percentage tactic he knows – serving and volleying out wide to Ruud’s backhand in the Ad court. Ruud once again goes with a lob return and misses it wide. That’s about the last thing that should happen on such a big point.

Serve & Volley 6

Two points later and Alcaraz is storming straight to the net again. Ruud is not adjusting at all and is lobbing his return again, and missing it really wide cross court. This gives Alcaraz so much confidence that he has a proven pattern of play serving in the Ad court that he can go to in the big moments.

Serve & Volley 7

Two points later and Alcaraz is AT.IT.AGAIN!!! The 18-year-old Spaniard knows this strategy is a lock and serves and volleys ON. BREAK. POINT!!

This is a huge moment in set one. If Ruud wins the point then the first set is going to a tie-break. But there is really no chance Ruud is going to win this point from that extremely deep court position. Once again he is forced to lob the return and once again he misses it wide cross court.

Unthinkable that this could occur on such a big point.

Serve & Volley 8

Alcaraz is on a roll, leading a set and a break 7-5, 3-0, but is facing break point at 30-40. Once again Alcaraz goes with a heavy “Rafter- Esque” first serve out wide and all Ruud has got in response is another LOB. ERROR.

This is really unforgivable from Ruud. He is not yet adjusting to Alcaraz’s marauding serve-and-volley play on significant points. Lobbing returns is not a strategy. Lobbing returns actually signifies the absence of a strategy.

Serve & Volley 9

Finallyyyy Ruud adjusts his court position and stands just behind the baseline to return serve. Alcaraz stays with his proven tactic and serves and volleys again.

The problem for Ruud is that he goes to the lob again after Alcaraz hits a half-volley back behind him. The backhand lob is short and is easily dispatched by Alcaraz.

Serve & Volley 10

Another bad miss from Ruud. He moved way back once again to return serve and sprays this backhand return high and deep over the net-rushing Spaniard and misses it long.

Let’s get one thing straight. Lobbing against a serve-and-volleyer is not “Game Plan A”, or B, C, D, E or F. It’s probably somewhere around X, Y, or Z.

Serve & Volley 11

It’s match point! Alcaraz is 10-0 with serve and volley so he may as well keep crushing the net. Ruud is wayyy back as usual and Alcaraz rushes forward and knocks off the easiest of forehand volleys in the shadow of the net to win his first Masters 1000 title.

Summary

Alcaraz won all 11 serve and volley points he played.
Ruud only moved forward one time to take the return in a normal location around the baseline against Alcaraz serving & volleying.
Ruud only put his return back in play four out of 11 points.

Tim Henman was spot-on. When deep returners such as Medvedev and Ruud set up shop as far back as possible to return serve, serve-and-volley is a magnificent option to counter their ultra-deep return location – especially with a kick serve out wide in the Ad court.

This specific tactic gave Alcaraz so much confidence when serving that he had a “go-to” pattern of play in the big moments. If Ruud wins five or six of these points, he might have made Alcaraz less eager to attack straight away in the point. It may have been enough for him to find the critical advantage in the match he needed.

Henman and Rafter would indeed enjoy chopping up all these deep returners in today’s game. If Alcaraz can go 11-0 serving and volleying, just imagine the damage Tim and Pat would do week in and week out on tour in 2022.

It really wouldn’t be fair! 🤣

Best,

Craig

The practice court is clearly broken. Here’s the proof.

Points are "front loaded". By far the majority of the action, and the winning, takes place in THE FIRST 4 SHOTS. The practice court is full of long rallies. Matches are dominated by short rallies. There is a massive disconnect occurring.

We spend too much time grinding, banging balls up and down the middle of the court – that have no real benefit to winning tennis matches.

There are 3 specific rally lengths in tennis. Here is their percentage breakdown of total points.

0-4 Shots = 70%
5-8 Shots = 20%
9+ Shots = 10%

The First 4 Shots is specifically the serve, return, Serve +1 groundstroke and Return +1 groundstroke. Those are normally the shots that get practiced the least, but matter the most to winning tennis matches.

The net is an extremely high percentage place to be!

If you love playing tennis for fun, spend as much time at the baseline as you like. But if you compete – if the score matters – then you must turn your attention to the net to maximize your potential.

The “herd mentality” in tennis thinks it’s too tough to approach the net in today’s game. The conversation starts with improved string technology, more powerful rackets, and finishes with stronger, faster athletes. The herd think approaching is a relic of the past. The herd is WRONG!

AVERAGE WIN %
Baseline = 46%
Net = 66%

Data from ALL Grand Slams provides the facts about approach and volley, and the data is crystal clear – it’s immensely better than staying back at the baseline, grinding for a living.

The baseline is a tough place to create separation. Here's how to do it.

At the 2012 US Open, only 7 men and 14 women had a winning percentage from the baseline. At Wimbledon 2016, Andy Murray won the title only winning 52% of his baseline points - and he is one of the very best at it in the world!

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Forcing Errors = 41% Men / 37% Women
Winners = 32% Men / 29% Women
Unforced Errors = 27% Men / 34% Women

Num3ers is very much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It's about bringing together different data sets together to create the big picture.

Every recorded match from the 2015 Australian Open - Rd2 to the final.

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Winners rise to the #1 way a point ends (over forced & unforced errors)

- The last shot of the rally is overwhelmingly struck at the net.
- Center Window: the most important part of a doubles court to control.
- Stephen Huss: an in-depth interview on Wimbledon's Centre Court with the 2005 Wimbledon Doubles Champion.

Dou8les Num3ers leaves no stone unturned. Percentage breakdowns of how often the server or receiver hits the last shot highlight the dramatic influence of the serve. The last shot of the rally is significant, and is broken down into the following categories: volleys, overheads, passing shots, lobs and groundstrokes.

When you play a match, you actually play two matches.

When you walk out onto a tennis court, there are two matches that you are about to play. The first is during the point - a part of the match that you have spent a lot of time preparing for on the practice court. But there is a second match, that takes place in the 20 seconds between the points. This is where the mental and emotional aspects of our sport kick in.

Let's face it, there will be adversity in almost every tennis match that you play. The storm clouds are coming. How bug they are, and how long they last for, are up to you.

Between the points is very tennis specific. It provides a roadmap for the 20 seconds between the points, teaching how to handle the adversity that will surely come, and how to build on the successes that will also be present. Your mind is your biggest asset in a match, and Between the Points takes your hand off the self destruct button and stops you beating yourself.

You don't have to be good at everything, but you have got to be good at something.

You can break tennis down into four key elements - serving, returning, rallying and approaching. Each part has specific patterns of play that consistently deliver higher winning percentages than the others. No more guessing. No more opinions. All facets of our sport are covered in this exceptional product, clearly outlining what patterns to gravitate to, and how to best construct the practice court. Data comes primarily from the 2015 Australian Open.

Building Blocks

MEN = 70% errors / 30% winners
WOMEN = 74% errors / 26% winners

Forcing errors is the best way to construct a point.
You can simply break tennis down into primary and secondary patterns of play - and they are all covered here. Primary patterns include serve and return direction, forehands v backhands, and the best way to approach the net. Secondary patterns include drop shots, serve & volley and 1st volley options. If you play tournaments, this product will greatly help you simplify the singles court.

The conversation starts & ends with the Center Window.

The doubles court is like an hourglass. There are two big ends, but a small neck in the middle where all the action happens. Once you learn the power of the Center Window, where you stand to start the point will take on a lot more significance.

Doubles is a lot more about situations, with four people on the court all "dancing" with one another. Learn all the best doubles patterns, broken down for the server, returner, server's partner and the returner's partner.

Doubles Situations

The "J" - the most ideal movement for the returner's partner to attack the net.

The "V" - a better way of understanding where the server's partner should move to.

Volley Targets - there are four main areas to attack. Know which ones are higher percentage. Beach Volleyball - the idea of a "setter" and "spiker" is ideal for the doubles court.

There are certain parts of the court that the ball travels to a lot, and other low percentage areas that you really don't want to cover at all - like the alley! In general, the serving team wants to keep the ball in the middle of the court as much as possible (to help the server's partner), while the returning team benefits from hitting wider and creating more chaos in the point.

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