Tennis is dominated by rallies from the baselines as players with supercharged groundstrokes try to overwhelm their opponents by blasting shots that are fast, deep and heavy with topspin, occasionally throwing in a drop shot to throw them off balance.
As a result, players attack the net less frequently than they did in the past.
“The ball is being struck so hard with so much topspin it gets below the net really quickly, which makes it hard to volley,” the ESPN analyst Patrick McEnroe said.
But players who take advantage of short balls from their opponents to fight their way forward can seize control, winning points more quickly than those who stay at the baseline.
Ask top tennis analysts to name the elite volleyers in the sport and there’s little debate on who’s best: Carlos Alcaraz — the recent winner of the French Open and defending two-time Wimbledon champion — is the unanimous choice.
McEnroe said that Alcaraz “has the best combination of speed, explosiveness and soft hands.”
Alcaraz’s footwork and agility also enable him to get back quickly and annihilate lobs, Pam Shriver, also an ESPN analyst, said. “His movement going backwards is incredible.”
That ability to go backward well means he can move closer to the net, Martina Navratilova, a Tennis Channel analyst, said, which makes volleying easier, especially because he reads his opponents so well and can quickly cut off the lanes for passing shots. “He can push off to go back or explode forward.”
Still, the experts also agreed that most of the top singles players were missing out on opportunities because they largely came up short in their willingness, confidence and skill in this crucial component of the game.
Many players think the game has gotten too fast for them to control their volleys and so they hold back, Shriver said, even on the grass at Wimbledon, the surface best suited to net play because it is faster and the ball stays lower than it does on other surfaces.
“Just about everyone can develop better skills at making that split-second decision when to move towards the net,” she said. “There’s huge room for growth. Players are leaving chips on the table.”
Navratilova agreed, saying this missing link could be what has been holding some players back from winning the Grand Slam, pointing to Alexander Zverev as an example.
McEnroe said that Taylor Fritz would benefit from improving at the net, while noting that Daniil Medvedev had fallen in the rankings in part because he never got comfortable moving forward.
Even the top-ranked Jannik Sinner, who McEnroe said had made his game more diverse and improved at coming forward, had work to do. “If he gets really comfortable at the net it could be the difference between him just reaching the semifinals or winning Wimbledon.”
That is not to say there are not players who do well at the net, even if they lack Alcaraz’s mix of aggression, moxie and wizardry.
Brad Gilbert, an ESPN analyst, said Barbora Krejcikova, the defending Wimbledon champion, won on grass because she handled the net game well, but especially on grass, where balance was vital.
“You need a lower base on grass,” Gilbert said. “If you overdo the split step or jump too high, you can slip, so it’s trickier at Wimbledon.”
Navratilova said that in the WTA, the three best players at the net were Coco Gauff, Emma Navarro and Karolina Muchova, adding that Muchova was the rare woman comfortable with chipping a low slice and coming in behind that less-powerful shot; Shriver put Muchova in her top three alongside Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini, with Pegula and Paolini being the best at knowing when to come in and anticipating the passing shot once they had arrived.
Shriver said that Gauff and Muchova, like Alcaraz, excelled at going back on lobs. Still, Navratilova said Gauff had been too passive recently and “needs to take more advantage of her speed and ability.”
Navratilova and Shriver said the women who played doubles — like Pegula, Paolini and Gauff — often succeeded at the net in singles, which helped their overall game.
For the men, it might seem odd to give Novak Djokovic a “most improved” citation, as McEnroe did. However, Gilbert explained that earlier in his career, Djokovic came in only when it was a sure thing, but he now came forward more and “has a really good understanding for the net.”
McEnroe said that, among the mere mortals, “there aren’t many guys who pop out,” although he and Navratilova cited Tommy Paul as having used aggressive net play, in part, to climb up in the rankings. “He’s the best of the American players in combining soft hands and technique and he’s super fast,” McEnroe said. Navratilova also said Hubert Hurkacz was a strong volleyer.
Gilbert praised Lorenzo Musetti for improving his net game and coming in more, while McEnroe was impressed by Sebastian Korda, but said “he doesn’t take advantage of his skills there enough.”
Tall players should have an edge, but Gilbert said “the best player that I’ve ever seen cover the net was John McEnroe — he was only 5’11” and a half, but he could read every angle.”
And Navratilova added that while the tallest players often had the best overheads (in addition to Gael Monfils “because he can jump 10 feet high”), if you’re 6-foot-4 or bigger then it takes extra strength and technique to get low and hold the proper position on the volley. “If you bend at the waist, you collapse and hit the ball into the net, so that can be more difficult for the taller guys.”
Of the “big boys,” she said Ben Shelton had the strongest technique; McEnroe agreed, but said Shelton dropped his wrist on the backhand volley.
Shriver said more players might start coming to the net.
“People stand so far back to return serve now,” she said, “that the server will see coming to the net as part of their strategy again.”
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