The serve-and-volley player is aggressive and prefers to finish the points quickly. Therefore they find any opportunity to attack at the net and thus put pressure on their opponent by taking time away from them. 

At the net, they can use their quick reflexes and excellent control of volleys and overheads to finish the point. They are not “afraid” to hit overheads – in fact, they have no weakness when it comes to that. 

The SVPs are aggressive and impatient.

They find it boring staying back at the baseline and indulging in long rallies. 

The serve is the shot they use perfectly to set up their aggressive attack. They are great at spinning the serve and making it hard to return. 

Once they get up to the net, the serve-and-volley players possess good court coverage, know exactly where to position themselves for the next shot, their volleys are very dependable as far as control and placement and they love to hit overheads.

Tactics to use against the Serve-and-Volley Player (SVP)

You know they’ll try to come up to the net on every ball… So prepare to shorten your backswing on groundstrokes and meet the ball more in front of you. The time to get ready for the next shot is reduced considerably by having the SVP closer to the net. 

– Serve deep to keep the SVP from attacking; especially on the first serve. By hitting more first serves in, you will keep your opponent back. 

Prepare to have your second serve attacked. They’ll love to take it on the rise and place it to your weak side with, probably, a slice groundstroke. 

To avoid an attack, hit the second serve with a slice/sidespin (makes the ball stay low) or topspin/kick into the body. Either way, the placement of your serves must be deep. 

If he attacks you with a slice/under-spin and moves up to the net, try to hit slice right back. Hopefully, he’ll have a hard time blocking your spin shot and you will get a short slow ball in return. If his slice bounces a bit higher (2-3 feet at least off the ground) you can try an aggressive topspin drive down at his lower body. That will make him hit up setting you up for attack. 

– When you return serve, keep it low, aiming at the service line. In this way, as they move up behind the serve, they’ll find the ball at the feet. Once they pop the ball up, attack it. 

Since the SVPs, once at the net, prefer to move side to side and angle their volleys, surprise them: hit right at her/him. 

Try to pressure their serve delivery by moving your position (side to side, back or forth) making them feel nervous about your intentions. 

– To keep the SVP back/close to the baseline hit the balls aggressively and land beyond the service line during the rally; avoid hitting passively and just getting the ball in – you need to put a little pace on your shots so that they cannot attack easily. Soon he/she will lose patience and start making errors because the serve-and-volley player does not like staying back. 

– Once they are at the net, look for a weakness. It could be the forehand weaker than the backhand; or vice versa. Use this piece of information when you’ll be defending. 

– Lob! See if he/she responds well to it. Disguise your delivery as much as you can. Aim deep and preferably to his/her backhand. As you know, the backhand overhead is one of the weakest shots; that makes it the best choice to place your lob.

Also, you can lob cross-court since you have more court to pass the ball over his/her head. 

– Here’s a surprise tactic: move up to the net following your serve or attacking a short ball – the SVPs are not too good at passing shots.

– Mentally, since they prefer quick action and to pressure you, try to give them the opposite: make the points long and boring.

Be ready to react quickly if they manage to come up.

Don’t try to put the balls away on the first shot; hit the first one back to him/her. Sometimes it is enough to just make them volley (hit it back) until you find yourself in a better position to go for a winner (on a short ball or when the SVP is stretched out after a wide ball). 

Stay alert and patient.