5 serve and volley players in modern day tennis

Roger Federer

Federer idolized Pete Sampras and was coached by Stefan Edberg – both serve-and-volley experts

He is considered the Greatest of All Time in the sport, and it’s no secret that Roger Federer, grass court expert, drew his inspirations from Pete Sampras, whom the Swiss ace has cited on several occasions as his idol.

With Sampras considered among the best proponents of serve-and-volley in the game, it is unsurprising that Federer, who modeled his own game on the American former No. 1, would do much the same.

Now that tennis has seen a paradigm shift from serve-and-volley to baseline, there are perhaps more points up for grabs at the net should someone use the volleying technique. His one-time – and longtime coach, former No. 1 Stefan Edberg had success at Wimbledon, and Federer perhaps used the technique more under his guidance.

Even as recently as two years ago, Federer has been coming to the net more than he did in pevious years.

In a 2015 interview with The New York Times, Federer said “I feel I have much more confidence with the serving and volleying, the chipping and charging,” and that the technique had been ‘enjoyable’.

Federer uses serve-and-volley extensively to break up longer rallies, and with coach Severin Luthi, came up with the SABR – the Sneak Attack by Roger, to surprise his opponents at the net.

Several players have attempted to replicate, or bring his techniques into their own game since.