Wimbledon: The Advantages of Attacking the Net in Tennis

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.”