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32-898: The Manchester Open previously known as the Northern Lawn Tennis Championships , the Northern Championships , the Northern Tennis Tournament and the Manchester Trophy was a grass court tennis tournament on the ATP Tour held at the Northern Lawn Tennis Club , in the Didsbury suburb of Manchester , Great Britain. The tournament had been held annually from 1880 to 2009. Prior to

64-523: A 100% serve-and-volley style game. Jack Kramer in the late 1940s was the first great player to consistently come to the net after every serve, including his second serve. Kramer writes, however, in his 1979 autobiography, that it was Bobby Riggs , his opponent in the 1948 Pro tennis tour who began the strategy: "When we first started touring he came at me on his first serve, on his second serve, and on my second serve.... my second serve didn't kick like Bobby's, so he could return that deep enough and follow into

96-407: A grass court tournament beginning in 2016. Serve and volley Serve-and-volley is a style of play in tennis where the player ( volleyer ) serving moves quickly towards the net after hitting a serve , to attempt to hit a volley afterwards. In the serve-and-volley playstyle, the server attempts to hit a volley (a shot where the ball is struck without allowing it to bounce), as opposed to

128-420: A great amount of top spin on groundstrokes and passing shots . The slowing of court surfaces and deflation of balls, promoting longer rallies for the enjoyment of spectators, has also devalued the serve-and-volley style. The aim of this strategy is to put immediate pressure on the opponent with the intent of ending points quickly. Good returns must be made, or else the server can gain the advantage. This tactic

160-566: A way to hit the ball past him. Tilden spent a great amount of time analyzing the game of tennis. His book Match Play and the Spin of the Ball (1925) is still in print. In it, Tilden states that a perfect baseline player will always beat a perfect serve-and-volleyer 6–0 because his returns of service will be winning passing shots; however he also states that of course neither such a player can exist. Tilden used this style of play for many years. Some of

192-490: Is Venus Williams, with five Wimbledon singles titles. Venus has won five out of her nine Wimbledon finals appearances (losing three to her sister, Serena), and the pair have won six titles in the ladies' doubles together. Compared to clay and hard courts, the professional grass court season is much shorter. Until 2014 it consisted only of Wimbledon, two weeks of tournaments in Britain and continental Europe leading up to it, and

224-452: Is especially useful on fast courts (e.g. grass courts) and less so on slow courts (e.g. clay courts). For it to be successful, the player must either have a good serve to expose an opponent's poor return or be exceptionally quick and confident in movement around the net to produce an effective returning volley. Ken Rosewall , for instance, had a weak serve but was a very successful serve-and-volley player for two decades. Goran Ivanišević , on

256-1106: The Greater Manchester Grass Court Tennis Championships . In 1990 it became an ATP Tour event as part of the ATP International Series until 1994. In 1995 the tournament was moved to Nottingham and continued as an ATP World Series event. The current Manchester Trophy Challenger is part of the ATP Challenger Tour ; throughout its history the event has been won by a number of Wimbledon champions such as Pete Sampras , who won his first grass court title there. The tournament ended in 2009. Grass court While grass courts are more traditional than other types of tennis courts, they are far less commonly used today compared to hard courts and clay courts . There are several disadvantages with grass courts, in particular, they are much more expensive to maintain compared to other surfaces. Also, grass courts (in

288-752: The Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at Newport, Rhode Island, United States the week after. In 2015 it was extended, with an extra week between the French Open and Wimbledon. On the ATP Tour, the Stuttgart Open became a grass court tournament that year. In 2017 a new ATP 250 tournament in Antalya, Turkey, was played a week before Wimbledon. On the WTA Tour Mallorca , Spain, began hosting

320-460: The 1996 quarterfinals. Roger Federer is statistically the most successful male grass court player of the Open Era: he has won an Open Era-record 19 grass court titles, including ten Halle Open titles, an all-time record eight Wimbledon singles titles, and a Stuttgart Open title. Federer has contested an all-time record twelve Wimbledon singles finals, and has the longest grass court winning streak in

352-627: The 2006 Wimbledon Finals. Later in her career Henin was also known for serving and volleying on set and match points, such as on Championship point at the 2007 US Open Final against Svetlana Kuznetsova . Although the strategy has become less common in both the men's and women's game, a few players still preferred to approach the net on their serves in the twenty-first century, for example Nicolas Mahut , Rajeev Ram , Dustin Brown , Pierre-Hugues Herbert , and Maxime Cressy . Roger Federer serve-volleyed at times during his career, particularly on grass. On

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384-472: The Open Era are Arthur Ashe , Ken Rosewall , Boris Becker , John McEnroe , Stefan Edberg , Virginia Wade , Rafael Nadal , Petra Kvitová , Carlos Alcaraz and Andy Murray . Among men, Sampras is lauded by many tennis analysts as one of the greatest grass-court players of all time. He won seven Wimbledon singles titles in eight years from 1993 through 2000, with his only loss in that span coming in

416-409: The Open Era, when he won 65 consecutive matches between 2003 and 2008, until he was beaten by Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final . Additionally, Novak Djokovic has had significant success at Wimbledon in the 2010s and beyond - winning the tournament 7 times, and notably defeating Federer 3 times in the final of Wimbledon in 2014, 2015 and 2019. The most successful active female grass-court player

448-417: The absence of suitable covers) are usually unplayable for the day if rain appears, as grass becomes very slippery when wet and will not dry for many hours. In contrast, play on a hard court can resume in 30 to 120 minutes after the end of rain, and clay courts can even remain playable in light rain. Furthermore, since most of the foot traffic during a tennis match occurs repetitively over a small surface area of

480-460: The all-time leader in Grand Slam titles (24 in singles, 62 total). Martina Navratilova and Jana Novotná later became players well known for their serve-and-volley style. More recently, players such as Martina Hingis , Justine Henin , and Amélie Mauresmo were willing to come to the net, with Henin and Mauresmo playing a very heavy serve and volley style and volleying in general match during

512-401: The ball often skids and bounces low while retaining most of its speed, rarely rising above knee height. In addition, there are often bad bounces. As a result, players must reach the ball faster relative to other surfaces, and rallies are likely to be comparatively brief; therefore, speed and power are rewarded on grass. On grass, the serve and return play a major part in determining the outcome of

544-531: The baseline game, where the server stays back following the serve and attempts to hit a groundstroke (a shot where the ball is allowed to bounce before contact is made). As a returner/receiver ( volleyer ) of a serve, the player may also attempt to hit a half-volley , instead of waiting longer after the ball has bounced to hit a usual groundstroke (e.g. Roger Federer 's SABR). The serve-and-volley style of play has diminished in recent years with advances in racquet and string technologies which allow players to generate

576-430: The change in 2001 of Wimbledon's grass to encourage higher bounces have reduced the efficacy of this playing style. Bill Tilden , the dominant player of the 1920s and one of the fathers of the cannonball serve, nevertheless preferred to play from the backcourt and liked nothing better than to face an opponent who threw powerful serves and groundstrokes at him and who rushed the net — one way or another Tilden would find

608-687: The court even with the best maintenance a grass surface will quickly display obvious signs of wear if played regularly, which is unavoidable during a major tennis tournament. Grass courts are most common in the United Kingdom and Australia , although the Northeastern United States also has some private grass courts. Since 1988, the Wimbledon Championships have been the only Grand Slam tournament played on grass. Because grass courts tend to be slippery,

640-637: The creation of the International Lawn Tennis Federation and the establishment of its world championship events in 1913 it was considered by players and historians one of the four most important tennis tournaments to win. The others being Wimbledon , the U.S. National championships and the Irish Championships . Between 1970 and 1989 it was part of the men's Grand Prix tennis tour . The first edition in July 1880

672-431: The improvements in racquet technology made towards the end of the twentieth century which made serve-and-volley a rarer tool in a tennis player's skill set, players familiar with the strategy still advocate it. Roger Federer advocated up-and-coming players not to ignore the tactic's strategy of coming to the net, especially on faster surfaces and as a surprise tactic. Yet other players, such as Mischa Zverev , acknowledged

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704-677: The mid-1950s, when Pancho Gonzales was dominating professional tennis with his serve-and-volley game, occasional brief attempts were made to partially negate the power of his serve. This, it was felt, would lead to longer rallies and more spectator interest. At least three times the rules were modified: Other male tennis players known for their serve-and-volley technique include Frank Sedgman , Ken Rosewall , Lew Hoad , Rod Laver , Roy Emerson , John Newcombe , John McEnroe , Stefan Edberg , Pat Cash , Boris Becker , Patrick Rafter , Pete Sampras and Tim Henman . Sampras, despite being known for his great serve and volley game, did not always come to

736-501: The most interesting matches of all time according to Pat Cash have pitted great baseliners such as Björn Borg , Mats Wilander or Andre Agassi against great serve-and-volleyers such as John McEnroe , Pat Rafter or Pete Sampras . Since Tilden's time, head-to-head results on various surfaces, such as those played out in the famous rivalry between Borg and McEnroe , contradict his theory that great baseline players will tend to defeat great serve-and-volley ones. Another perspective on

768-458: The net behind the serve on slower courts, particularly on the second serve. This was especially the case when he was younger. The serve-and-volley strategy has traditionally been less common amongst female players. An early pioneer in women's volleying was Elizabeth Ryan , who was at the top of the women's game in the mid-to-late 1920s. But it was later on that serve and volley caught on in women's game. The style propelled Margaret Court to become

800-401: The net.... It forced me to think attack constantly. I would rush in and try to pound his weakest point -- his backhand. So the style I am famous for was not consciously planned: it was created out of the necessity of dealing with Bobby Riggs." The playing style quickly gained popularity among elites and remained dominant on certain court surfaces until the conclusion of the twentieth century. In

832-404: The other hand, had success employing the serve-and-volley strategy with great serves and average volleys. Maurice McLoughlin , in the early years of the 20th century, "created the cannonball (serve) delivery" and often followed his serve into the net. Although tennis greats such as Bill Tilden , Ellsworth Vines , and Don Budge were noted for their fine serves and net games, they did not play

864-781: The point, increasing the importance of serving effectively, and maintaining focus in exchanges which can be heavily influenced by lapses in concentration. A grass court favours a serve and volley style of play. The most successful singles players on grass in the Open Era have been Martina Navratilova , Roger Federer , Margaret Court , Billie Jean King , Pete Sampras , Steffi Graf , Serena Williams , Novak Djokovic , Rod Laver , John Newcombe , Evonne Goolagong Cawley , Björn Borg , Chris Evert , and Venus Williams . All have won at least five major singles titles on grass: Navratilova won twelve, Federer and Court eight each, Djokovic, King, Sampras, Graf and Serena Williams seven each. Other players who have been relatively successful on grass during

896-434: The serve-and-volley game is that it is less tiring than playing constantly from the backcourt. Kramer says in his autobiography that he and Pancho Segura once tried playing three matches in which they allowed the ball to bounce three times before either could approach the net. "I don't believe I could have played tennis the way Segoo and I did for the three nights because it wore me out, running down all those groundstrokes. It

928-452: The women's side, serve-and-volley has become almost extinct at the very top level. Taylor Townsend and Hsieh Su-wei are the only active notable (WTA elite) players that prefers to play with this style. Other players, despite not being pure serve-and-volleyers, do employ serve-and-volley as a surprise tactic. Examples include Carlos Alcaraz , Rafael Nadal , and Daniil Medvedev . The removal of grass surfaces from major tournaments and

960-399: Was considered by players and historians one of the four most important tennis tournaments to win. the others being Wimbledon, the U.S. National championships and the Irish Championships . From its inception until 1927 the location of the tournament alternated between Manchester and Liverpool. Between 1970 and 1989 it was part of the men's Grand Prix Tennis Tour known throughout the 1980s as

992-617: Was held at the Broughton Cricket Club while the Kersal Cricket Ground staged the 1881 event. The 1882 edition was the first one to be held in Liverpool and saw the addition of the women's singles event, won by May Langrishe , as well as the women's and mixed doubles events. Prior to the creation of the International Lawn Tennis Federation and the establishment of its world championship events in 1913 it

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1024-468: Was much more gruelling than putting a lot into a serve and following it in." He went to say that " Rosewall was a backcourt player when he came into the pros, but he learned very quickly how to play the net. Eventually, for that matter, he became a master of it, as much out of physical preservation as for any other reason. I guarantee you that Kenny wouldn't have lasted into his forties as a world-class player if he hadn't learned to serve and volley." Despite

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