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Saturday, 04 July 2026 / Published in Novak Djokovic, Serve And Volley, Wimbledon

Wimbledon 2026 – Serve And Volley Is Crushing

G’day from Wimbledon,

Serve and volley is baaaaack. 🎾🔨

Serve and volley stats were first recorded at The Championships in 1997. There have been only two years since then when the average win percentage in the men’s draw was north of 70%.

2014 – 71%
2015 – 71%

That’s about to change.

There have been 112/127 matches played at Wimbledon so far in the men’s draw, and the average win percentage currently sits at 73%. With only 15 more matches to be played this year in the men’s draw, the average win percentage is more likely to stay above 71% than drop below it.

There are 25 players who are undefeated with the serve-and-volley strategy. For some, it’s simply that they have done it just once and won the point. And then others have done it a few times and won every one. For example, Aussie James Duckworth has served and volleyed eight times and won them all. It immediately begs the question: why didn’t he do it more? He won 5/5 in a round 1 victory against Tallon Griekspoor and won 3/3 in a second-round loss (4 sets) to Flavio Cobolli.

Duckworth has built a career coming forward to finish points at the net. He has won 51/71 (72%) of net points in his first two matches. That’s a vastly superior win percentage than the 47% of baseline points he won.

GET BETTER AT ATTACKING THE FRONT OF THE COURT

Webinar 6: Net Strategy & Patterns

Webinar 21: Serve & Volley. Return & Volley

Webinar 58: Serve +1 Approach

Webinar 71: Serve +2

Webinar 81: First Volleys

World number one, Jannik Sinner, is also a believer in serve and volley this year at The Championships. He has immediately come forward 15 times and won 14. Those are outstanding numbers as he looks to win back-to-back titles at SW19.

Jan-Lennard Struff has stormed to the fourth round on the back of serving and volleying the most out of the men’s draw. He has come straight in 59 times and won a very healthy 68% (40/59).

Below is the list of all players who have served and volleyed at least 15 times so far at SW19.

MEN: Serve & Volley Points Won – Minimum 15 Attempts

Jan-Lennard Struff 40/59 (68%)
Arthur Rinderknech 46/57 (81%)
Shintaro Mochizuki – 34/40 (85%)
Daniel Altmaier – 24/38 (63%)
Yannick Hanfmann – 25/34 (74%)
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard – 23/34 (68%)
Zizou Bergs – 19/24 (79%)
Tommy Paul 15/21 (71%)
Otto Virtanen – 17/20 (85%)
Ben Shelton 14/20 (70%)
Nicolas Mejía – 12/19 (63%)
Martin Damm – 16/19 (84%)
Jesper De Jong – 14/18 (78%)
Learner Tien – 13/17 (76%)
Patrick Kypson – 11/17 (65%)
Ignacio Buse – 12/16 (75%)
Quintin Halys – 12/16 (75%)
Jannik Sinner – 14/15 (93%)
Jakub Mensik – 13/15 (87%)
Lorenzo Sonego – 11/15 (73%)
Adolfo Daniel Vallejo – 9/15 (60%)

One of the big knocks on serve and volley is the concept that the more you do it, the more your win percentage drops. Could not be further from the truth.

Here’s the breakdown from the list of players above that served and volleyed the most (15+).

Serve & Volley 15+ Times

394 points won
529 total points
75% win percentage

The tournament average is 73% serve-and-volley points won. Players who served and volleyed 15+ times raised the bar to a 75% win rate. There’s that done and dusted.

So why are players doing better with serve and volley than any other year in recorded history? Here are three possibilities.

Commitment – Like any strategy or pattern of play, the more you do it, the more likely you are to become better at it. I get the feeling that players are doing their homework and learning that serve-and-volley can deliver a very healthy win percentage. They are now reaping the rewards of their commitment and research,
Weather – It’s been a hot Wimbledon. The ball is flying through the air. Serve and volley thrives in these conditions.
Copy Cat – If Sinner is doing it, why shouldn’t the rest of the field? Djokovic has only served and volleyed five times and won them all. Why wouldn’t you want to copy a tactic that the best players in the world are employing?

Serve & volley is an amazing strategy at all levels of our game. It’s currently having a career-best tournament at Wimbledon.

The practice court is clearly broken. Here’s the proof.

Points are "front loaded". By far the majority of the action, and the winning, takes place in THE FIRST 4 SHOTS. The practice court is full of long rallies. Matches are dominated by short rallies. There is a massive disconnect occurring.

We spend too much time grinding, banging balls up and down the middle of the court – that have no real benefit to winning tennis matches.

There are 3 specific rally lengths in tennis. Here is their percentage breakdown of total points.

0-4 Shots = 70%
5-8 Shots = 20%
9+ Shots = 10%

The First 4 Shots is specifically the serve, return, Serve +1 groundstroke and Return +1 groundstroke. Those are normally the shots that get practiced the least, but matter the most to winning tennis matches.

The net is an extremely high percentage place to be!

If you love playing tennis for fun, spend as much time at the baseline as you like. But if you compete – if the score matters – then you must turn your attention to the net to maximize your potential.

The “herd mentality” in tennis thinks it’s too tough to approach the net in today’s game. The conversation starts with improved string technology, more powerful rackets, and finishes with stronger, faster athletes. The herd think approaching is a relic of the past. The herd is WRONG!

AVERAGE WIN %
Baseline = 46%
Net = 66%

Data from ALL Grand Slams provides the facts about approach and volley, and the data is crystal clear – it’s immensely better than staying back at the baseline, grinding for a living.

The baseline is a tough place to create separation. Here's how to do it.

At the 2012 US Open, only 7 men and 14 women had a winning percentage from the baseline. At Wimbledon 2016, Andy Murray won the title only winning 52% of his baseline points - and he is one of the very best at it in the world!

Num3ers deeply explores the data that rules points, especially from the back of the court. Take a "deep dive" into all three rally lengths (0-4, 5-8, 9+), and winner and errors totals from the elite level of our game. The numbers will shock you!

All 4 Grand Slams

Forcing Errors = 41% Men / 37% Women
Winners = 32% Men / 29% Women
Unforced Errors = 27% Men / 34% Women

Num3ers is very much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It's about bringing together different data sets together to create the big picture.

Every recorded match from the 2015 Australian Open - Rd2 to the final.

There is a lot happening on a doubles court. Situations and strategies are constantly being adjusted to create mis-matches with court position. It's hard to keep track of - until now. Dou8les Num3ers is the most comprehensive analysis of doubles data in our sport. The focus is on how a point ends, and it's broken down eight ways to Sunday. Specifically, you find critical information on:

Winners rise to the #1 way a point ends (over forced & unforced errors)

- The last shot of the rally is overwhelmingly struck at the net.
- Center Window: the most important part of a doubles court to control.
- Stephen Huss: an in-depth interview on Wimbledon's Centre Court with the 2005 Wimbledon Doubles Champion.

Dou8les Num3ers leaves no stone unturned. Percentage breakdowns of how often the server or receiver hits the last shot highlight the dramatic influence of the serve. The last shot of the rally is significant, and is broken down into the following categories: volleys, overheads, passing shots, lobs and groundstrokes.

When you play a match, you actually play two matches.

When you walk out onto a tennis court, there are two matches that you are about to play. The first is during the point - a part of the match that you have spent a lot of time preparing for on the practice court. But there is a second match, that takes place in the 20 seconds between the points. This is where the mental and emotional aspects of our sport kick in.

Let's face it, there will be adversity in almost every tennis match that you play. The storm clouds are coming. How bug they are, and how long they last for, are up to you.

Between the points is very tennis specific. It provides a roadmap for the 20 seconds between the points, teaching how to handle the adversity that will surely come, and how to build on the successes that will also be present. Your mind is your biggest asset in a match, and Between the Points takes your hand off the self destruct button and stops you beating yourself.

You don't have to be good at everything, but you have got to be good at something.

You can break tennis down into four key elements - serving, returning, rallying and approaching. Each part has specific patterns of play that consistently deliver higher winning percentages than the others. No more guessing. No more opinions. All facets of our sport are covered in this exceptional product, clearly outlining what patterns to gravitate to, and how to best construct the practice court. Data comes primarily from the 2015 Australian Open.

Building Blocks

MEN = 70% errors / 30% winners
WOMEN = 74% errors / 26% winners

Forcing errors is the best way to construct a point.
You can simply break tennis down into primary and secondary patterns of play - and they are all covered here. Primary patterns include serve and return direction, forehands v backhands, and the best way to approach the net. Secondary patterns include drop shots, serve & volley and 1st volley options. If you play tournaments, this product will greatly help you simplify the singles court.

The conversation starts & ends with the Center Window.

The doubles court is like an hourglass. There are two big ends, but a small neck in the middle where all the action happens. Once you learn the power of the Center Window, where you stand to start the point will take on a lot more significance.

Doubles is a lot more about situations, with four people on the court all "dancing" with one another. Learn all the best doubles patterns, broken down for the server, returner, server's partner and the returner's partner.

Doubles Situations

The "J" - the most ideal movement for the returner's partner to attack the net.

The "V" - a better way of understanding where the server's partner should move to.

Volley Targets - there are four main areas to attack. Know which ones are higher percentage. Beach Volleyball - the idea of a "setter" and "spiker" is ideal for the doubles court.

There are certain parts of the court that the ball travels to a lot, and other low percentage areas that you really don't want to cover at all - like the alley! In general, the serving team wants to keep the ball in the middle of the court as much as possible (to help the server's partner), while the returning team benefits from hitting wider and creating more chaos in the point.