Out to save serve and volley

2004-06-22 13:07

London - Martina Navratilova is on a mission to save serve and volley tennis.

Not only did the nine times Wimbledon singles champion make clear her intentions with a 6-0 6-1 victory over Colombia's Catalina Castano on the opening day of this year's tournament at the All England Club.

Afterwards, the 47-year-old revealed her ambition to revive the serve and volley style at a time when the baseliners are dominating women's tennis.

"I'm planning on doing a tennis academy, get started on that next year, because I really still feel that the academies that are there, they're still not teaching complete tennis," she said.

"They're still really concentrating on the groundstrokes. Now they're getting better on the serve, but they're still not teaching complete tennis."

Navratilova was also critical of what she sees as a failure among existing academies to teach strategy.

"It's all about technique and hitting the ball, but not how to set up the point," the veteran American said after playing in her first singles match here in 10 years.

"It's not just how hard you hit it, it's where you place it. Hitting it deep all the time is not necessarily the way to go.

"They're not using the whole court and they're not playing points right.

"I will pass on that knowledge, as I promised Billie Jean King way back. And so I think an academy is the way to go and I'm sure they'll start coming."

Asked if any players had sought her advice on serve and volley play, Navratilova replied with a blunt: "Nope."

Admitting she was surprised by the reluctance of other players to call on her vast experience and knowledge of serve and volley tennis, Navratilova said: "But maybe they will one day."

Navratilova believes the Williams sisters, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Kim Clijsters and Lisa Raymond are all capable of playing serve and volley, at least some of the time.

"But they are playing doubles," Navratilova said. "When they are playing doubles, if you don't practice it then, when are you going to practice it?"

Navratilova also identified Amelie Mauresmo as another player who could improve her serve and volley game, provided she makes alterations to her technique.

"She plays too tall," Navratilova said of the Frenchwoman. "You need to have that knee bend to put on the brakes and hit the low ball.

"There's a bunch of them that can do it, they just don't trust it."

Navratilova said her home of Florida would be the most likely venue for her academy, citing the good weather there as a major advantage.

- AFP