World number one Novak Djokovic has claimed that technology would decide the future of serve and volley game in men's tennis, as the Serb prepares for a quarterfinal clash with Milos Raonic in the Australian Open on Wednesday.
Djokovic took some time to work out the serve-volley playing style of Luxembourg opponent Gilles Muller before reaching the quarterfinals on Monday in his quest for a fifth Australian Open title.
Not long ago, the serve and volley game was in fashion with John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras among the leaders, especially on the grass courts of Wimbledon, Sport24 reported.
However, a greater emphasis on hard courts, making the balls bounce slower and higher, prompted new generations of players to camp on the baseline with more focus on returns and passing shots.
Djokovic, whose all-court athletic game has earned him seven Grand Slam titles and the world number one ranking for most of the last four years, said that he fears for the old serve and volley game.
The Serb said that he goes to the net to shake hands, but added that it really depends how the technology is going to advance, and what are they going to do with the balls as well, questioning whether they would become faster or slower.
Djokovic claimed that his subjective feeling for the Australian Open, as he talked to many players, and for the last two years the courts or the balls, something out of these two elements, have sped up the game in Australia. He insisted that it plays faster and allows the servers to have more free points, come to the net.
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However, he added that on cooler nights such as in his match with Muller, the balls do not bounce as much as in warmer conditions. He said that Muller tried to chip and come in, adding that he played smart.
Djokovic claimed that Muller made him uncomfortable in some moments on the court, adding that that's what serve and volley players do. He claimed that one doesn't get to see that many serve and volley players these days.
Djokovic claimed that the future of serve and volley is hard to say if it's going to go back to what it was 20, 30 years ago, adding that he highly doubts that.
