Bring those old days back, serve me some volleys

I was fortunate enough to live through a time when serve-n-volley tennis was a style of play and not something referenced to in the archives section. Wimbledon used to be synonymous with the serve-n-volley game -- the quick and low bouncing grass favoured net-rushers such as John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg.Tennis thrived on a battle of contrasting styles as the baseliners like Bjorg and Chris Evert tried to penetrate the attacks of McEnroe and Martina Navratilova. But a combination of slower grass courts and new racket and string technology has meant a death sentence for the style of play that was once the dominant way to play tennis. That’s why while the world’s eyes will be on Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray; I’ll be closely following two players – one a veteran, the other a rising star – who play the game with a throwback to the sport’s golden years.Michael Llodra[caption id="attachment_27683" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Michael Llodra remains one of the last few exponents of the serve-n-volley style of play. AFP"][/caption]Michael Llodra is the last official exhibit of the serve-n-volleyer species. Llodra first came to prominence in the doubles game winning the Australian Open title in 2003 and 2004 with Fabrice Santoro and the Wimbledon title in 2007 with Arnuad Clement. And he’s French, which might explain his quirky nature. After he won the Australian Open doubles title in 2004, Llodra and Santoro made headlines by stripping off their shirts, shoes, socks and shorts.Dressed only in a pair of white briefs, Llodra threw his clothes into the crowd. While his results in the doubles have since slid, the 31-year-old Fenchman’s stock as a singles player has risen at an age when most others are ready to hang up their rackets.Llodra won two singles titles in 2008, made two finals in 2009 and won two more titles in 2010, including the Eastbourne Grass Court Championships. But his best result might have been on the lightning fast indoor courts of the BNP Paribas Masters tournament in Paris last year, where he beat Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko before losing to Robin Soderling 7-6 (0), 5-7, 6-7 (6) in a semi-final match where he held three match points.Llodra always comes in behind his first serve and, often behind his second, and has the best volleys in the game. The Guardian journalist Xan Brooks described Llodra as "one of those talented, maddening French players in the tradition of Leconte, Forget and Santoro; at once supremely gifted and curiously brittle" and that he "plays like he's just flown in from the 20th century. His game is all dinks and slices and sly changes of pace."He is currently ranked 25th in the world, just four spots from his career best ranking of 21 achieved last month. The Frenchman is also one of the few players on the men’s tour to have been coached by a woman. Last year, he formally enlisted the services of close friend Amelie Mauresmo. But Mauresmo’s success at Wimbledon did not rub off on Llodra, who has never been past the second round at SW 19 – winning only 5 matches in 10 appearances in the singles draw.The quirky Frenchman might not go too deep in the draw this year either, but it might be the last chance for many to see tennis the way it was once played.Milos RaonicTeenage phenoms are another extinct breed in tennis – they died just a few years after serve-n-volley went extinct. So, it’s not surprising that a 20-year-old Canadian, ranked 26 in the world, is the player that many feel will be a future superstar of the game. Don’t expect Milos Raonic to go and win the title this year, but given a good draw, the Canadian might very well be among those in the second week of Wimbledon.The baby-faced Raonic has one of the biggest serves in the game today which bodes well for him even on the slower grass courts. Unlike Llodra, Raonic doesn’t come in behind every serve of his, but he has shown the ability and the willingness to approach the net often. In 2011, the Canadian has seen a meteoric rise – qualifying for the Australian Open and reaching the fourth round, winning his first ATP title in San Jose, and reaching the finals of his next event in Tennessee, taking his ranking from 152 in January to its current position of 26.In his first ATP grass event last week in Halle, Raonic won 2 matches and reached the quarter-finals of the Gerry Webber Open and has been earmarked as a potential future champion at SW 19. McEnroe has referred to the Canadian as "the real deal" while Navratilova called him "a new star", saying "the sky is the limit".One hopes Raonic will continue attacking the net as he rises in the rankings and not follow in the footsteps of Roger Federer. Federer, himself, was once a frequent visitor to the net in his early years, but has since transformed into an almost-exclusive baseliner. We can marvel at his fluid groundstrokes and his athletic genius, but Federer’s net game can be just as breath-taking. It’s a pity that it’s rarely on display for the fans to experience and a whole generation of future players to learn from.