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Steve Smith Interview: What Happened to the Serve & Volley? Grip & Technique, and Tennis Stories from a Coaching Legend

Will Boucek ยท November 27, 2022

Steve Smith is more than a coach. He’s a coach’s coach. He’s a teacher. He’s also a student. Steve has worked in the tennis profession for nearly 50 years and has more tennis knowledge in his left pinky than I have in my entire body.

In this conversation, we discuss where the serve and volley went, why doubles has lost popularity over the last 30-40 years, and why your volleys are floating instead of penetrating through the court. We talk doubles strategy and technique, but mostly I let Steve tell his stories and absorb his wealth of knowledge.

Steve Smith - Tennis Coaching Legend

You’ll likely find 3-5 small pieces of advice in the form of stories, tips, or quotes that will stick with you and help you become a better player or coach.


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Show Notes from this Podcast

*To help support The Tennis Tribe & provide more free content like this, we may earn a percentage of purchases through the links below. See our affiliate page for more info.

  • Steve’s website is Great Base Tennis
  • Some of the people mentioned in this episode
    • Steve works with Andy Fitzell at Great Base Tennis
    • Dave Eddy
    • Vic Braden is Great Base Tennis’ #1 mentor
    • Bud Collins’ (and Rod Laver’s) Book – Tennis Digest*
    • Dennis Van De Mer
    • Jamie Murray
    • Louis Cayer ran the action method
    • The Bryan Brothers
    • Chad Berryhill – Coach at St Leo University
    • Simon Earnshaw – Head Coach at NC State
    • Federer & Wawrinka won doubles at the 2008 Olympics
    • Steve worked with Craig Tiley and a group of players from Texas to improve and cut body fat before nationals
    • Austin Krajicek recently made the doubles finals in Cinicinnati with Steve Johnson
    • Dick Gould – former coach at Stanford with 17 national titles
    • Steve Denton hired Steve Smith to teach him how to coach
    • Steve’s son Connor played at Florida State and Ohio State
    • Steve wanted Raven Klaasen to coach Kevin Anderson
    • Steve worked with Jeff Coetzee when he was younger (Our interview with Jeff Coetzee)
    • Andy Roddick played 5 sets at Wimbledon and did not serve & volley
    • Steve offered to help Tennys Sandgren improve his volleys
    • Ashton Krueger “isn’t going to the net as much as she used to”
  • Steve played tennis and hockey at Oswego State
  • Ghost Doubles – Drill where you play crosscourt points vs your partner
  • The triangle in doubles
  • PTR & USPTA are two organizations that certify tennis coaches
  • NTRP system
  • UTR tennis is creating more youth vs adult matches
  • Steve wrote for Tennis Life Magazine
  • Videos of Steve discussing finding the best grips for different strokes
    • Understanding the different grips (including the composite grip for your volleys)
    • Changing grips for different strokes

About Will Boucek

Will Boucek is the Founder & CEO of Tennis Tribe. With over two decades of experience playing & coaching tennis, Will now works as a doubles strategy analyst for ATP & WTA tour players and coaches. Will helps tennis players at every level play better doubles through smarter strategy. He also has expertise in tennis racquets & gear, testing the latest products from Wilson, Babolat, Head, Prince, and other tennis brands.

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