After watching clay-court matches for the past few months, one thing that I forgot about tennis on grass is how quickly the points, games and sets can end. Instead of rallies that seemingly never allow a player to be out of the point if they have the requisite speed and footwork (which 99 percent of the ATP Tour possesses), the lawn speeds up the shots so much that often players just have to say “too good”. It’s no surprise then that the serve-and-volley tactic is so effective on grass, as it condenses the point into an even quicker sequence of shots.

Long forlorn since the heydays of Pete Sampras and Tim Henman, serve-and-volley players are now a dying breed. But Nicolas Mahut’s performance this week gave us reason to think that the net-rushing strategy should be employed much more often, especially on quick courts like the ones at Queen’s Club.

Aided by his play in doubles (Mahut also reached the semi-finals in that bracket, alongside Julien Benneteau), his volleys were crisp and effective throughout the match. But equally as impressive was the service of the Frenchman, who fired 21 aces, just three short of Andy Roddick’s total of 24. Add in the fact that Nicolas won 88 percent of his first serve points, and he had crafted a game plan than could compete with a grass court master like Roddick – and compete it did.

'On championship point, Andy was dead at the net, standing practically still in the middle after hitting two average volleys'