Tennis - Serves and Returns

Strangely some players seem not to concentrate on improving this stroke as much as some of the other strokes involved in the game. However the top servers in the game will spend an endless amount of time trying to perfect everything from the tossing to the follow through, experimenting with different grips and styles as they go.

After experimenting they seem to all use similar ways to create the most speed and spin.

This technique involves players positioning their bodies under the ball as it is tossed, bending low at the knees then jumping up, using all the body weight to lean into the court, and snap the wrist to generate the power. The serve is the only shot that players can have complete control over, therefore the ball toss, knee bend, jump, snap of the wrist, and placement of the serve should be practiced until the player is completely comfortable with their serving technique.

The grip is very important to the serve as it has to support the wrist, so this should be the first aspect covered when learning the technique of the serve. Once this is mastered players can start to add spin, which should help with first serve percentage in games. The next more advanced stage is looking at contact points. Using different contact points produces different types of serve. However the basics of placement, depth, footwork and power need to be perfected first.

Other Serves and Techniques: