Tennis Serving Tips

If you don’t have the time or background to completely reconstruct your players’ serves, here are three tips which will help your players improve this important aspect of their game. Don’t forget to take advantage of all of the serving articles in our articles database, as well.

#1 Follow Through Where You Want the Ball to Go
We know from scientific research that a tennis ball leaves the strings of a racquet within 3-6 milliseconds of contact, and that the follow through has absolutely no affect whatsoever on direction, depth, spin, flight path or pace. In fact, the ball is already on the other side of the net before you finish your follow through!

Telling players to “turn your racquet over” for more topspin on a groundstroke or “brush the ball” for more topspin or slice on a serve is incorrect.

The only thing that determines where the ball will go is the angle of the racquet face at contact and the racquet path (is the racquet moving up, down or across?).

However, telling players to follow through in the direction they want their serve to go does seem to help players direct their serve. This may be due to the fact that players will naturally rotate their shoulders better or make contact in the correct position based on their desire to follow through in a certain direction.

Whatever the reason why it works, giving this tip to your players can help, especially if you practice it in two ways.

First, have players throw balls from their serving position (doubles and singles) to the areas in the service box where they’d like their serves to land (left or right; down the middle or wide; to an opponent’s forehand or backhand; etc.). Have them pick up their racquets and pretend to throw them to the other side of the net, to a particular area in the service box. Finally, have them serve with their new directional sense, exaggerating their follow through in order to learn direction. If players are going to miss a wide serve, have them miss it very wide, then slowly bring it back into the service box.

#2 Use Primary Targets
In order to better place their serves, players will need to use primary targets instead of the actual point in the service box where they want the serve to land.

Using the net strap as a target can help your players learn to effectively place their serves.

For example, if a player is serving to the deuce court, and wishes to serve down the middle, have the player aim their serve approximately one to two inches to the right of the net strap. This will give the player a more accurate aim point than if he or she aimed directly down the center of the court.

If the player wishes to serve wide, have them aim their serve over the net on the left-hand side of the service box. If you have a target trainer (a set of PVC pipes on legs with a window in the middle), players will see that as they aim for the window, each time they are successful in getting it through, the ball automatically goes into the service box.

When practicing the follow through and the use of primary targets, divide the service box in two, down the middle, or in thirds (depending on your players skill levels) and have them aim for those target areas. Simply placing a cone in the center of the service box and having players aim to the right of left of the cone will help them practice direction.

When it comes time to play a match, have them visualize a cone to help them trigger the correct motor memory. Practicing primary targets in conjunction with secondary targets is a great learning tool.

#3 Hit Up on the Ball
The article Serve ’em Up discusses the importance of having players hit up on their serves, rather than down. Practicing hitting up on the serve in conjunction with the new follow through and primary aim points will make these new skills more natural.

After players have experimented with follow throughs and aim points, have them try serves from a kneeling position. Once they are successful not only in getting their serves in, but to the area of the service box they’re aiming at, have them stand up, and continue to experiment, using the upward swing. Players should be able to serve sitting down, and this might add even more fun and understanding to your practice.