The Server In Tennis

By Michael Burge

Within this lesson, I wish to discuss the starting position of the server, his job responsibilities and what he needs to be focused on and watching for as the point starts and progresses. The server in doubles should serve from a wider position than in singles. I prefer to see you stand a touch wider than midway between the center mark and the doubles line.

As soon as you serve, your obligation would be to cover your portion of the court and by beginning here it’s going to put you in position to do that with minimal recovery motion. Bear in mind, it is always preferable to hit the ball back to where it originated from than alter the path of the ball. For this reason, the more you serve wide the more you need to think about covering the wide angle return. You’ll need two things planned prior to a serve; where you are about to target your serve and where you are intending to go after you strike your serve. When deciding your serve target, I break the service box into three areas; A, B and C. A will stand for the portion nearest to the Alley, B will stand for the center section for the serve to the Body, and C will be the area nearest to the Center.

When serving to the “deuce side” or the right side, your main target ought to be the “C” area of the court. You’ll be serving into your opponents backhand (for the right handed opponent) and lowering the angles of return that may allow your partner to move out into the court and take more balls. Your second best serve should be to the “B” section, trying to jam the returner. Again it minimizes the angles and doesn’t let the returner to get their arms spread out to make the shot. The final choice ought to be the “A” section. When serving here you are serving into a right handed players forehand (normally a strength), opening up your partners line for a passing shot and as we spoke of earlier, it really is simpler to return the ball to where it came from so it opens up the cross court return as well. It’s vital however to use all the different serves in order to keep your opponent off balance, but tend toward the higher percentage ones.

Things change a lttle bit on the “ad” court or the left side. Your first target ought to be the “B” section or the serve to the body. This prevents your opponent from stretching out his/her arms while also reducing the return angles. The next best target would be the “C” section. Even though it is into your right handed opponent’s forehand, it keeps the angles on the returns to a minimum by keeping the ball toward the center of the court and in addition puts your partner in a stronger position to poach and take more balls. Again the third choice is usually wide for the “A” section which opens up your partner’s alley and also exposes the angled return cross court.

I will discuss the X Factors during a different lesson that takes into account your opponents good and bad points when some of these targets may change. When you’re walking in to a match not knowing your opponents, it is always good to begin with percentage tennis as discussed above and adjust your game as you take in further information.

To learn more about tennis strategy go to http://www.successfultennis.com.

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