Serve and Return

The serve and the return are arguably the most important strokes in tennis but many times the least practiced.  Every single point starts with a serve and a return and in many occasions the point will also end with one of these two shots.  The better your serve and return, the better your chances of winning the point. 

 In this section you will find everything you need to understand, practice and improve these two shots, including technical and tactical advice, drills, methodology  and plenty of examples from the pro tour to allow you to form a very clear picture of  the ideal way to execute these key elements of the game. 

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Stopping the Return

Drills, Return

The job of the player is to try to allign the strings to the incoming ball placing the racquet head on the path of the ball. This post is only available to members. Please register or log in.

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Serving in Balance

Drills, Serve

This is a useful exercise to test the balance and finishing position on the serve. The player is asked to hold the finish. The player should land on the front leg with the back leg in the air. The racquet head should be pointing down in ...

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Bounce Feeds Return

Drills, Return

A return is nothing more than a groundstroke with a short backswing. In order to force the player to shorten the backswing it is important to take away time. By standing close to the player and feeding fast bouncing shots, the coach forc...

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In the Air Returns Collection

Drills, Return

Exercise 1 Against the Fence A good way to teach players to use short swings and meet the ball in front of the body is by having them stand against the back fence and rushing them with fast feeds that do not bounce. The players against t...

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Disguising the Serve

Drills, Serve

Ideally the player should learn to hit the serve in any direction off the same toss. The best way to practice this is for the coach to stand behind the player as the player serves. Once the ball is in the air, the coach will yell: T or w...

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Minimum Movement Return

Drills, Return

A common problem on the return is moving too much and therefore loosing precision. In this drill the player works on staying totally still to return using as little body movement as possible. The idea is to work on stability. The player ...

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Off the Bounce Returns

Drills, Return

A good way to practice the shorter backswing on the return is by having the player stand very close to the service line and return from there. From that position the player will not have time to take a large backswing and will get comfor...

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Serve plus 1 Collection

Drills, Serve

Exercise 1 Self Feed Here is a good way to practice the serve plus the next shot without a partner or in a large group setting where everyone is working on the serve. The player serves, tosses a ball up, gets in position and hits the bal...

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The Toss

Instruction, Serve

A consistent toss is one of the most important aspects of the serve. Here you will find several ideas to help you improve your toss.This post is only available to members. Please register or log in.

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Return Collection – In the Air

Drills, Return

Although it is widely accepted that the return of serve is one of the most important shots in the game, practicing it enough is difficult since it requires someone to serve a high volume of balls. Here is an alternative, that although no...

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