Serving

     One of the hardest things about tennis is the serve. It is a vital part of the game and a great serve can sometimes be the deciding factor in who wins and who loses a game. 

    Each time a player is serving they have two chances to get the ball over the net and into the correct service box. (We talked about these in the last post.) Whether in a singles match or a doubles match, the player serving serves for the entire game. So in a match with two players, player one will serve until someone wins that game. Then if it is an odd game, meaning if the score is 1-0 or 3-2, the players switch what side of court they are on. It is the same with a doubles match, whatever player is serving serves the entire game, then a player from the other team serves, then it switches again until every player has served. Then the pattern restarts until a match is won.

     Having a killer serve is vital to any game. A great serve can be the deciding factor in who wins and who loses a match. Check out this amazing serve by Andy Roddick:

Clearly a beginner won't be able to serve quite like that, at least not yet anyway.

      I need to point out that there are three different types of serves, the flat/basic serve which is generally used as a first serve and is hit with a flat trajectory and minimum spin. The next type is the topspin serve, which has a higher trajectory and has a kick when it bounces back up. This serve is used mainly as a second serve. The third type is slice serve. This type of serve has topspin and side spin which means that it spins in the air and then again when it hits the ground. This is used as an alternative serve for either of the two earlier serves. For right now we are going to just discuss the basics of any serve.

      There are five main things to work on for a great serve. These things are 1. Stance 2. Grip 3. The Ball 4. Feet Position and 5. The Ball Toss.

 The stance is very important to serving, you should aim to have your feet shoulder width apart. Make sure your front foot is a few inches away from the baseline so that you don't commit a foot fault. Also depending on what type of match, singles or doubles you will choose where to stand on the baseline. Keep your knees bent. Here is an example of what your stance should look like: 

The stance: feet apart, knees bent

Next is the grip. There are a few different types of grips but for a beginner we'll use the continental grip. You should aim to have the space between your thumb and your first finger fall exactly in line with the head of the racket. To accomplish this my tennis coach told us to act as if we were shaking hands with the tennis racket. It works well. Having a good grip on the racket can help you control where you want the ball to go. The continental grip also helps with the snap of the wrist and spin control of the ball. Snapping your wrist when serving is a good technique to learn as well.

Continental Grip

Now that we have our stance ready, and our tight grip we need to talk about what to do with the ball. You want to hold the ball between your thumb and all four fingers, or basically like you would with any other ball. 

Next is feet position. Just like in baseball, whatever way your feet are planted is the way the ball is going to go so you want to make sure your feet are point towards the target zone. This will be easier to understand after you go out and practice for awhile. Finally the ball toss comes and you want to make sure the ball goes quite high, like a couple inches higher than your racket can reach. Make sure the ball goes straight up in front of you and lands a few inches in front of your feet. Of course you're going to hit it before it hits the ground but this is a good way to make sure you are tossing the ball correctly. You will want to make contact with the ball when your racket is on its way down. I like to think of it as a clock hand at noon. Start swinging down but don't forget to follow through with the swing or your serve could end up in the net or going too far.  

Right before contact

Having a good serve is important, but don't get frustrated if at first your don't succeed. Keep trying it will eventually happen. If you can conquer the serve the rest of the game will be a piece of cake. Here is an illustrated diagram of what the process of serving should look like.

Just keep trying the serve it will come eventually and when it does you'll be pleasantly surprised. Just keep in mind the five important factors we discussed. Here is a great video that shows a pro serving and it breaks down his every move and finally shows what the serve is in full motion. I hope you enjoy!!!

YouTube also has many amazing clips and beginner videos to help with serving. Check out http://youtube.com/. 

Pictures came from both Google.com and  http://tennis.about.com/od/serve/ss/servetsslicesbs_9.htm, while information came from what I know and http://www.all-about-tennis.com/tennis-serve.html. 

Next time we'll talk about volleying, forehand and backhand!