The Basic Serve

The serve is a difficult stroke to master.  Why?  Because of two things: pronation and ball toss.  Pronation is the act of taking a “karate chop hand” and rotating your thumb towards your nose and then around until you can’t see your thumb anymore.  It sounds easy enough, but it isn’t easy once you go to hit the ball.  Your brain goes haywire and instead o pronation you invariably supinate.  Supination is the act of taking a “karate chop hand” and rotating your thumb away from your nose so that you end up in a “hitch hike “ position.  This works well for a second serve, but not so good for a first serve.

Pronation, if it is hit in an upward motion, produces a violent topspin that abruptly brings the ball down into the service box.  It is called a flat serve, even though it is a spin serve.  It is necessary for anyone under 6’6” in height, because of the small margin of error involved with trying to pound the ball down and over the net.

The second obstacle is the toss.  You have to hit the ball at its highest possible point.  Stretch your racket up over your head with your arm straight.  Now look up at the middle of your racket.  That is where you need to hit in order to have an effective serve.  Most people wait until the ball drops down low and they hit it with a bent arm.  Instead of trying to hit up with pronation, they hit down into the net or out of the service box.

When you have conquered the two aforementioned obstacles, then you need take your racket in your non-dominant hand and hold it like you would a hammer.  This “hammer” grip is the proper one for serving a tennis ball.

Stand at the baseline with your feet shoulder width apart.  If you are right handed step back with your right foot, leaving your left foot in place.  Your left shoulder should be aimed at the net. Place the racket edge on your right shoulder and toss the ball up in the air with your left hand and slightly to your right. When you swing the racket toward the ball act like you are trying to cut it in half with the edge of the racket, but at the last millisecond pronate, hitting the ball sharply and upward.  As your arm moves forward after the hit, bring it across your body like you are pretending to put a sword in a scabbard.

Now practice shifting your weight onto your back foot when you toss the ball and then to your front foot when you are hitting the ball.  Lastly, when you toss the ball, bring the racket quickly straight back and down behind you, then quickly up to shoulder before the ball drops down to low, shifting your weight back then forward to quickly attack the ball.

As you get better you will learn to hit the serve primarily with your body and not just with your arm.  If this doesn’t make sense to you, email me.