Developing The 1st Serve In Tennis

In this blog, I am excited to share a few fundamental tips to help you to develop a powerful and accurate 1st serve. Let’s get started with using the correct grip.

Service Grip:

The suggested grip on the serve is the backhand or overhead grip as shown in the left image below (fig. 1). For right-handers, see how my index finger knuckle is placed on the right edge of the racquet. If you are using the forehand grip (see fig. 2 below) where your index finger knuckle is over to the right from the suggested mark (blue line), move the grip with small increments closer towards the suggested placement and develop feel with this grip. The backhand grip allows for both more versatility and power.

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Stance and Rotational Body Movement:

Notice how I’m standing with my shoulder turned to the net (fig. 3 ) and back leg (right leg) placed behind and to the side of the front leg. Rather than standing with my waist square to the net, this side-ways stance prepares me to rotate my body and gain more power into the serve (see red arrow showcasing rotational direction my body is going to follow to the point of contact in fig. 4). Think of a baseball pitcher and how they use a similar rotational range of motion to release the pitch.

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Extension To The Contact Point:

See how I have pushed up off the ground (my feet are in the air in fig. 5 below) and I’m extending as high as I can to the point of contact. Players starting out can add the jump later in their progressions, but the key is to develop feel for extending up as high as you can. The higher point of contact improves your ability to clear the net and gain a downward trajectory for the shot where gravity too aids in adding speed.

Ball Toss Placement:

Notice how my ball toss is in front and this allows me to get my body-weight behind the serve adding more power to the shot (fig. 6 and fig. 7). It’s following the simple rule: mass (body mass + racquet weight) x acceleration (racquet speed) = power.

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Shot Execution — Follow Through & Accuracy:

Notice how my racquet at contact is aligned to my target (the bottle placed out-wide to the Ad-court). Also, after contact, my eyes and body follow the trajectory of the serve towards the target improving accuracy of the shot (see fig. 8 below).

Summary:

In summary, use the rotational range of motion, toss the ball in front and reach up high to the point of contact, aligning your racquet and body to the target for gaining more power and accuracy on your 1st serve.

All the best,

Harsh

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