If you adore playing tennis in your spare time and you love nothing more than getting stuck into a rally, you might be keen to improve your game. The most significant part of any tennis player’s armory is the serve. You could be great at the net, have perfect touch with volleys, and have a backhand like Monica Seles, but if your serve is pitiful, you aren’t going to be taking your game to the next level. The serve is the action that makes or breaks your games. Take a look at these three easy steps that you can follow to help you go from double faults to aces.
Your Stance
You need to utilize one of two stances – the pinpoint or the platform. A great advocate of the platform stance is Roger Federer. He stands at the service line with his feet about a shoulder’s width apart, with his lead foot at the baseline. When he serves, most of his power is generated by his front foot. His control is excellent and he can follow through with ease. The only disadvantage with the platform stance is that it isn’t as powerful as the pinpoint. The pinpoint stance, however, is tricky to master in terms of timing. With the pinpoint stance, you keep your feet together upon jumping into the serve. It’s a great technique to master, but as an amateur, the platform might be the most suitable.
Shoulder Condition
It’s crucial that your shoulder can withstand the rigors of service practice. This is why you need to head to the gym and ensure that you work on your shoulder to increase its range of movement and to keep tendons and ligaments in top condition. When at home, you can embark on a body weight shoulder workout to strengthen your muscles and your abdominal core. This multi-faceted workout will help to increase your range of motion. Have a go at arm circles, crab bridges and mountain climber exercises to condition your shoulder. Serving is hard on your joints and cartilage, especially in your knees, hips and shoulders. Focus on these areas of your body when you pay a visit to the gym.
Follow Through
Many club tennis players don’t utilize the follow through because they don’t think it adds much to their serve. However, a strong follow through where the service arm reaches the hip upon hitting the ball will generate more power and speed, possible winning your an extra point or two. You wouldn’t dream of not following through on your forehand so why do it on your serve? You need all of the speed you can muster. If you are struggling to piece all segments of your serve together, go slow. Forget the speed initially and just work on your action from the platform stance all the way to the follow through. Once you have the technique perfected, then bring in the speed, tweak your grip, your stance and your shoulder alignment, and watch those balls fly into your opponent’s section of the court.
See your tennis prowess enhanced by following this guide and enjoy having your serves go from double faults to aces.
i remember my high school tennis coach drilled it into us that follow through was KEY. thanks for the reminder.
Good point regarding having a good stance. Am a Federer fan and have noticed his position as pretty distinct.
I like tennis but I admit that I don’t know it as I would like, so I like to learn more!
I think my stance (or lack thereof) is what makes me suck at tennis. To be honest, I’ll give your pointers a try. I’ve always had a tennis follow through that was somewhere in between tennis and baseball haha.
This is going to help a lot of players. So many tennis players forget important things like conditioning.
I used to be really good at my serve, but it has been so many years. I would love to take this up again. It would be so much fun to play with my kids.
Oohhh…alright brother. I hear you!
Ah, it’s been so long since I’ve played! I love my tennis though and will have to take these tips into consideration.
This is going to be so helpful for a lot of players out there. Thank you for sharing.
Those are great tips for getting better serves! I will have to implement them the next time I play tennis.
I really enjoyed watching tennis games played but don’t know how to play it. The tips you gave are very great,I think I have to recommend this post to a friend who love playing tennis. Thanks Soo much.
I love tennis. I’m the opposite. I have an exquisites right but struggle with the volley and playing close up. Great tips!
Tennis is one sport I have never really played or watched with interest! I might start doing it now.
This year, I decided that I was going to get better, that I was going to be amazing. I was ready to be playing at least ten hours of tennis per week, when my mom told me that she could only afford to pay for two clinics and a private lesson per week.
I’ve always loved tennis and wanted to learn to play. Right now, I just really enjoy hitting the ball. Maybe I will incorporate more soon with these easy instructions.
Candy Rachelle
Keeping Up With Candy
http://www.keepingupwithcandy.com
I really got interested in this a few years ago.
I havent really thought of trying tennis. With easy instructions I might spare some time this year. Thanks!
I am loving this post and loving these tips as I want to pick up playing tennis. Our neighborhood has a few nice courts and we bought some rackets and I want to play!