The serve is the opening shot in tennis. It is putting the ball in play. The old thought was that the service was never more than merely the beginning of a rally. With the rise of American tennis and the rise of Dwight Davis and Holcombe Ward, the serve took on a new significance. These two men originated what is now known as the American Twist delivery. The founder of tennis' Davis Cup, Dwight Davis was born in St. Louis. He was one of his era's best players and won several titles while at Harvard.While the serve or service began as a mere formality, the serve became a point winner. Slowly it gained in importance, until Maurice E. M'Loughlin, also known as the "California Comet," burst across the tennis sky with the first of those cannon-ball deliveries that revolutionized the game, and caused the old-school players to send out calls for a severe footfault rule or some way of stopping the threatened destruction of all ground strokes. M'Loughlin made service a huge factor in the game. It was't until R. N. Williams stood in on the delivery and took the ball on the rise that the serve was returned to it's position of importance, not omnipotence.
The serve should be delivered with speed. Yet speed is not the be-all and end-all. The serve must be accurate, reliable, and varied. It must be used with discretion and served with brains.
A tall player has an advantage over a short one, in the service department. Simple geometry shows that a hard flat serve hit by a person six foot tall has about 8 inches of the service box surface in which the ball can fall. This is assuming the person is contacting the ball at about three feet above the head. A person like Evo Karlovic who starts out at six feet ten inches has not just ten more inches, but also considering longer arms is probably striking the ball at around 10 1/2 feet rather than the approximate 9 feet given in our example of a 6 foot person. Without getting too technical, let's look at the illustration to the left of serving from 9 feet compared to 10 1/2 feet. It is easy to see a taller person has more of the service box to hit into.Given a person about 6 feet and allowing for about 3 feet to be added by the reach, if that results in only a margin of 8 inches of the service court in which the ball can possibly fall, it is easy to see how important it is to use some form of twist or spin to bring the ball down into the court. Not only must it go into the court, but it must be sufficiently fast that the receiver does not have an opportunity for an easy kill shot. It must also be placed so as to allow the server an advantage for his next return, assuming the receiver puts the ball in play.
Just as the first rule of receiving is to, put the ball in play, so the first rule of the serve is to cause the receiver to fail to return the serve or to at least return it weakly. Aces are always good, but the main purpose of your serve is to upset the ground strokes of your opponent.
The slice serve is one of the easiest serves to learn. Position yourself more to the right of the mid court line to have a better angle. You can even stand half-way between the mid court line and the sideline. In doubles, many players stand out in the doubles alley.
The use of a continental grip can help impart a slice naturally. Toss the ball in front and little to the right. Experiment to find the right place. The ball should be hit from a point above the right shoulder and as high as possible.
Imagine a clock face on the ball and try to hit the ball from left to right (or from 9 to 3). Continue your movement forward with the edge of the racket going forward. Try to get about fifty percent forward motion with about fifty percent right to left motion as the racket contacts the ball. The spin imparted on the ball will cause it to curve in the air, moving from your right to your left, assuming you are right handed. If you are left handed, the stroke will be from right to left and the spin will be the opposite, which can really fluster right handers.
Just like any new stroke or technique, it will take practice to perfect.
I will review other types of serves and ground strokes in future postings.
Get out there and play!
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For more tennis tips, I highly recommend WebTennis.net.
Brent Abel has a great tennis tip video blog!
Follow the link below to get your complimentary weekly video tips.
http://www.netofficetoolbox.com/app/?af=1082619
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Good stuff!!
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