How to serve in tennis

The importance of a good serve

There’s only one shot in tennis where you’re fully in control – when you’re hitting your serve. With every other shot, you’re reacting to your opponent’s ball. Not with your serve. Make the most of that control.

You start points with your serve, hitting the ball over the net and diagonally into the service box. The serve also sets up your entire game. A good serve gives you a significant advantage, and not just because that will help you to be in command of your own service games. It will send a very strong message to your opponent that you’re going to be hard to beat. If you’re winning your service games more easily, that will put pressure on your opponent when it's their turn to serve.

If you’re new to tennis, here are some tips on how to improve your serve, which will help you to become an overall better tennis player.

Grip

Grip your racquet as if you were gripping the handle of an axe or a hammer. Some even call this the hammer grip. Or the chopper grip. It’s also known as the continental grip.

Stance

Stand at the baseline, sideways on and with your knees bent, and with your front foot at a 45- degree angle to the baseline and with your back foot parallel to the baseline. If you’re righthanded, your left shoulder should be pointing towards where you want to hit the ball, and if you’re a lefty, your right shoulder should be pointing in the direction you’re aiming for.

Ball toss

Gently grip the ball. Keep your arm straight when tossing the ball. Throw the ball up so that it’s a little bit in front of you. You’re trying to toss the ball up to the same height every time as that’s going to give you some consistency.

Swing and contact

The backswing helps you to have a smoother and more powerful and consistent serve. After tossing the ball, you’re keeping your eyes on the ball and trying to hit it when your racquet arm is fully extended as that will give you more power. When you swing your racquet, keep your shoulders closed for as long as possible (opening the shoulders too early will likely reduce your power and accuracy). You’re using your whole body in your service motion so transfer your weight from your back foot to your front. The follow through is important – keep the swing going after striking the ball. If you’re right-handed, that will mean your racquet will finish on the left hand side of your body. Once you have completed your serve, recover as quickly as possible so you’re ready for the next shot.

Types of serves

Flat serve: Hit the ball flat, without any spin, for maximum power. As you’re not putting any spin on the ball, you will have less control over a flat serve so you might want to hit this one on your first serve rather than on your second. Use a flat serve when trying to hit an ace or to produce a big, fast serve that your opponent won’t be able to deal with.

Slice serve: Hitting the side of the ball will put slice or sideways spin on the ball, which could take the ball away from an opponent, while also keeping low, making it harder for them to return the ball. Putting any kind of spin on the ball also helps you to have more control.

Kick serve: Brushing up the back of the ball will allow you to generate topspin with your serve; when the ball lands, it will have a ‘kick’ and will have a higher bounce than a flat serve. That high bounce could make it harder for your opponent to return your serve. A kick serve is often used on a second serve as the spin gives you more control. The flight of the ball should also be higher, giving you more clearance over the net and reducing the chance of a fault.

Common mistakes when serving and how to avoid them

Some beginners toss the ball with a bent arm, which can lead to an erratic toss and more mistakes. If you toss the ball with a straight arm, that will give you a more consistent toss, improving your accuracy and rhythm.

Tossing the ball too high is a mistake that many beginners make – what then happens is that the ball drops more quickly from that height and it can be harder to time your swing. Focus on lowering your toss, though be aware of not tossing the ball too low.

While getting the ball toss right is important, and deserves your attention on the practice court, don’t forget to work on your swing. Try to think about them, and practise them, together as that’s going to help you to have a more fluid, powerful and consistent serve.

If you open your shoulders too early, you’re going to have less control over your serve. Try to open your shoulders at the end of your service motion.

If you hit the wrong part of the ball, you’re not going to produce the serve you want. If you’re trying to hit a slice serve, for instance, make sure you hit the side of the ball. The same applies when hitting a kick serve – you need to brush up the back of the ball.

If you’re not using the correct grip, you will struggle when serving. Check your grip.

Practising your serve

Spend as much time as you can practising your serve as you will see the benefits. If you can place some targets in the service boxes – such as cones or maybe an empty can – that will help you as that will give you something to focus on and will also make practice more fun. Move the cones around so you are practising hitting serves to different areas of the service boxes. You could hit ten serves at each target. How many times can you hit the target?

Advanced serving techniques

Once you feel as though you know the basics, you can start to look at ways of taking your serve to the next level. The body serve can be very effective. As the name suggests, you’re serving to an opponent’s body – the idea is that they end up hitting the ball too close to their body, which is going to limit their power and accuracy. Another option is a wide serve – the returner could struggle to get the ball back into the court or to even reach it. Ideally, you want to be able to hit a wide variety of serves with the same ball toss – that will prevent your opponent from having any advance warning about what you’re about to do.

Underarm serves

Serving underarm is allowed. You might want to serve underarm if you have a sore or weak shoulder as that will reduce the impact on your shoulder. You will occasionally see professional players hit underarm serves if they think it will take their opponent by surprise.

Serve up some improvements

You won’t ever regret spending time on the practice court working on your serve. If you can serve with more consistency, as well as extra power, spin and variety, you’re going to be on your way to becoming a good tennis player. Improve your serve and the rest of your game should flow from that shot. But keep in mind that the serve is a technical shot and sometimes you will find it challenging to learn some of the technique and details. If you can be patient, and keep on practising, you’ll make some progress: your serve will become a weapon.