Getting great service

If there’s one thing professional tennis players do well, it would have to be that they make tennis look way too easy.

How many of us have been so inspired by the 150 mph serves of Andy Roddick that we grab a can of balls and a racquet, go out to our local court and start serving our arm off only to realize that there’s a long way to go between us and A-Rod.

If this sounds like you, the following step-by-step instructional should shed some light on how to serve like a pro, or at least look like you know what you’re doing.

First things first: you gotta’ know how to hold the racquet.

According to J.J. Netto and Bryan Marchant of the USU men’s tennis team, the “continental” grip is the proper one to use when serving. Just take hold of the handle like you’re shaking hands with it.

The next thing to make sure of is your stance. You will begin with your weight on your front foot, or the foot closest to the baseline, with your front foot pointing to the net post on the same side as the hand you use (left side for lefties, right for righties).

Now it’s time to go in motion. Note: The service motion is one continuous movement made up of several smaller motions.

First is the ball toss. This, as any tennis coach will tell you, is the most crucial part of the serve motion because it effects where the ball goes, whether you mean it to or not. If it’s too far to one side, too high or too low, the serve will be negatively affected.

The arm is typically kept straight as the ball is tossed nearly straight up into the air above the head. For accuracy on the toss, be sure to release the ball like you would a bird into the air.

This will also keep the ball from spinning too much when it comes out of the hand.

At the same time the ball is tossed, the arm that holds the racquet should also be raised in preparation for the swing. As this is done, shift your weight to the back foot and then again to the front foot in a kind of rocking motion.

This is commonly done with a slide step where the back foot is brought up next to the front foot as the knees are bent in preparation to explode upward. This all helps facilitate the next step: the serve motion.

Once the ball has reached its peak, the racquet should be swung toward and through the ball. As this is done, a push with the legs creates a forward and upward motion of the body which helps to give the serve velocity.

From toss to service motion, the most important thing to remember, above all else, is to keep your head up and your eye on the ball. Failure to do so will result in either a frame shot or completely missing the ball altogether.

After the serve motion is completed, the momentum of the body should be such that it carries the server in the direction of the serve.

For more advanced players there are a few different types of serves to be used in different situations: the flat serve (tennis’s equivalent to the fast ball), the “kick” serve which uses top-spin to curve and kick up high on the returner, and the slice serve which is designed to hit the ground and stay low.

All these require the ball to be tossed in different places. For a flat serve, just toss the ball so that the serving arm would point to the two on a face clock when making contact with the ball. For a kick serve, toss the ball to the 11 or 12.

Different styles of players will typically use different serves. For example, serve-and-volley players will mostly use the kick serve in order to give themselves time to get to the net after the serve.

Well, now you know how to serve like a pro. Have fun and don’t forget to stretch beforehand.

-jhislop@cc.usu.edu