1) an effort to simply make solid contact with the ball;

2) a frequent slice as a player barely reaches the serve;

3) an effective counterpunch to even the hardest of serves. Taking a look at the technique of a good tennis serve return can help you stay consistently in category 3.

The Tennis Serve Return Becomes More Important As You Improve

It should be noted that as you progress as a player, you will find that your opponent is more easily able to hold serve, as are you. When you watch a professional match between top players, it is fairly rare that a player breaks the other’s serve. So, if you are playing at a very high level, you need to figure out how to break your adversary’s serve once or twice a set.

For most recreational players, though, your foe’s tennis serve can be more easily broken. Thus, even more attention should be paid to the tennis serve return so that you can win many easy points and games when you are not serving.

Incorporating a “Killer” Mentality for the Tennis Serve Return

The first issue to address when discussing the tennis serve return is the mental aspect. I think that this is where many players have problems.

When you are serving, it is easier to focus because you know that you have to execute the serve. When you are receiving serve, however, it is very easy for your mind to wander as you stand in an extremely passive position.

Take mental notes the next time you play and analyze all of the strokes where your mind wandered and you mis-hit the ball. I am willing to wager that a majority of those strokes were executed as you returned serve.

Blocking Out Distractions to Improve Your Return of Serve in Tennis

Thus, you have to commit to being 100% focused as your opponent tosses the ball into the air to begin his service motion. If your mind has been on the previous point, your sore toenail or the leaf that just blew onto the court, block it out as the ball is in the air. The player who is ready to pounce on the serve is the player who will win a healthy share of points through the tennis serve return.

That brings up another mental point: do you view the service return as simply an effort to get the ball back or as an opportunity to impose your will? That will make a tremendous difference in how you approach this shot. If you are in a passive, defensive mode, your shots will show that. If you are in a focused, offensive mode, your returns will fire like lasers into the opponent’s court, shocking and surprising him and leading to many easy winners for you.

Now that we have the right mental outlook regarding the tennis serve return: focused and ready to hit the ball hard in an offensive manner, let’s discuss the technique needed to produce return winners:

Adopting the Proper Tennis Serve Return Positioning

Depending on the strength of your opponent’s serve, stand either just outside the baseline or several steps behind it. Players at an advanced level are often three steps behind the baseline.

Now, try to guess where your opponent will serve the ball. If he or she serves it in the corners, stand in a position near there.

If he or she prefers serving down the “T”, stand more towards the center of the court. You should be taking mental notes throughout the match to calculate the percentage of serves that land in the corners, near the “T”, right at your body, etc.

That will enable you to position yourself properly. With some people who either have great control and mix up their placement or no control at all, standing at a point that could be drawn out from the center of the service box is advisable.

Preparing for a Tennis Serve Return – Footwork and Racket-Work

As you are stationed in the proper place, hold your racquet in front of you with your free hand lightly holding the throat and bend your knees, resting on the balls of your feet. Some players like to bounce up and down as they await the serve. This helps them with their concentration. If you need that to focus on the tennis serve return, then you can bounce, too, but you will need to move quickly in just a moment.

The Importance of the Split Step on the Return of Serve

As the serve is made, take a step forward and do a split step to ready yourself for the return. In a split second after the ball hits strings, you should know if the ball will be coming to your backhand or forehand side. If you are half asleep at this point, as some players are occasionally, you will not even notice to which side the ball is coming. Anticipation can really help you with your tennis serve return.

Taking the Tennis Serve Return on the Rise Vs. Letting it Drop

As you are on the balls of your feet now, you will need to make a crucial decision, namely: will you hit the ball soon after it bounces (on the rise) or will you wait until it bounces and hit it as it re-descends? Perhaps the greatest service returner of all time, Andre Agassi, consistently chose the first option. That was a key to his greatness. If you have very quick reflexes, try to do this and see how it goes.

Try to hit the ball soon after it bounces and flick a return well before your opponent expects it. Take a few risks and determine if they were worth it. With this tactic, you will often be inside of the baseline and able to use the ball’s full speed in your return. You will not take a full backswing but will quickly punch the ball back at a high rate of speed.

Most players, however, wait until the ball lands and bounces and is on its way back down, using a normal complete backswing and full stroke. The choice is yours.

Dealing With a First Serve in Tennis

Points 1-4 apply to the first serve. If a second serve is coming, you can be even more prone to take a risk and attack the ball while it is still on the rise. If you still choose to be a bit cautious and take a full backswing and stroke towards the second serve, be sure to not over-hit. With less power being supplied on the second serve, you will not be able to return it with as much speed as the first serve.

Tennis Serve Return for a Second Serve

Don’t get overly excited about crushing your foe’s second serve. You will hit it out most of the time. However, do take the approach that any second serve will be weaker and you will have much more time to make a well placed shot, greatly increasing your chances of winning the point.

As you return either the first or second serve, make an intentional effort to hit the ball to your opponent’s weakest side. If your adversary has a Roddick-like serve, you might be lucky just to get a racquet on it, but most players do not possess such firepower. Again, think of the tennis serve return as a weapon and plan beforehand to which side of the court you will direct your return.

Avoid Over-hitting on the Tennis Serve Return

Your return of serve does not have to be powerful. A well-directed shot that takes a difficult angle can do even more than a blast right into your opponent’s forehand alley. If you are ahead in the game and have a little wiggle room, aim for a line and a quick winner, especially on the second serve. For the umpteenth time, this is related to your mental approach. If you understand that the tennis serve return can be an offensive weapon for you, you will seek to hit winners off it, particularly on your opponent’s second serve.

The tennis serve return is one of the most important strokes in the game because so many points are lost unnecessarily on it. Your opponent does not have to hit a bushel-full of aces to dominate during his service games; he only has to hit solid serves to a player whose mind is wandering in order to pile up service winners, which also earn one point, the same as an ace.

You need to turn the tables on your foe as he or she serves. You need to be ready, approaching the ball, deciding when to hit it and where to hit it even before it arrives. In this way it will be you winning points in heaps as your opponent gets more frustrated and discouraged, his best serves used only as weapons against him.

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How to hit a return of serve

Court position

The first thing to learn in order to return a tennis serve is to stay on the right part of the court when his opponent is about to serve. For beginners, it is advisable for them to stand about two to three strides from the baseline sideline corner. In some occasions, the best position is for the beginners to step inside the court especially if the server is also a beginner. This is because, most beginner’s serve are short balls. Thus, if is you stay on the baseline, you have to cover a wider distance to return the serve.

For more advanced players, the tennis return of serve may prove to be more difficult. It will require quick movement as well as the correct technique.

Ready position

You have to stand facing the net; bend your knees, racket in front of you (pointing to your opponent) with your racket hand holding it and your free hand supporting it on the racket throat. While you are in this position, you have to anticipate the ball. When the ball arrives, you can either return the ball with your backhand or with your forehand.

Footwork and preparation

Footwork plays a major role in the success in returning tennis serve. For beginners, it is always advisable take a step forward in returning the serve. Early preparation is also necessary and this is done with a split step making sure to bring the racket back early. It is important to do a split step when your opponent is about to hit the ball so that you will be on your toes once the ball arrives and you are ready to go to any direction.

How to hit the tennis return of serve for advanced players

When you are in the receiving position, it is very important to neutralize your opponent’s serve so that he or she can’t play offensively against you. This means that your shots that force him or her to make awkward returns. If you are able to do this, you can turn the momentum to your advantage.

Preparation

There are two ways in preparing to return a tennis serve. The first one is to move forward and the second is to remain further back behind the baseline. The former is the most common preparation use by advanced players especially in returning a first serve. However, some players like Roger Federer move backwards occasionally, instead of moving forward before hitting the ball. These two tennis return serve preparation techniques are discussed below.

• Move forward and hit the ball early

In this tennis return of serve technique, the player steps forward and hits the ball early while it is still on the rise. If you use this technique, be sure to use the speed of the ball. It will require perfect timing on the return. In this tactic, the non serving player stays behind the baseline but during the point of contact, he or she is already on the baseline or slightly inside the baseline.

• Remain further behind the baseline and hit the ball with a full swing

Another tennis serve of return preparation is when the player does not hit the ball early, instead he or she stays further behind the baseline and hits the ball with a full swing. In recent years, this tennis return of serve technique is becoming very popular especially on the second serve. This can also be used with in returning a first serve to give you time. Specifically, this technique is very good when you hit a forehand or when your opponent is serving on the deuce court. Take note that if you use this technique, use the full swing as in your normal groundstrokes.

Attack your opponent’s weak second serve

If your opponent has a weak second serve, it is a very big advantage in your side. A weak second serve is just like a short groundstroke. This means you can control the play and possibly win a point. If you have the chance to control your opponent’s second serve, you have a big chance to win the match.

Chip and charge

Although this tennis return of serve technique is becoming unpopular in modern tennis, it is still very useful to use especially if you like playing net. This technique is beginning to lose its prestige because not many players, especially the professional players do the serve and volley techniques. Despite this, this technique can still be a very effective offensive shot.

The chip and charge return of serve can be done by hitting the ball when the ball is on the rise from its bounce rather than when it starts to fall down after the bounce. A slice shot is also ideal to use here, this is done by coming forward to the net and waiting for your opponent’s return. The good thing about this technique is it keeps the ball low; at the same time always puts pressure on your opponent, especially if he or she does not like to play at the net.

Power approach shots

In this tennis return of serve technique, you have to hit a powerful (as powerful as you can) approach shot and quickly move to the net. This may sound like the chip and charge technique but technically it is not. This is because in chip and charge, you hit a slice return but here you hit a flat return. You gain an advantage with a flat return because of its speed, thus giving your opponent less time to prepare for his next shot.

This situation is to your advantage because he or she has less opportunity to hit aggressive shots. In addition to a flat return, you can also add topspin in your shot to produce a high bounce which can be uncomfortable to your opponent.

Target the weaker side of the opponent

If you are going to return a first serve or a second serve, try your best to hit your shot on the weaker side of your opponent. Like for instance, if your opponent’s weapon is the backhand, then hit the shot to his forehand. On one hand, if your opponent’s weapon is the forehand, then hit the shot to his backhand.

Hit sharp angle shots

With your opponent in an awkward position on the baseline, one of the best tennis return of serve techniques is to hit short angle shots. You can also do sharp angle shots on the farthest side of the court from your opponent. This will force your opponent to cover a wider distance which can be very difficult for him considering he still has to recover from his serving position.

Let your opponent run around the court

Another return of serve tactic is to make your opponent cover a big area around the court. If your opponent is serving to his right side of the court, you hit your return shot to his farthest left side and hit the ball with topspin. This forces your opponent to move back behind the baseline to cover the open court. As a result, you have more options as where to hit the ball where your opponent might not be able to return.

Aim for the winner shot

Players like the Williams sisters are very good in this tennis return of serve tactic. This tactic can be hard to do with a first serve especially if your opponent has a powerful serve. However, if the second serve of your opponent is weak; this is your best opportunity to win points by hitting winner shots. The best technique here is to hit the lines, just make sure that you don’t over hit your shots.

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