Tennis Serves? Please Help!!!!!!?

Question

Ok i've been playing tennis for 2 years now for my high school varsity team (yeah small school) but yeah i've been playing for 2 years and my serves suck. there are times when i can do good serves and i've even aced people before but i think that's just luck. i want to learn how to serve good without depending on luck. like i said sometimes i can serve good but i just don't know what i do wrong.so i want to know every detail like how high to throw the ball, how high to reach and everything. so if your a good tennis player please help. or if you know a good online instruction video. please help. my sophmore year i made it to the second day of district in doubles. and i know my serves really held me back. so please please help.

Answer 1

i played Varsity tennis for 3 years at a big high school (i just graduated)
to hit a good serve, you want to toss the ball so that you can hit it with your raquet arm fully extended (also, keep your tossing arm up until just before you hit it)
then once your raquet arm is fully extended and is about to hit the ball, snap your wrist down to give it some power
then follow your raquet arm through as if you had just pitched a baseball

try that; hope it helps

Answer 2

Yes, an accurate consistant serve is most important as your serve is the only ball played your opponent has no influence on. At you stage of play I guess not serving double faults is more important than serving aces.
The only way of getting it right will be practice, as others have said before me.
I am not friend of serving from a bucket an hour a day because most likely you will lose concentration - I think 15-20 minutes a day but fully concentrated will be better. Don't serve half a bucket from the left side and half a bucket from the right side but change more frequently - like in a match. Serve first and second serves - this helps you to hold concentration and not getting into a boring routine.
Find yourself someone to give you feedback - your coach should be the first one to ask. If he does not have enough time to watch you every training session maybe you can persuade him (or her - sorry) to do it once a week and give you tasks for the rest of the week.
You can work on your serve without a partner which makes you more flexible with training times.
Mind: Not two tennis players serve equal - so there is no "the" serve but only your serve and you need to make the best out of it.

Answer 3

I am a very experienced player. This probably isn't the answer you want to hear, but there is no silver bullet or gem of information that will unlock a strong consistent serve. My suggestion would be to buy a hopper of balls and just do nothing but serves for an hour a day.

If you can afford it, you would be much better off taking a private lesson and focusing the whole time on serving technique rather than watching a video. Then you can put that information to work through practice.

I will add one more thing: Try practicing your serve this way: Rest your racquet on your shoulder, toss the ball, then hit the serve. (no backwing!) This will help you practice the basic motions and proper form. After doing this for a few minutes, go ahead and add the backswing for a full serve. You will notice how little the backswing does for your serve and hopefully cut out any unnecessary motions that may be going on in the process.

Answer 4

I also played in high school (state champion-2 years), and in college (25 years ago, yes I'm old).I can tell you that a strong, consistant serve is the most important part of your game. The most common mistake people make when learning how to serve is trying to have a power serve without accuracy. What good is it to have a powerful serve if you can't control where it goes? Try this drill for accuracy --
set up 3 targets (tennis balls, soda cans etc..); one inside each corner and one in the center of each service square (6 in all). As often as you can,practice aiming your serve at those targets but do not try to serve too hard. Don't let yourself get frustrated, it will take some time before you get really consistant; but you will. Once you are able to hit your target 3 times in a row you can start to speed up your serve. In college, my advanced tennis class coach had us do this drill every day for an entire semester - we thought he was crazy. For our final exam we had to hit our targets 5 out of 10 times (not in a row) at least 25 mph. He wasn't crazy -- we could all nail those targets more than 5 times and faster than 25 mph. Twenty-five year later, I can still put my serve where I want it and it gets there fast.

Answer 5

Mostly good advice so far.... but here are some truths you need to know from a pro/coaches point of view:
1) When you do practice (100-200 from a basket ...3-4 times a week (daily 30-50) * > in match play (especially doubles) you serve very few serves) so practice like you were playing!!!! Many people just pull out ball after ball and toss and hit..over and over. DO NOT DO THIS! Pull out 2 balls just like when you play. If you are practicing your 1st serve then put the second ball in your pocket and keep it there. Get on the place you serve from. Look at and 'plan' your shot (placement) and if you play doubles and you go to the net after you serve then after each practice serve move toward the net. Practice specific serves; down the center, out wide, first serves, second serves.... pick one and keep at it until you hit it consistently and if you don't get there then don't try it during play. Practice like it was a game! (note: 'hit your best shot with the ball you get'. It is better to serve wide and consistantly than to try and serve down the middle if you have to take a chance of missing to do it. Same in all shot selections... maybe the best shot would be down the line but if your choice is 95% success rate deep cross court right to your opponent or 50% going down the line for a winner...better have a great reason for going down the line.
2) The toss determines what type of serve you want to hit. Make your toss acuracy a top priority during service practice and don't hit bad tosses...catch it ... doesn't count against you during play either. For consistant toss placement your toss should be made with your arm out in front, pretty much lined up with your target. Very difficult to toss accurately swinging your arm in an arch along the baseline and very common.
3) The mechanics of your arm movement when you throw the ball is YOUR natural motion for serving which means a lot of work to hit different types of serves.
4) Communicate with your partner.
You can talk or use hand signals to decide the serve and whether or not you plan to cross and poach. * > don't ask your serving partner to hit a serve he isn't good at. It helps the net player to know; out wide and he has to cover the down the line return etc.
5) Always hit atleast 10 - 15 warm up serves during the 5 minute warm before play (more if you haven't had a chance to warm up pre-match play). Tournament players try to hit and warm up for atleast 20 minutes before the matches start.

Answer 6

Your right- your serve is DRASTICALLY holding your game back.

You really just need to hit TONS of balls. Devote yourself to serving during practices.

Make sure though that you are doing all of these things.

-When you toss the ball, the height reaches where your raquet hits it in the top middle as your arm is fully extended.

-Your back is straight

-You do not bend your knees during the toss (you will see the pros doing this, but it hurts beginners.)

-Keep it simple. No unecessesary loops or spins

-Your body is angled, so it is pointing towards the box you are serving it to

-The ball is tossed directly in front of you, so that you don't have to lean fowards or backwards to hit it.

*Try thinking about each step individually so you don't get confused! Focus on something you feel is the most incorrect, and then once you have it as a habit, focus on the next.

*The French Open is going right now so you can watch them. Of course, at your level don't get into the jumping and spinning and stuff, first master the basics!

Good Luck!!!

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