What's your favorite way to practice/teach/coach Return of Serves?

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Permalink Reply by Steve on November 19, 2009 at 3:37am

I thought the first video was great and really covered it:
-compact backswing
-Taking the ball on the rise is key - like Agassi - before it reaches its apex is ideal.
-Move forward to meet the ball and be prepared for an opportunity to close and finish the point-
-Make contact in front of your body and let thier pace work for you and the ball will come back at them faster.
- And if they miss thier first serve, take a couple steps inside the baseline before returning the second serve. Make your opponents pay for missing thier first serve by really attacking that second, but let them know your coming first. When your opponent sees you take these steps forward after they missed the first serve, it can add pressure.
-eventually you need to believe that a return of serve is YOUR time, YOUR shot and that you will not fear a big serve, because you have the answer to a big serve. Be A Breaker and think like a Breaker and never lose to a big serve again.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on November 19, 2009 at 3:58am

Also try having a friend hit you a bucket of serves to work on your return mechanics, but have your friend stand at the service line. Its easier for your friend to bast the ball at you repeatedly while standing closer to the net, and this will definitely improve your reaction time for when you play the hardest servers.

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Permalink Reply by Gary Sakuma on November 19, 2009 at 9:43pm

totally agree with you on that one.

Steve said:

Also try having a friend hit you a bucket of serves to work on your return mechanics, but have your friend stand at the service line. Its easier for your friend to bast the ball at you repeatedly while standing closer to the net, and this will definitely improve your reaction time for when you play the hardest servers.

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