The serve is one of the most important shots in tennis and at the same time, one of the least practiced. Part of the reason for this is that most players do not really know how to practice their serves.
The variety of drills that you will find in this section will solve that problem, and help you develop the dependable serve you need to take your game to the next level.
Serving in Balance
This is a useful exercise to test the balance and finishing position on the serve. The player is asked to hold the finish. The player should land on the front leg with the back leg in the air. The racquet head should be pointing down in ...
Searching for Balance – Ball Between Feet
This is a great drill to work on improving toss accuracy and balance. The player stands at the baseline and tries to serve without moving his/her feet, pressing a ball between them. To get access to the videos and premium medi...
Disguising the Serve
Ideally the player should learn to hit the serve in any direction off the same toss. The best way to practice this is for the coach to stand behind the player as the player serves. Once the ball is in the air, the coach will yell: T or w...
Calibrating the Serve – Length
In this exercise the player will serve from different distances to the net trying to hit the serve into the service box every time. By doing this, the player will learn how to adjust his/her swing to hit the ball deeper or shorter, allow...
Using One -Arm weighted ball to Improve the Serve
The player will alternate throwing a weighted ball one handed with a serve like motion, with fast explosive serves. The idea is to work on accelerating the arms and then transferring this motion to the serve. To get access t...
Using One –Arm, Frontal Medicine Ball Throws to Improve the Serve
The player will alternate throwing a small medicine ball one handed with a serve like motion but facing the net, with fast explosive serves. The idea is to work on accelerating the arms and then transferring this motion to the serve. ...
Using Kangaroo Jumps and Cones to Improve the Serve
The player will alternate kangaroo jumps, with serves over a cone barrier emphasizing the use of an explosive jump when serving. The cones shown in the video are ideal for this drill. To get access to the videos and premium m...
Using One -Arm Medicine Ball Throws to Improve the Serve
The player will alternate throwing a small medicine ball one handed with a serve like motion, with fast explosive serves. The idea is to work on accelerating the arms and then transferring this motion to the serve. To get acc...
Using Over the Head Medicine Ball Throws to Improve the Serve
The player will alternate throwing a small medicine ball as fast as possible with both arms over the head, with fast explosive serves. The idea is to work on accelerating the arms and then transferring this motion to the serve. ...
Using Straight-Legged Jumps from a Box and Cones to Improve the Serve
The player will alternate jumping down from a box with stiff legs and using mostly the ankles, with serves over a cone barrier emphasizing the use of an explosive jump when serving. To get access to the videos and premium med...
Using Squat Jumps without Arms and Cones to Improve the Serve
The player will alternate squat jumps without arms, with serves over a cone barrier emphasizing the use of an explosive jump when serving. The cones shown in the video are ideal for this drill. They are the right height and if the player...
Using Straight-Legged Jumps and Cones to Improve the Serve
The player will alternate jumping as high as possible with stiff legs using mostly the ankles, with serves over a cone barrier emphasizing the use of an explosive jump when serving. To get access to the videos and premium med...
Using Ball Throws to Improve the Serve
The player will alternate throwing a tennis ball as far as possible, with fast explosive serves. The idea is to work on accelerating the arm and then transferring this motion to the serve. Load and Frequency: The player should throw 3 to...
Using Whole Body Jumps and Cones to Improve the Serve
The player will alternate jumping as high using his/her arms, with serves over a cone barrier emphasizing the use of an explosive jump when serving. To get access to the videos and premium media, just login here, register he...
Using Extra Weight to Improve the Serve
Alternating swings with a heavy racquet head and regular swings will help players learn to accelerate the racquet head better. Here is a drill using this concept. To get access to the videos and premium media, just login here,...
Weighted Figure 8’s
Adding extra weight to the head of the racquet and shadowing continuous swings is a great way to improve the fluidity of the serve. This is a great drill to use as a warm up for the serve. To get access to the videos and premi...
Serve Methodology: On your Knees
Serving on one knee will first of all take the lower body out of the serving motion so that the players can concentrate on the arm action. Once the players start hitting the ball up, it will usually clear the net and frequently land in t...
Serve Methodology: Toss Basics
Many movements are similar in different Sport activities. In this case we will borrow from bowling. The player swings the arm back holding a ball… … and rolls the ball as straight as possible with a controlled and fluid underarm mo...
Serve Methodology: Contact Point Awareness
Players toss the ball and swing but try to stop their racquet at the ideal contact point. This is hard to coordinate but will help players visualize the ideal contact point. It is also a great opportunity for the coach to correct faulty...
Serve-Methodology: Control of the Forearm after Contact
Within a doubles rally the net player will often have to back up quickly to give himself more time to react in case the opponents play aggressively at him/her. In our clip, the net player stays too close to the net and is unable to contr...
Serve-Methodology: Shortening the Backswing
Using an abbreviated swing will help the players concentrate on the pronation of the forearm with the Continental grip. Important: Players should start the abbreviated motion with the racquet pointing up in order to keep the loop fluid a...
Serve: The Trick with the Frame
This is one of many drills that we use to help our players succeed in changing their grip to the Continental Grip once they progress to this stage of their development. This trick helps us to teach them that without forearm rotation they...
Timing the Toss
The player holds two balls, one in each hand. A colored ball in the tossing hand (Stage 3) A regular tennis ball in the hitting hand He imitates a service motion tossing the colored ball and trying to hit it with the regular tennis ball....
Serve: Controlling the Non-Dominant Arm
Catching the ball by leaving the tossing arm up The players toss the ball with their normal tossing motion and try to catch the ball by leaving the tossing arm up. The left arm serves as a control mechanism for the serve. The better the ...
Using Two Rackets to Work on the Timing of the Serve
Our players swing the racquet in a fluid and practically endless figure 8 motion. Player uses two racquets to increase the weight and get a better feel for the dropping of the racquet head. The players shadow the service motion. The play...