Serves are one of the most important aspects of our game. It’s the only shot in tennis we have complete control over, and yet could be one of the most neglected shots practiced.
How Do You practice your second serve?
You can do the bare minimum of having the coach throw you the balls while hitting serves, but are you practicing your serve under pressure? Different types of 2nd serves? Practicing in your own time? This is for the players wanting to pursue tennis at a high level.
What you can do to improve your second serve in pressure situationsH
How you practice often determines how you will play. Key components to improving your 2nd serve are:
- Technique – Technique has a major part in the improvement of the 2nd serve, and should be something the coach and player go in-depth with together.
- Serve +1 – Generally speaking the 2nd serve return comes back fast as the opponent will want to be aggressive, so you will want to practice how to counter difficult situations after the 2nd serve.
- Pressure – put the player in a pressure situation so that they have to find a way to get out of it themselves. An example of this is playing 1 serve only games.
- Variety – practicing different types of common 2nd serves (kick, slice, body serves) will allow you to have more options to be confident within matches. Opponents have weaknesses and can still be exploited with a 2nd serve.
- Practice in your own time – champions do the extra work outside of their own training; and they enjoy it! They know the benefits of doing the little things and where it can take them in the future.
Serving is one of the most; if not THE MOST important part of our game and continually needs to be practiced. Having awareness of the above dot points can help improve your game.ow you
WHAT’S NEXT?
If you’re serious about improving your second serve, book in for a session with one of our experienced team members or if you’d like a free assessment, send us a video of your second serve!
