Maximizing the Game’s Most Important Shot

Let’s be clear: The serve is the most important shot in the game.  As players are told very early in their development, the serve is the one shot where you are in complete control of the entire swing, liberated from the need to respond to any incoming ball.  How great is that?

A good serve can win you points immediately, generate easily-attackable returns, and give your doubles partner the chance to terminate a rally swiftly. Be it with a hard flat serve into the body or down the T, a slice serve that clips various corners, or a high-bouncing kick that evades an opponent’s ideal contact point, a strong serve’s many potential outcomes can greatly demoralize your opponent. And again, just think how you can do that with a single shot, the racket in your hands.

In contrast, a poor serve can constantly put you in a defensive position, be it at the hands of an assertive receiver or, even worse, a series of double-faults that hold the potential to infect your entire game.

I also want to use this space to take issue with an assertion I’ve heard frequently in recent years: The serve is merely a point starter. …