Meet Tennis’ Neglected Child

Happy New Year. Though I’ve never been one for resolutions, I’m certainly a fan of new beginnings.

Which leads me to our world. From this moment forward, each issue of tennisplayer.net will have a specific theme – a shot, a technique, tactic, or other concept that will help you learn, compete, and improve.

This month we’re digging into the return of serve. It’s universally accepted that the serve and return are the two most important shots in tennis.

Yet if you consider the serve and the return as a pair of children, the return is the more neglected one. The serve has been the subject of dissertation-like explorations that examine everything from which fingers should hold the ball, to comparisons with baseball pitchers and football quarterbacks, to musings that have explored the Pete Sampras front heel and how John McEnroe’s stance conjures up Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Meanwhile, like a dutiful second-born child sitting patiently at the family dinner table, the return remains less visible and under-practiced; barely understood or appreciated. Mom, please look at my art project. My informal survey of dozens of instructional books reveals three times less attention to the return than the serve.  Worse yet, the language is…