Private Lessons: Return of Serve

The return of serve is universally regarded as one of the most critical shots in tennis. Yet for most players it’s also the least practiced shot–or worse never practiced at all! At the pro level, not working on the return is unthinkable. The same should be true at any level of competitive tennis. Taking the return for granted will limit your ability to win matches and become a stronger player.

Let’s face it, at some point you have to break your opponent’s serve to win a match. Occasionally there are times when getting it back will be enough, but by and large, just putting the ball in play for the sake of starting the point won’t put you in the driver’s seat.

A number of years ago, I played a first round tournament match that proved to be a defining moment in my understanding of the role of the return. It was after this match I began to work on my return with a vengeance and-as I’ll relate in Part 2–the time spent was well worth it.

Here’s what happened and see if it doesn’t sound like a familiar scenario. I won the first set easily as I was serving…