Return of Serve: Part 1

40% of your effectiveness comes from return of serve. Mastery of the return of serve is crucial to achieving your tennis potential. How important? I have long contended that, directly or indirectly, 40% of your effectiveness is attributable to your serve and another 40% to your return. Notice I say directly or indirectly. Aces and other unreturned serves are not the only factor contributing to the 40% figure for the serve. What an effective serve sets up is also critical. For example, take the common "serve plus one" pattern where the server hits a strong serve which is weakly returned and the server steps in and hits a forehand winner. The match statistics show that the forehand won the point but, in reality, the serve played a pivotal role in the point's outcome. Similarly, if the returner effectively neutralizes a good serve, or even better gains an offensive position with the return, and then subsequently wins the point, the effective return played a significant role in the point's outcome. Assuming the 80% figure is anywhere close to correct, logic dictates that you should devote a very large part of your practice time to mastering the serve and return. Unfortunately, many...