Return of Serve:
The First 3 Principles

Bill Tym

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 players do not devote nearly the time and methodical practice they should to those two shots, particularly the return.

The purpose of this first series of articles is to highlight the critical technical, strategic and mental aspects of the return.

Consistency and Accuracy

This article will cover the first 3 basic principles of the return. These are consistency and accuracy, the position of the racquet head, and watching the ball properly.. Subsequent articles will cover the other basic principles and then move on to technical variations such as the lunge return, then return strategy and finally how to effectively practice the return.

When giving classroom presentations, I often write on the board the letters A, P , M and C. I then ask the class to place those letters in any order that forms an English word. There is only one correct order: C – A – M - P.

I then mark on the board that C stands for Consistency, A stands for Accuracy, M stands for Mobility and P stands for power. In my view, you should learn the game in that order.

Introducing power prematurely in the development process often leads to players having incomplete games. Furthermore, when returning a big serve, you don't even want to introduce the element of power.

The serve already supplies the power. Your goal is to stabilize the situation to enable you to hit an effective return. The objective is to consistently hit returns accurately to your targets and be able to do that while moving to intercept the serve; in other words the C, A and M in "CAMP". Do not worry about the P on the return.

Most Important Factor

Many factors can contribute to a successful shot, whether a return or other stroke, such as good preparation and balance. But the single most important factor is the exact position of the racket head at the moment of impact in relation to the path of the incoming ball.

This is the first basic principle. If a player has the racket face in the proper position at contact with the strings pointed towards the target, there is an excellent chance the shot will go to that target.

We have all seen a beginner mishit practically every ball but then miraculously hit a good shot. The miracle shot did not result from the beginner somehow transforming his technique on that one shot. Instead, the cause was that the beginner luckily delivered the racket head to the right position at the point of contact.

Pro players are masters at delivering the racket head to the right position at contact even when leaping, falling off balance or otherwise being in a compromised position. Always keep in mind this most important factor and put your attention to your racket face and its position at the point of contact.

In a subsequent article in this series, I will explain in detail the relation of the position of the racket head to your primary target—the point over the net and secondary target--spot on your opponent's court.

Watching the Ball Properly

I teach my students a mental routine to perform after any point in which they make an error. The routine includes asking themselves questions. The first question is "Did I make solid contact with the ball?"

If the answer is no, the first follow-up question is "Did I properly watch the ball? Watching the ball is the second principle.

To successfully watch the ball in the context of the return of serve, focus on the moment your opponent's racket makes contact with the serve. This combined with a good split step enables you to properly react to the serve.

Now focus on the moment the serve bounces in your service box. This helps you track the ball into your racket.

The next moment is when your racket face makes contact with the return. This combined with keeping your head still at contact is the most critical element in ensuring solid contact. Three of the greatest players in tennis history, Federer, Bjorn Borg and Chris Evert, were/are masters at watching the ball and keeping their head still at contact.

Starting the Process

Another critical component of watching the ball is when you should start that process. Waiting until the ball leaves the server’s tossing hand is too late. You should start watching the ball as the server is bouncing it and then continue to watch it as the toss hand rises up to release the ball and continually watch it for the remaining part of the return. One of the reasons I advocate watching the ball from the moment the server starts to bounce the ball is that it gets your mind attuned to the rhythm of the server. Also, some players will bounce the ball an inconsistent number of times and unless you are absorbed in the process at that stage you may not be fully ready when they start their actual service motion.

As you advance, you will, in addition to becoming better at watching the ball, start to notice advance cues as to where the server will be hitting the serve. This not only includes toss location (though some top players are able to hit multiple serves off the same toss) but also such factors as how soon the server’s shoulders open up into the hit.

Stay Tuned for the other critical principles!