Proper use of the tossing arm can be the difference between putting your serve in the box or in the bottom of the net. PROBLEM Your tossing arm drops prematurely and away from your body. This throws off the mechanics necessary for an effective serve. Your shoulders open too soon, causing your head to pull [...]

All the speed and spin in the world won’t matter if you can’t place the serve where you want it. The ability to control the direction of the serve is a critical component to its overall success. Hitting an ace is great. But not everybody can consistently crank the speed needed to blow a ball [...]

The perfect complement to a fast, flat serve is a second serve with high-arcing topspin. For many, the second serve is a measuring stick. If you have one that consistently goes in and, just as important, prevents your opponent from going on the offensive, then you’re a player. That’s where the kick serve comes in— [...]

Want to serve bullets? A fast arm, loose wrist, fluid swing, and take-no-prisoners attitude are all you need. You can argue about many things when it comes to playing tennis, but there’s one issue that’s not debatable—the racquet hits the ball. And the simple fact is, if you want the ball to travel fast or [...]

Having a strong serve means more than just hitting aces. Most players think of the serve as a power shot. But that’s shortsighted. Sure, hitting aces and service winners are desirable results, but it’s not realistic to rely on such shots. To be an effective server, you need to learn to use your serve in [...]

If your second serve is a creme puff, here’s an alternative. I’ve always been confused as to why recreational players who struggle so much with their second serves don’t try something different. Whether it’s mental or technical, they donate games’ worth of points by tossing in double faults and sitting ducks. I think if you [...]

Have you always wanted to own a topspin serve? Let us show you how to get started. For recreational players, the topspin serve is a defining stroke. With it, you have a reliable second serve that safely clears the net, dips in, and jumps off the court. Without it, you’re not going to move up [...]

The careers of these two great pros are separated by decades, but their slice backhands are timeless. In the last 30 years, the way the game is played has evolved dramatically. But one shot, the slice backhand, has made it through virtually unchanged. Ken Rosewall, a fixture in pro tennis until the mid ’70s, had [...]

Get your one-handed backhand up to speed. Problem You lack the power you’d like on your one-handed backhand, especially since you seem to swing with plenty of force. Many times this happens because your racquet is accelerating at the wrong time. Instead of speeding up into contact, you’re actually accelerating the racquet after impact. This [...]

Former world No. 1 Marcelo Rios introduced this technique and Marat Safin and Sebastien Grosjean continue the tradition today. Instead of moving their feet to get into better position on a high backhand, they choose to compensate by jumping off the court to hit the stroke. The technical or strategic advantages are questionable, but you may find [...]