Learn Tennis Serve Technique: Why Is My Serve So Lame?!

The toss of the tennis ball is the key to learn tennis serve technique for many players. It is the thing that gets the whole motion started. Learning how to serve requires an effective toss out in front of your body so that as you hit it, you are launching your body forward and up into the court.

The ball should be minimally rotating or not at all in the air. As you bring your tossing arm up, your racket should be following in the opposite direction as well so that you are posing with both arms in the air and an intense focus on the ball, not the court.

My childhood tennis coach would call this the sky position, since you are reaching toward the sky. Your racket is cocked and ready to motion through the ball. Your arms and chest should be in the same plane.

If you want a perfect example of what this looks like, find some pictures of Sampras or Federer just before they servel. Watching them allowed me to properly learn tennis serve technique much more quickly than simply being told. It is exactly what you should be striving for. As you are posing, your legs should be bent and primed ready to explode in an up and forward movement.

Do not neglect your legs as the major source of power in your serve! This aspect is often overlooked by many beginning players who think that arm muscle and racket speed is all that you need to serve fast.

This is completely false. Just look at how the pros are launching themselves into the ball. This power is generated from a solid core with a solid base that is launching up to the ball and hitting it at as high a point as possible.

After you have put in the time and effort of hours of practice, you should be throwing the ball in front of the service line, forcing you to launch with your legs toward it after posing with both arms up.

The connection point of your racket on ball should be as high as possible. Do a little test and extend your arm with your racket in hand. That is how high you should be connecting. This will give you the best angle over the net and the higher serve percentages.

The elbow of your ball toss arm should be tucking into your side as you hit the ball. Fully follow through. Many beginners get to the point of contact, then lose their momentum. Contact should be thought of as a point within the full swing.

You should be landing inside the court forward of the service line. Lastly, you should do a little split step hop to prepare for the return (unless you just aced your opponent!) It takes time and patience to learn tennis serve technique that you can be proud to call your own, but once you do, you will enjoy the game like you never have before.