Shorter Players Can Have Great Serves

If you are a shorter player, chances are you have been told over the course of your lifetime that you need to give up the idea of having a big serve and settle for getting a high first serve percentage. There is nothing wrong with this line of thinking if you have maxed out all your options (practiced for hours and hours) coupled with intense hunger (relentless energy and willingness to learn), which means you have given it your best effort and your best option is to just start the point with a safe slice serve.

However, if you are hungry enough, young enough (adults, it's never too late!), and lucky enough to have a equally motivated coach who knows what they are talking about (proof is in the pudding, they have a great serve themselves) - shorter players can have great serves. To be honest, the serve is not as complicated as people (usually teaching professionals) make it out to be. Here are some simple tips:

1) Continental grip
2) From beginning to end of stroke, your grip on the handle should be a 1 or 2 out of 5, 5 being tight (Kind of like holding a bird in your hand, don't want to kill it nor do you want it to fly away)
3) Swing as fast as you can (a loose arm and wrist will creat a wrist-snap) 
4) Do not move your feet (simpler-the-better to start, less moving parts that could breakdown)

Without fast racquet headspeed, your serve will never be great. It's as simple as that. The serve is a trust shot, full commitment. Once you get the racquet headspeed, then developing a legit serve can happen. With the racquets of today, shorter players can have monster serves, monster kicks, and monster sliding serves.

Here are some creative ways to improving your pop on the serve: 

1. In the first drill, try to stay close the back fence on one side of the court ("S" for "server" get it?) and aim at first directly into the opposite back fence. Try to hit 10 in a row without any arc whatsoever...that is, straight as a bullet; fence to fence. After you hit ten, aim the next set inside of the opposite baseline (#2). Thereafter, 10 inside of the service line. Again, try to focus on power, not on hitting (reaching your target) with arc. The purpose of this drill is to isloate the fast-twitch muscles in your shoulder and core. 

2. In the second drill, start out at the fence again and hit ten serves inside the service box. After your first set, move in 2 feet and hit another ten. Then move in 2 feet again. Work on hitting "up and through" the ball. As you get closer, that power that you're developing will be channeled into a proper technique.

3. The "machine gun" drill is also a good way to loosen up and isolate the shoulders, arm and core. Grab 4 or 5 balls in your left hand and serve those balls (from service line) in rapid succession: toss and hit; toss and hit. Hence, the name of the drill. Feet should remain firmly planted on the ground. 

4. Reader "tweener" has suggested that to work on pronation, the server should practice serving from the knees. This is also a good way to isolate the shoulders and work on developing the forearm strength. Thank you, tweener, for your advice. This is the type of input that we're looking for on this site. 

5. Lastly, it's important to recall our previous tip regarding power. If you want to improve your serve speed, you must practice hitting fast serves. If you want to run a fast sprint, don't train for a marathon. Speed of the arm and power generated by the body need to be integrated into the motion. Assuming that your serve components are there, start cranking the serve. Since serving "hard" is draining, appropriate rest should be taken until your body builds a tolerance to this type of workout. Bear in mind that a lot of players' career have been stunted by the mentality that "I'm short and therefore I'll never be a good server". This is like saying "I'm tall and therefore I don't need to practice my serve". What's one thing have to do with another?! Sure, certain players might not hit 150mph. But it may be possible for them to hit 120s or 130s. However, they're never going to get there if they settle for 90s in practice. Boundaries of your physical abilities must be continually pushed - little by little.  

If you have the tennis bug and you are willing to put in the work, don't settle for a serve that is slower than falling snow. The time will be well spent and I've never heard of anyone who doesn't like to win.

Steal This Drill: Overhead Game

Here's a fun way to work on your volleys and overheads - two shots that are not practiced nearly enough by today's juniors. To recap prior articles, if you don't work on your net- or mid-court game you will forever be relegated to the baseline. As a baseliner you better be fit, fast and consistent. Otherwise, someone with a more aggressive gamestyle will chop you up. Develop this dimension of your game and you might just be able to take your opponent by surprise. We're going for the Navy Seals mentality - you gotta have the right tool, the right training and the right tactics for the job. Even if you are a "pure" baseliner, it's always best to have some additional arrows in your quiver. 

So, next time, instead of your basic overhead and volley practice try this game: Player "A" is at the net (red X); player "B" is at the baseline in the deuce side of the court. Although player "B" can hit winners (whole court); player "A" cannot hit volley winners (i.e., it must hit volleys back to player "B" - red line). However, when player "B" lobs (purple line), player "A" can smash an overhead winner (i.e., yellow line) into the open court (i.e., player "A" MUST change direction with the overhead and hit to the ad side of the court) - unless player "B" gets there and the play continues on that half of the court. The baseline player is encouraged to hit 2-3 groundstrokes for the net player to volley before throwing up a lob (or make it a rule that the 3rd or 4th shot must be a lob). Then, s/he has to rush and cover the open court. For player "A", this is great practice because he has to stay steady with the volleys and hit them shots in such a way that the baseline player cannot beat him. Furthermore, the net player only has one chance - the overhead - to put the ball away. As the players get better and better, they become more adept at both lobbing as well as hammering home the the tough overheads. Furthermore, the net player becomes good at reading body language - making him a better player from the net as well as the baseline.  

Please let us know if you have any questions about this drill or if you have any suggestions for practicing specific tactics. 

Steal This Drill: The Deep Volley Game

Here is a great drill for practicing both reflex volleys and first volleys. Often times when juniors work on their volleys, they get right on top of the net - maybe a foot or two away - and start smashing volleys aimlessly away from their practice partners. First of all, this is pointless because if you are a half-way decent junior and feel that you need to actually work on volleys that are on top of the net, well I have bad news for you... Second, unless you're Pat Cash (huh? Look him up), Patrick Rafter (who? Look him up), Stefan Edberg (who? Look him up too), Taylor Dent (you may have actually heard of him) or John Isner (ding-ding-ding) there are very few occasions when you will have the opportunity to hit a volley from 2 feet away from the net. Fewer still are the opportunities to make contact from there on a first volley.

The reality is that most first volleys are struck from the service line (or around there - give or take a foot or two). As a player, you should become familiar with volleys (or half-volley "pick-ups") being hit from there. Familiarity breeds comfort and comfort breeds confidence. If you know that you are pretty good at digging volleys from mid-court you will be a lot more confident at venturing to the net in the first place. Converseley, if you are only comfortable hitting volleys from on top of the net, you will not venture forward regardless of how many volleys you've hit from there in practice.

Here is a good way to become comfortable hitting volleys from mid-court and, at the same time, work on your reflexes, movement, balance as well as "punching through" the volleys (as opposed to hitting down on them). Two players line up behind their respective service lines on one half of the court. Players play points up to 11, 15, 21, etc. The rules are as follows: if the ball bounces in the doubles alley, deep, outside of the particular half (i.e., outside of the imaginary white line) or INSIDE of the service line, it's out (yes, the ball CAN bounce, as long as it bounces behind the service line and inside of the relevant half). In addition, the players cannot themselves step inside of the service line (i.e., they must stay behind) OR, alternatively, can only take one step inside and recover. This way, they are forced to work on their volleys and quick hands and not just bat balls from on top of the net. This drill can be done with 2 sets of players on court and there's also a possibility to do this drill cross-court. Again, work on your deep volleys; become comfortable in the mid-court and all the awkward shots and movements that go along with it. Your confidence in the rest of your game will grow exponentially when you know that you can do everything with a tennis racket. 

Steal This Drill: Handicap Tennis

Here are some good drills to try when you're either trying to mix things up or are practicing against a player who is not as good as you. Often times, playing against a weaker player might cause a better player to lose his concentration turning the practice into a hit and giggle session. In an ideal world, you should be able to have a focused practice against anyone but we realize that that's not always the case. Furthermore, there are some nutty parents out there who think that their kid is so much better than his peers that playing against them would be a waste of time. While that may very well be the case, competitive practices can still be arranged by playing against someone who is one or two levels below you if you put ego aside and your creative hat on.

In the first drill, set up the court (with athletic tape - yes, I go through quite a few rolls) so that the corners are marked off, more or less, as shown. If the weaker player hits the corner(s), s/he wins the point automatically. The stronger player's objective is to hit the types of shots (pace, depth, spin, placement) that cause the weaker player to have difficulty controlling. In addition, the stronger player would have to scramble to defend the corners - even taking balls out of the air. Play either regular sets or games up to 11, 15 and 21. Against players who are not quite that weak, you can set up only 1 or 2 "target areas". 

In the second drill, the court is set up so that the weaker player automatically wins the point if he hits it deep (blue) and the stronger player automatically loses if he hits the ball short (red). Again, these are great drill for evening the odds, for ensuring that both players practice with a purpose and for ensuring that both players stay focused throughout the practice. As we stated in the past, as long as you are motivated and focused, you can play against anybody and still have a very good and beneficial practice. You don't always have to play with someone who is better than you in order to get better. By handicapping yourself (whether by setting up targets, playing "down 0-30", playing in ankle weights, playing with one serve, playing with a wooden racket, etc.) you can still improve a great deal. You will learn to see the court in a different light and develop the necessary insticts to be a great tennis player. 

Don't Aim For the Lines...But Wait A Second! What?!

One of the first pieces of advice that a coach provides his/her student is to not aim for the lines when playing points. The concept is fairly simple to understand in that the developing players are relatively inaccurate when it comes to their strokes so there's a chance that aiming for the lines will result in the dreaded "unforced error" [GASP!!!]. So with this advice in mind, the players end up trading blows aimlessly from the middle of the court until, usually, the steadier player runs away with the match. Nevertheless, this strategy is risky down the road since, if the player remains stuck with the mentality that she is supposed to hit away from the lines, her shots are going to end up landing in the middle of the court where they are easily accessible by the opponent.

Therefore, as the players get older and better, it is important to attempt to transition away from the "stay away from the lines" mentality to a "stay just inside the line" mentality. Yes, this will require a lot of focused and, sometimes, frustrating practices. However, if you are unable to get the ball away from the middle of the court - be it with pace, height, spin or angle - chances are that a better "ball striker" will chop you up and "T off it" as soon as she gets the chance (which, generally, means the 2nd time your shot lands in/around the same place).

It is amazing to see how, sometimes, juniors never seem to realize when their shots are landing smack in the middle of the court - and, by extension, within the opponent's strike zone - 3, 4, 5 or 6 times in a row. What are they thinking?! They either (a) don't know what's going on; or (b) know what's happening but are afraid to miss. Here's a way to fix it: set up a square that is 3ft x 3ft from the service T (use athletic tape). Initially, play a baseline game (or, better, a game with one serve) and see how many times the player hits the ball inside that square. Thereafter, play a game where the player automatically loses the point if the ball lands inside that square. As the player gets better, expand the size of the square (blue - purple - red) until it's 5ft, 4ft and 3ft from the sidelines. As the player improves, he will become more and more comfortable hitting the shots "just inside" the lines. The goal is for the strokes to be as penetrating as possible and, at the same time, have as much control as possible. As one of my team-mates (Freddy Giers) used to say, "you're only as good as your worst shot on your worst day". The objective here is to become as steady as possible while also being as dominating as possible. 

In the second diagram, the object is more or less the same although the "red zone" is a no-hit zone while the "blue areas" are the automatically-win-the-point areas. As above, the purpose of this game is for the player to develop (1) awareness of his shots, and (2) confidence in his strokes and his ability to move the ball around as much as possible without either forcing or missing.