Purpose

The purpose of a serve is to consistently put the serve in play using legal form and to improve the serving team’s chances of winning the rally by leveraging factors like depth and direction. A positional imbalance exists between the serving team and the returning team to start every point, since the serving team must let the return bounce, which allows the returning team to take forward position first. This makes it especially important to improve the serving team’s chances of winning the rally by hitting the serve with purposeful intention.

Serving Rules and Establishing Legal Form

Providing a clear and thorough explanation of the serving rules is the first step to teaching a beginner player a serve. Rules to introduce:

• Low-to-high motion
• Contact below the waist
• Paddle head below the wrist at contact
• At least one foot in contact with the ground during contact
• Positioning feet inside the centerline and sideline on the side the serve is being hit from
  

Consistency

For beginners, the primary objective after learning legal form is to reliably place the ball in the correct service box.

Keys to Increasing Consistency:

1. Expanding Target Zone: Encourage aiming for the center of the service box to minimize errors if a beginner player is struggling to maintain consistency.
2. Net Clearance: Adding additional height to a serve decreases the risk of net errors or short serves into the kitchen and promotes the additional benefit of consistent depth.
3. Consistent Starting Position: A server should serve the ball from the same location along the baseline each time if they are struggling with consistency. This provides a consistent angle into the service box.

Priorities and Raising Proficiency to a Minimum Level

Since the serve is the one stroke a player has complete control over and the server is solely responsible for initiating a rally, the highest priority should be to consistently get the rally started. Progressing the rally allows players to rapidly gain experience during the beginning stages of a live point, which promotes learning important fundamentals like court position and shot selection.

To this end, it is vital for a coach to assist a player in achieving a minimum level of proficiency that allows them to consistently put a serve in play while using legal form.

Top Two Priorities for Beginners:

1. Understand all rules and execute a serve with legal form.
2. Consistently put the serve in play.

By achieving these two basic goals, all players engaged in point play will avoid the frustration and discouragement that can accompany a player failing to consistently hit the serve in-bounds.

Despite the simplicity of hitting a basic entry-level serve, some players may struggle due to physical or mental barriers. Coaches should focus on recognizing and correcting common serving mistakes more than with other strokes to help players reach a minimum level of proficiency.

Once players can consistently execute a legal serve, coaches can shift their attention to developing positive serving attributes, such as depth, direction, power, and spin. For players who achieve consistency early, this corrective stage may be omitted.

Depth

Depth is one of the first strategic goals a server should develop. Hitting into the back part of the service box lessens the returning team’s advantage by:

• Forcing the returner to cover more ground to get into strong position at the kitchen line.
• Increasing the likelihood of receiving errors or weak returns.
• Reducing the ability of the returner to attack the serve from a more advanced, balanced position.

Post-Serve Positioning

Proper post-serve positioning prepares the serving team to be in the best possible position to play their next shot effectively.

Key Post-Serve Concepts:

1. Serve and Stay: Immediately after serving, the serving team should stay behind the baseline until the location of the return can be determined. This prevents the serving team from being caught out of position if the return is hit deep.
2. Improve Court Position as Soon as Possible: Once the return trajectory is clear, players should move into a position that allows them to begin advancing toward the kitchen line.
3. Partner Communication: Teammates should verbally communicate who will take middle balls if the return is hit down the middle of the court to avoid miscommunication or disjointed responses. This communication can take place before or during the rally.

Direction

Directing the serve with purpose can limit the returner’s options and create opportunities early in the rally.

Direction Options:

1. Center of the Box: Provides consistency and minimizes errors.
2. Wide Serve: Forces the returner off the court, opening angles for the next shot.
3. Body Serve: Targets the opponent’s body, forcing them to clear their body to hit an effective return.
4. T Serve: Aimed toward the centerline to establish an alternative direction to wide serves, creating a wider, more unpredictable area for the returner to cover.
5. Opponent’s Weak Side: Assess which stroke an opponent tends to favor and attempt to serve to their weaker wing.

Grip

A consistent and neutral grip is recommended for beginner players.

Grip Recommendations:

1. Neutral Grip: Use either a Continental or Eastern grip, as these provide flexibility for various serve types and adjustments.
2. Avoid Grip Changes: Beginners should focus on minimizing unnecessary grip adjustments during the serve to promote reliability.
3. Grip Pressure: Teach players to use a relaxed but stable grip, ensuring fluid motion while providing consistent stability.