If you’re looking for drills that develop good return of serve technique and allow you to handle fast first serves, you’ve come to the right place.
Returning a fast serve is one of the most challenging things in tennis.
You’re receiving a very fast ball that gives you very little time to react, yet you must hit it back with control in order to stay in the rally.
This short amount of time to return the ball very often results in your rushing the stroke and therefore swinging your racquet too fast.
And when that very fast swing meets a very fast incoming ball, it will likely result in a very risky shot that usually doesn’t end up in the court.
But before we start working on return of serve drills that will change that rushed swing into a controlled one, we must change the mental image of how to hit that fast incoming ball.
Not Hitting But Meeting
The first step in improving your return of serve is to change your idea from hitting the ball to just meeting the ball.
The idea of hitting the ball means that you are trying to accelerate the ball. Hitting the ball fast is one of the main ways of creating pressure for your opponent.
Almost all tennis strokes require you to give the ball a lot of initial speed with your racquet.
It has been measured that a tennis ball loses about 40% to 50% of its initial speed by the time it reaches you from one side of the court to the other. While you may not know that exact percentage of speed lost, you surely feel it.
You are therefore aware that all your shots lose a lot of speed by the time they reach your opponent. As a result, you want to hit the ball fairly fast in order for it to have as much speed as possible when it reaches the other side of the court.
That’s why you’re imagining you want to HIT the ball.
The mental image of hitting the ball is usually an image of an abrupt and short but strong collision between the racquet and the ball which transfers a lot of force and speed from the racquet into the ball.
In other words, you are imagining a fast racquet colliding with the ball, which results in a ball rebounding very fast off your strings and flying towards the other side of the net.
That’s typically what your mental image of hitting the ball looks like.
It is in fact not a good mental image to have but it is the one I encounter most of the time when working with players.
It’s much better to imagine sweeping the ball or rolling it and looking to accelerate gradually in your swing instead of hitting with an abrupt jerky movement.
And because you’re applying that on almost all forehands, backhands, serves, overheads and volleys, you very likely unknowingly apply this way of hitting the ball also on your returns.
But the one key difference between returns of a fast serve and receiving all other types of shots is that now you’re receiving a much faster ball!
And as you know, hitting a fast incoming ball with a fast moving racquet will result in a very fast outgoing ball. That outgoing ball will very likely sail long or into the net because you know you need to aim very low in order to keep it in the court.
Therefore, it’s crucial that you learn to swing SLOW when meeting that incoming fast serve.
By swinging slow, you will not add more speed to an already fast ball, and you’ll return it at a speed that allows you to control the ball well.
The difference between preparing to HIT a ball and...
And in order to do that, you need to imagine just MEETING the ball well in front in your optimal contact point instead of HITTING it.
... preparing to MEET the ball.
The mental image of meeting the ball in front will very likely change your return of serve technique without the need of much analytical thinking or mechanical corrections.
It will naturally shorten your backswing and slow down your swing towards the ball.
Just make sure that you also practice the one-foot push off into a split step and time it well.
Meeting The Ball Return Drills
While the change in the mental image might change your return technique and swing speed immediately, some of you may also need some specific drills that help achieve that change.
The following return of serve drills help you first break down the old habit of swinging fast towards the ball and then help you develop the right feel for finding that ideal swing speed that will result in a controlled and deep return.
Drill #1: Meet the ball and return to your own service box
Have a partner serve you medium-paced serves from the service line (so he can hit all serves in and create some time pressure for you despite not swinging at full speed).
Your goal is to just meet the ball in front and let it bounce off your racquet and land on your side of the net.
Practice the idea of meeting the ball first
Aim for your own service box, but if you manage to keep it even shorter so it doesn’t cross the service line, that’s fine, too.
While this sounds very simple, it’s actually not because your habit of swinging towards the ball fast will still be there. You’ll need to battle it for a while in order to change it to just slowly bringing your racquet to the contact point and meeting the ball.
If your returns still fly over the net, stick with this drill for at least 5 minutes until you make some progress.
You may have to repeat this drill in multiple sessions in order to change your swing.
Another mental image that helps is to imagine you’ll catch the ball with your racquet and strings as if you have a butterfly net instead of strings.
Drill #2: Meet the ball and return to the service box across the net
If you’re able to slow down the incoming serve with your return so much that the ball doesn’t cross the net, you’ve then learned what it means to meet the ball instead of hitting it.
Your goal now is to gradually start adding more speed to your swing so that eventually you can return the ball deep with some pace.
Add just enough power for the ball to cross the net
That’s why you’re now aiming for the service box on the other side of the net.
You still want to just meet the ball in front, but now you want to give it a little push or drive in order to hit it a little bit deeper.
Your goal is to return well at least 50% of the serves into the other service box, but 75% is an even better goal to have before moving on to the last drill.
Drill #3: Meet the ball and return over the service box
When you see that you can successfully slow down the incoming serves to the point where you can consistently return into the service box, add another bit of energy to your returns so that now they land over the service box.
Gradually add just enough force and height to return over the service box
Don’t think about technique, but think about energy or force.
If the ball is too short, give it a little bit more energy on the next return.
See where it lands and adjust.
Still keep in mind the idea of meeting the ball in front and then guiding it deep towards the other side.
You may initially feel that, without enough swing speed of your racquet, you can’t do that. I advise you to stick with the idea of just meeting the ball and see what happens.
One mental image that works for me is that I imagine adding force to the ball only from the contact point onwards.
So, the picture in my mind is that I simply stick my racquet in front like a wall waiting to meet the ball. Once it reaches my racquet, I give it some power with only my follow-through.
I imagine giving the ball power only after the contact point with my follow-through
I see no swing speed of the racquet before contact in my mind’s eye.
I am not stiff or tight doing that. I am only managing the speeds of my racquet in different parts of the swing.
While I know that in reality the ball is gone immediately after the contact and that my follow-through can’t add any force to it any more, the mental image that I have creates some racquet movement towards the ball just before contact.
As a result, it adds that necessary bit of energy to the ball that makes it land deep on the other side of the court.
Important: You will be able to change your return of serve technique with these drills only if you also have the correct tactical intention in this stage.
The tactical goal when receiving fast serves is to go for high consistency returns deep down the middle with not much pace.
Your goal is not to attack your opponent but mainly to keep the ball in play and possibly neutralize his attacks by hitting the ball deep and making your opponent hit his first shot behind the baseline.
Your main goal is depth, not speed!
Remember that you control depth best with height.
Therefore, keep looking for that ideal height of your returns at low speed that still allows you to land the ball deep over the service line on the other side of the court.
2 Keys To Consistent Returns Of Fast Serves
There are two key tips to reliable returns of fast serves you need to keep in mind and always do:
1. Always, always move forward towards the incoming ball, even if the serve was hit at 200 km/h.
While that adds some speed to your returns, it actually helps you control the ball better because you can therefore slow down the speed of your arm even more and meet the ball even more accurately in the ideal contact point.
Always move towards the ball. If you need more time, start further back like Andy Murray.
Don’t over-think the footwork on the return of serve. Just move naturally towards the incoming ball.
Andy Murray starts quite far behind the baseline so he can always move forward before his split step and keep that momentum going as he is returning fast serves.
In most cases, you should play open stance because of the time that stepping in takes away from you.
However, don’t think too much about your feet. Focus on your body’s momentum towards the incoming ball.
2. Really try to see the ball well after the bounce.
Make sure you point both of your eyes towards the ball to take that quick, clear snapshot of the ball.
At my current level of tennis, seeing the ball well after the bounce is the most important factor for hitting a good return
The ball is coming in fast ‒ and if you can’t see it well, you will not hit it in your sweet spot regularly. The result is that your returns will be very inconsistent.
The feeling of being rushed may very well make you just take a quick glance at the ball and immediately look over the net to see what happened with your return. That will never result in clean shots and reliable returns.
That’s why the idea of meeting the ball is so important. It helps you calm down for that moment of contact and not imagine a very fast impact.
See the ball well after the bounce and don’t turn your head too quickly towards the other side until you feel that you’ve completed your follow-through.
While a tennis serve is the most technically difficult stroke in tennis, the return is the most difficult from the point of view of skills to master.
That’s because it requires you to react very quickly, track a very fast incoming ball and find it in space with a relatively small sweet spot of your racquet ‒ and all that in a very short amount of time.
Therefore, it requires fast reflexes, good ball tracking ability and good hand-eye coordination. In fact, all these skills need to be at a very high level if you want to return fast serves consistently.
The stroke technique is actually quite simple because you can imagine it as only the second half of your groundstrokes. Therefore, it is easier to perfect.
But it’s the reactions, timing and the ability to see the ball well despite its very fast flight towards you that make the return of serve the most difficult stroke in tennis to master.
I will share more drills on returns of serve in the future, very likely in a full return video course that will cover many more topics like returning different types of serves (flat, kick, slice), grips to use, types of footwork and how to practice all that.
But the concept of meeting the ball and the progression of return drills that are described above have almost always helped my students reach that “aha” moment on how to handle fast serves and improved their return consistency considerably in a very short amount of time.
Give the idea of meeting the ball on the return a shot, and share your thoughts in the comments below!
Thank you Tomaz for great tips and drills. Slowing down after quick setup seemed to be a very helpful hint for me. Most my receiving issue is not hitting clean and frame shots. I could tell that I tend to be in panic mode and swinging too abruptly to fight back to fast ball. I will try the drills tonight and see how it will help. thanks again.
Thanks, Yasutaka!
Work for a few sessions on the drills progression and stick with the first drill of meeting the ball for a while.
Once you calm down there and can consistently “find” the ball with your racquet while just blocking it, you’ll start to hit your returns much more cleanly when you actually try to return deeper.
Those are very good drills Mr Tomaz. Although they are not easy to put in practice, I’ll do my best to master them.
Thank you so much. You are the best. More courage to what you do.
Thanks, Pascal.
The drills work if you work them. Test them on your players and repeat for a few sessions and you’ll see a big change in how they return after that.
Hi Tomaz,
Nice video. I’d also be curious to know what you have to say about returning second serves. At the intermediate level, slower serves seem to cause us a lot of problems, too.
See you! Zac
Hey Zac,
The topic of returning slow serves is on my mind too so I’ll make sure to add it in the future.
Quick tip: Know your target area in advance and don’t go for a winner but try and stretch your opponent!
Dear Tomaz:
Excellent tips for dealing with a fast serve..
As the only woman playing with a group of very fast male servers this demonstration really helps me…I have tried everything but I still seem to be “late” & pushed back when meeting the ball.
Moving forward is so crucial …
I am recovering from rotator cuff surgery so alas, I will not be able to play tennis again for several months…
I constantly watch your great videos…so simple & relaxed…
You are the only tennis pro I’ve encountered on the internet who appears to really relish the game.
Áine
Thanks, Áine.
If you can’t play you can still visualize. It’s a very effective way of programming your mind to eventually execute the movement of the body.
You can also watch me demonstrate these returns and then imitate that in your living room at very slow speed even without the racquet.
I’ve probably swung half a million times in my living room in my tennis journey so far… 😉
Very nice article, congratulations Tomaz!
Although, I have a question. What’s the distance I should be of the service line when receiving fast serves? Too close and I feel like I dont have time, too far and the ball gets too high.
PS: I’ll definitely try those drills!
There’s no perfect answer to this, Thiago, as it depends on the serve you’re receiving.
I would definitely suggest you try to go even further back so that the ball is not too high eventually and get comfortable there first.
But once you go through “meet the ball” drills you should feel that you have way more time to execute your return and then you’ll be able to play closer to the baseline.
But really – you must do the drills. Just reading this article and only trying to meet the ball will not work much.
In my last session with a club player I had to serve over 50 balls to my student just to achieve the first step of meeting the ball and not hitting it over the net.
Almost every ball he touched went over the net and I served just nice.
That means that he was unable to change his habit of swinging even though his goal was just to touch the ball and not hit it.
With the next 50 balls he was slowly getting the idea and was able to slow down his swing.
I haven’t been able to complete the return lesson with him but my best guess is that he would need at least 5 sessions of at least 100 balls to roughly get to where I’d like to see him when it comes to controlling fast serves with a steady return.
Wow, thanks Tomaz! This area of the game is a huge issue for me and this video is one of those lightbulb moments. Can’t wait to try it out in practice!
Hi Thomas
Thank you for another great video. For me, the split step is crucial for the early development and the movement into the ball. In your video and the one of Murray (forehand return), I noticed how you use the left arm to initiate the unit return and to keep the balance (while “flying” smoothly into the ball as the left foot is in the air at contact). When watching Murray’s return in real time, it seems that, for a split second, he is pausing in the air when hitting the ball (as he would want to pose for a great picture ;). I guess this demonstrates perfectly your approach of preparing fast so as to have more time to control the (compact) swing.
Thanks for sharing this observation, Stefan!
Thank you Tomaz for the great lesson.
I used to hear from my coaches that you should block the ball when the serve is fast. How the mental image of blocking the ball differs from meeting the ball?
Thanks,
Rodrigo
Not much, Rodrigo. The only concern I have is that the word “block” might trigger from you body a very tight response which never gives you good feel and control.
“Meet the ball and then block it” might work or “gently block the ball” at first. And you should be receiving medium paced serves at first.
Then you would develop the right feel for blocking the ball in time.
When I read “prepare quickly .. swing slowly,” I immediately received a mental image of watching Raonic, Kyrgios, Pouille, Murray, and Djokovic returning serves above 200 kph in their broadcast matches from Miami, where the camera angle behind the server gives an excellent view of their quick movement out of the split step to get their racket behind the ball and then easy, little stroke to play the return. That is exactly what they are doing.
I see the stroke portion is not mere ‘blocking’, which gives me a mental image of pushing and stopping the racket, but has some acceleration, from a slower speed to a nice speed. I find that if we just block the ball, without that little acceleration to redirect the ball and regulate its spin, the hard spin on the incoming ball will just send it flying off the racket face
By the way, I think that your attention to finding the right descriptive words which call to mind the appropriate useful kinesthetic images — the right feelings — is making a contribution.
Tried it this morning against a big server this morning. It worked. Noticed that I need to have a complete follow through, preferably a high follow through. Otherwise the return would fell short, making it an easy winner for the server.
Thanks for the feedback, Richard. Yes, you need to guide the ball deep but hopefully you are experiencing more time now and that makes you less anxious and allows you to control the ball better.
Thank you Tomaz, I have been focusing on my footwork: The split-step, step-forward, and unit-turn, with little success in returning the flat-bomb.
I shall try your mental images and drills tomorrow.
All the very Best,
Hi Spupza,
“Thinking” about your body while receiving a fast serve will cause you to pay even less attention to the ball (since your attention is on the body) and you’ll track the ball even worse.
Stop giving yourself mechanical instruction and focus only on the ball and how you’ll meet it well in front.
Great advice Tomaz! as always your insights are brilliant. I will try these drills.
Excellent demonstration of the technique Tomaz. My previous technique was just the opposite of what you are teaching. It makes perfect sense and I am anxious to begin the drills. Thank you so much for imparting your teaching skills to us. Randy
You’re welcome, Randy, keep in touch.
Quite a brief n to the point tip, it has improved my returns and my coaching, good job and all the best throughout 2016.
Thanks, likewise, Enos.
Tomaz. I love your videos and general advice about focusing on the feel, rather than power. I play mainly doubles. In those circumstances, sending a high return is risky. Do you have advice for returning doubles? Thanks.
Hi Mike,
I aim for the opposite service box corner when returning in doubles. Yes, not too high but if I hit close to my target the net player can’t reach my shot.
Test it on the court and see how far and how early they would need to start moving if they wanted to reach you shot that flies towards the opposite service box corner (sideline).
Meet, Fast, then Slow. Love that.
Or even better: Fast, Meet, Slow…
Thanks Tomaz, Great lesson. I read your video on watching the ball on deep shots. Tried it out and I was able to hit the ball effectively by using the snaps shot focus and keeping my head still on contact. On my next outing I started hitting the ball late on fast serves. This lesson adds the idea of meeting the ball to snap shot focus and keeping my head still. I’ll practice this next time. I may be able to move up to a higher level of play in about six months after I practice this 10,000 times.
Play often with a big server. Looking forward to practicing your tips.
Thomas of Feel Tennis offers the most effective instruction of all using logical concepts and progressions. He truly understands tennis psychology AND mechanics. Thank you Thomas. Cam
Thanks for the kind words, Cam.
Thanks Tomaz for the amazing tips. I find your website and videos most helpful to improve my game. I think you should develop an app to complement your already impressive suit of tips 🙂
Last week I played against a big bomber and missed several serve returns – not touching the ball at all. I felt frustrated and puzzled, not knowing what to do during the whole week. Then I think of your website; luckily I have found my help. Now I know why I missed all the returns – I have made all the mistakes you mention here.
Many thanks Tomaz, you have been adding so much joy to my tennis.
Tomaz, Thanks for directing me to your post on service returns. I appreciate the logical sequence and how relateable your explanations are. You put into words well what seem like reactions and instincts. Thanks again. I’ll keep tuning in.
I tried that for one of my students it really works thanks Mr tomaz
Tomaz,
Just wanted to ask if you will do the course on return of serve. I have some of your other courses and they have helped immensely.
Best
Victor
Hi Victor,
Since there are no special techniques on the return, just generally shortened swings of the forehand and backhand, I feel I don’t have enough ideas to make it a course.
I may just share ideas for free on the website. I actually plan to release a video on return tips next, so stay tuned.
But if you have specific questions about the return of serve, let me know.
Hi Tomaz,
Thanks for this lesson. A couple of questions:
– any advice on using a flat type swing or playing a slice (almost like a volley) on the return of serve?
– any further tips on calming the system, maybe with breathing timing? I see you have pointed out the more time will help you be calm but just wondering.
Thanks.
Hi Simon,
Yes, returns of fast first serves are returned flat. That doesn’t mean you have to hit horizontal, you can still visualize an upward trajectory but your goal is to hit flat.
Do you mean calming yourself before the return or during the return?
Yes, before the return you can calm down with a few deep breaths and already watching the ball even though your opponent is just tapping it down in the ground.
As for during the return, tell yourself in advanced to stay calm and avoid jerky movements and watch the ball the best you can. Calmness is a result of perceiving lots of time.
You only perceive lots of time when you watch the ball with all the attention you have.
Check out also this video: https://youtu.be/r3SWInoeolI