Hi Zac,

I understand your question. The key thing to avoid when playing points is forcing the serve.

You may want to hit aces or winners like the pros do and you’ll try and serve very hard. If you don’t yet feel the principle of effortless power then you will inevitably muscle the serve and break down the technique even more.

So stay within your “speed limit”.

The other most common issue is controlling the serve too much – meaning you think about “not missing”.

That will also cause tension and hold back your improvement.

Therefore serve with the feel of “throwing” and releasing the racquet through the contact point rather than “pushing” the ball.

As an intermediate player who doesn’t yet have an “unlocked” serve, how should I be serving when playing games/sets/matches? My main goal is to put the ball in play, hopefully on my first serve, without developing bad habits. Should I do something like you do in your minimum effort drill? Or maybe something like you do in the slice serve drill?

I hope you understand my question. The point is, I want to do something that will put me on the right path, even though a really good serve seems a long way away at this point.

Thanks! Zac

Thanks a lot, Raj. Stay in touch!

I have taken a number of tennis serve lessons and have watched hours of videos online but none come close to your explanation on how to use body (momentum) for powerful serves. I’m glad I watched this video. Your explanation is simply superb and thanks for the good work.

Raj