First and foremost your stance is vital. The form of your service being should determine your stance. Your feet should be about shoulder width apart, approximately 2 feet distant from the center mark, front foot a few inches from the baseline and knees should be slightly bent. Having the proper stance ensures a powerful and effective delivery.
The next tip is your grip! The continental grip is the most effective as it is the strongest. This grip will give you a powerful release of your wrist and maximises the spin on the ball. If you are a forehand grip player and really want to improve your serve, you need to make the change to the continental grip. This may feel awkward at first but if you slow your ball-strike down a fraction to begin with, you will notice that you are dramatically improving your serve.
The next thing that you must work on is your ball throw. The ball has to be thrown high enough that it is a few inches over the height of the racquet fully extended over head. This will give you enough time to swing the racquet and properly strike the falling ball. The optimal time to release the ball is when your throwing arm is fully extended.
Your choice of serve must be correct for the point in your match. For instance if you were serving ace then a canon ball/ flat serve.
A flat serve requires:
– Straighten bent legs and shift weight forward and upwards in support of the racquet arm. Strike the head of the racquet towards the ball when descending and has fallen about 4-6 inches.
– Strike the ball with your racquet arm fully extended and your weight transferred to your front foot.
– Allow the natural momentum of the strike continue to a full follow through with the back foot overtaking the front foot and finishing balanced.
Then there is the top spin serve. This serve is more appropriate with the second serve for the match. This serve will make it hard for your opponent to return the serve without a double fault.
There is also the slice shot. This serve causes the ball to side spin and move towards the forehand side in the right service court. This will confuse your opponent and forces them into a defensive stance.
Lastly, make sure that you are focused on where you are sending the ball. For example, if you focus on hitting the ball into the net, then that’s where it will go. You need to cast your attention toward where you want the ball to go. This will give you an advantage against your opponent especially if you have already put the first four tennis serve tips I mentioned earlier in to play.