IF YOUR SERVE SUCKS, LET’S FIX IT NOW

WHEN YOUR PARTNER GOES INTO HIDING...

If your friends go into hiding each time you look for a doubles partner, it's probably because your serve sucks.

There's nothing more frustrating in doubles than having a partner who constantly double-faults. Or that feeling of wanting to run for cover to protect yourself every time your partner serves one of their weak serves.

Nobody wants to play with a partner who has a weak serve.

But it doesn't have to be like that because improving your serve can happen quickly just by improving your wrist.

Your wrist plays two very important roles when you Serve. It not only helps make the ball go faster, it also works like a "target finder", helping direct the ball to your target. 

If you can keep the wrist loose while serving, it will take all the pressure off your shoulder joint, and prevent injuries in the long-term. 

So these are the advantages of using your wrist to serve, but how do we make the wrist supple and relaxed when we've been serving with a locked wrist our whole lives?

Here are 3 keys to ensure that you keep your wrist loose during the serve:

1.  THE TAKE-BACK NEEDS TO BE RELAXED

If you are stiff, or tight in the grip during the take-back, it's difficult to suddenly create a loose wrist later, once the service motion has already started.

If your take-back in the beginning is relaxed, it's certain you will have a loose wrist for the rest of the service motion. 

Have someone help check how loose your wrist is during the take-back by taking a video. Keep videoing each serve until you're happy with what you are seeing.

Never "carry" the racquet back like a heavy object. Allow the weight of the racquet head to "break" your wrist on the way back, and maintain a relaxed arm throughout the entire serve.

Avoid any tension in your arm during
the take-back. Allow the weight of the
racquet head to break your wrist.

2.  HIT USING YOUR WRIST, NOT YOUR ARM

The correct mindset to adopt is to hit the ball with your wrist, not your arm. Your wrist should dominate your serve while your arm follows the wrist as a support.

You'll know as soon the arm begins to dominate because your service motion will become a "punch", rather than a flowing stroke, and any of the power and feel you had will disappear.

The biggest hindrance to having an effective,
reliable serve is a stiff wrist 

3.  RELEASE YOUR WRIST AT THE FINISH OF THE SERVE

Avoid squeezing or tightening the grip as you finish the Serve. 

The habit of tightening the finish of your serve will eventually creep back into earlier parts of the service motion and without realizing it you're finding it difficult to find doubles partners again!

Create a check-point finish to make sure you have in fact stayed relaxed. Visually check to see whether or not your wrist has "broken" at the finish. 

Often we can't feel what we are doing, but we can see it if we look. Visually check how your wrist looks at the finish each time and you will automatically start to reprogram any old bad habits.

A word of warning. Try to catch yourself tightening the wrist or squeezing the grip too much when under pressure in a match. Times like break-points or second serves in general. 

These are the moments to remind yourself to stay loose, and to take a few extra deep breathes to calm yourself down if needed.

SUMMARY

The Serve, The Return of Serve, and the first Ground-Stroke are considered the 3 most important strokes of the rally. 

Mastery of the Serve is therefore important to how well you start the point and to whether you can gain an early advantage over your opponent in the rally.

Although it's a small correction, keeping a loose wrist when you Serve can have a major influence on how effective your serve is.