posted on June 19, 2004 19:10
So how many serves do you have in your arsenal? 4? 5? 6? Want to make that 240? You can just by knowing the factors that change how your opponent “sees” your serve. The factors are 1) speed, 2) height, 3) angle , and 4) service box position. Change these up every serve to keep your opponent guessing. All serves but high lobs have at least 2 different speeds. There are at least 3 serve heights (drive, half lob and high lob). The angle of the serve is the angle at which the serve approaches the receiver. You create different angles with different service types such as a drive, z, crack and jam. And each of these can be hit to the forehand or backhand to vary the angle. Lastly, vary your starting position in the service box to 5 positions: far left, mid left, center, mid right and far right. So that’s 2 speeds x 3 heights x 8 angles x 5 service positions = 240 serves!! Now some of these combinations can’t be done (e.g. you can’t hit a forehand z from the far left court position), so maybe there are not really 240, but the point is you have a ton of options to keep your opponent off balance for the service return. Use them.