Best place to aim on your first serve

Serve placement is one of the most important parts of winning easy points in tennis. Good placement helps you control the rally and set up your next shot (serve +1).

Below is a simple guide for flat serves and slice serves on both sides of the court.

• Flat serve

  • Deuce side

    • In general it is better to hit out wide since you can either set up for a serve plus 1 or a serve and volley combo

  • Ad-side 

    • In general it is better to hit out wide since you can either set up for a serve plus 1 or a serve and volley combo

    • Why wide works best: When you serve wide, you force your opponent outside the doubles alley, which makes their return weaker and gives you more control of the point. While it makes sense to serve T your more likely to end up hitting it towards the center of the box which then gives your opponent an easy return.

• Slice

  • Deuce side

    • as a right handed player always aim out wide and stand towards the left

    • as a left handed player try to aim for the t or the body. Try to stand close to the T:  getting closer to the t will help you curve around the ball better

  • Ad-side 

    • as a right handed player stand close to the center and aim for the T. Getting closer to the t will help you curve around the ball better

    • As a left handed play aim to go out wide and try to stand more towards the left.

• Hitting towards the T with a slice serve is lethal since it can curve away from an already hard to reach position.

Look here for the latest blogs for a killer serve:

3 Ways I improved my first serve 

 How much should you bend your knees on a tennis serve?

 How to hit a slice serve down the T when serving on the AD side