How To Hit A Second Serve in Tennis
The Reasoning
In the sport of tennis, a second serve is considered to be one of the most important shots in the game. If you have a relatively powerful and very accurate second serve, especially at the beginner and club levels, you will be able to dictate play for close to 50% of the points, and hold your serve nearly every game. Many people do not attempt to add spin of any sort to their second serve at intermediate levels of the game, allowing the other player to crush the serve back and win the point. With first serves generally being very inaccurate at this level, this causes the server to lose his service game a lot. However, if you develop a good second serve, you will be able to win your service game and then win your opponents game as he still has a soft second serve, therefore winning the match.
Our Main Goal
-To not allow your opponent to crush your second serve
If you want to stop your opponent from crushing your second serve, then you must hit it deep and with topspin. Hitting with topspin means that you are hitting the back of the ball and rolling your racket over to the top of the ball, causing it to rotate forwards. A serve hit with topspin bounces much higher than a normal serve, forcing your opponent back into the court and causing him to hit a defensive shot. In addition, when you swing to hit a topspin serve, you swing up, not forward, so no matter how hard you swing, your serve will not go out with the correct form and toss.
Image of Topspin's Effects
The Mechanics
Hitting with Topspin requires four things: changing your grip, toss, swing, and follow-through.
1. The Grip
Your grip for your first serve should already be the continental: as shown below. This is the standard grip for all serves.
However, if you want to add even more topspin, you may move your hand a little more to the left (away from the forehand grip). This grip is known as the Eastern Backhand Grip. While this may seem clunky at first, it actually improves the spin you get on the ball.
2. The Toss
The toss is what determines whether your second serve will be either good or bad, or out or in. Even after you master the basic mechanics of the serve, the toss always needs to be precise and at just the right spot so you can spin the ball in. For a topspin serve, you want to throw the ball much farther behind your head than for a normal serve, but not so far that you lose your balance. I generally suggest throwing it so that if you let it bounce it would hit the top of your head.
You can see in this picture how Safin throws the ball at 12 o’clock and bends back so he will be able to put as much topspin on the ball as possible.
Also, make sure that you hold the ball in the tips of your fingers so that you throw it as straight as possible with as little spin as possible.
3. The Swing
As your goal is to brush up on the ball instead of through the ball for this serve, the swing is different than a normal tennis serve. You bring the racket through the normal stages of your serve until you are scratching your back. From here, you accelerate the racket up keeping the face of the racket perpendicular to the ground and your arm at a 45 degree angle to the ground at the contact point. This serve uses the elbow more than the shoulder, unlike the first serve.
Federer demonstrating brushing the ball with his strings
You can practice the motion with a simple exercise (created by me).
1. Start with your arms behind your head, as if you are kneeling having just been busted by the FBI or simply doing crunches, however you want to think about it.
2. Un-interlock your hands and remove your left hand.
3. Accelerate your right hand to the point where you are raising your hand and your arm is perpendicular to the ground.
Note: You should hear your hair make a slight rustle every time you do this.
This exercise demonstrates what you do to the tennis ball when you hit a topspin serve. If you imagine your head as the tennis ball, doing this would constitute a topspin serve while slapping yourself in the back of the head full on would constitute a flat serve.
4. The Follow-through
To complete this serve, you follow-through by bringing the racket over the ball and across your body. When your racket is moving down, you ideally should be looking at the side of the strings that you hit the ball with.
Tips
1. Practice! You cannot go out on the court and expect to be amazing at this without drilling it. Be prepared to even miss the ball completely on your first couple tries.
2. Patience! Again, you do not learn this serve automatically, just be patient in your efforts and it will come to you.
Exercises
Beginner
1. Try to simply toss the ball so that it will land on your head. The toss is the hardest part of this serve.
2. Service-line Serve: Practice this serve from the service line instead of the baseline. It will help you hit it in, however, don’t forget the proper motion!
Advanced
1. Knee Serve: Once you have your serve down and want to improve accuracy, try to serve from the baseline from your knees. This emphasizes how much of this serve is in that simple upward motion.
2. Wall Serve: Stand next to a relatively high wall or fence around the tennis court that you play at and attempt to serve over the fence using the topspin serve. This helps with the upward wrist movement because hitting it over is impossible without the topspin.
The Reasoning
In the sport of tennis, a second serve is considered to be one of the most important shots in the game. If you have a relatively powerful and very accurate second serve, especially at the beginner and club levels, you will be able to dictate play for close to 50% of the points, and hold your serve nearly every game. Many people do not attempt to add spin of any sort to their second serve at intermediate levels of the game, allowing the other player to crush the serve back and win the point. With first serves generally being very inaccurate at this level, this causes the server to lose his service game a lot. However, if you develop a good second serve, you will be able to win your service game and then win your opponents game as he still has a soft second serve, therefore winning the match.
Our Main Goal
-To not allow your opponent to crush your second serve
If you want to stop your opponent from crushing your second serve, then you must hit it deep and with topspin. Hitting with topspin means that you are hitting the back of the ball and rolling your racket over to the top of the ball, causing it to rotate forwards. A serve hit with topspin bounces much higher than a normal serve, forcing your opponent back into the court and causing him to hit a defensive shot. In addition, when you swing to hit a topspin serve, you swing up, not forward, so no matter how hard you swing, your serve will not go out with the correct form and toss.
Image of Topspin's Effects
The Mechanics
Hitting with Topspin requires four things: changing your grip, toss, swing, and follow-through.
1. The Grip
Your grip for your first serve should already be the continental: as shown below. This is the standard grip for all serves.
However, if you want to add even more topspin, you may move your hand a little more to the left (away from the forehand grip). This grip is known as the Eastern Backhand Grip. While this may seem clunky at first, it actually improves the spin you get on the ball.
2. The Toss
The toss is what determines whether your second serve will be either good or bad, or out or in. Even after you master the basic mechanics of the serve, the toss always needs to be precise and at just the right spot so you can spin the ball in. For a topspin serve, you want to throw the ball much farther behind your head than for a normal serve, but not so far that you lose your balance. I generally suggest throwing it so that if you let it bounce it would hit the top of your head.
You can see in this picture how Safin throws the ball at 12 o’clock and bends back so he will be able to put as much topspin on the ball as possible.
Also, make sure that you hold the ball in the tips of your fingers so that you throw it as straight as possible with as little spin as possible.
3. The Swing
As your goal is to brush up on the ball instead of through the ball for this serve, the swing is different than a normal tennis serve. You bring the racket through the normal stages of your serve until you are scratching your back. From here, you accelerate the racket up keeping the face of the racket perpendicular to the ground and your arm at a 45 degree angle to the ground at the contact point. This serve uses the elbow more than the shoulder, unlike the first serve.
Federer demonstrating brushing the ball with his strings
You can practice the motion with a simple exercise (created by me).
1. Start with your arms behind your head, as if you are kneeling having just been busted by the FBI or simply doing crunches, however you want to think about it.
2. Un-interlock your hands and remove your left hand.
3. Accelerate your right hand to the point where you are raising your hand and your arm is perpendicular to the ground.
Note: You should hear your hair make a slight rustle every time you do this.
This exercise demonstrates what you do to the tennis ball when you hit a topspin serve. If you imagine your head as the tennis ball, doing this would constitute a topspin serve while slapping yourself in the back of the head full on would constitute a flat serve.
4. The Follow-through
To complete this serve, you follow-through by bringing the racket over the ball and across your body. When your racket is moving down, you ideally should be looking at the side of the strings that you hit the ball with.
Tips
1. Practice! You cannot go out on the court and expect to be amazing at this without drilling it. Be prepared to even miss the ball completely on your first couple tries.
2. Patience! Again, you do not learn this serve automatically, just be patient in your efforts and it will come to you.
Exercises
Beginner
1. Try to simply toss the ball so that it will land on your head. The toss is the hardest part of this serve.
2. Service-line Serve: Practice this serve from the service line instead of the baseline. It will help you hit it in, however, don’t forget the proper motion!
Advanced
1. Knee Serve: Once you have your serve down and want to improve accuracy, try to serve from the baseline from your knees. This emphasizes how much of this serve is in that simple upward motion.
2. Wall Serve: Stand next to a relatively high wall or fence around the tennis court that you play at and attempt to serve over the fence using the topspin serve. This helps with the upward wrist movement because hitting it over is impossible without the topspin.
