Get different effects on your serve. 

We’ve talked before about different ways you can mix up your serve to give yourself a slightly better chance of coming out of the serve and return exchange on top, such as varying the style of serve you hit and changing the side you serve from first from time to time. In this post however, we’ll discuss other small changes you can make by changing the way you throw the ball as you go to serve.

Slightly backwards 

One way of changing the throw I find very useful is to throw the ball backwards slightly as if you were going to catch it with your racket hand. By doing this, you change the angle of your shot and cause the ball to go towards the side wall more. If you can get this timing right, you can get the ball to consistently go like an arrow towards the side wall just behind the service box so that it is hard to volley but also cannot be left to bounce.

Spin

No matter what the pace of serve you are hitting, you might find it can be improved by spinning the ball as you throw it. This can add even more spin to your serve, which can improve its depth and also give it a nasty kick off the side wall, both of which can make it more difficult to return.

Dead ball 

Another way of throwing the ball you might consider is to drop the ball almost rather than throwing it. Have a go at literally letting the ball roll out of your hand before hitting a lob serve. This can make your lob serve even slower and help it to die in the back corner, making it even trickier to return.

Many more…

There are a number of ways and effects you can use when you throw the ball to make your serve even more difficult to return, so be sure to experiment with little additions to make your game that little bit better.