Slam Bang Serve & Return

I cooked up this drill idea the other day while running a serve caterpillar. I often have players returning serve during serve drills to reduce time spent in line and of course work on the second most important shot of the game. This drill will put extra pressure on the returner when the server is serving from up close.

Two players face each other across the net. One is serving; the other is returning. Serving player is doing a serve caterpillar, meaning they are working their way back from the net to the baseline. Server is serving from four stations: mid service box, service line, 60 ft. blended line/no man's land, and baseline. Returning player is just trying to get their own returns in play. Players do not play out the point. Activity should move quickly to get new players rotated in.

One point is awarded for every ball correctly hit. Server has one chance per position. Any misses by the server = a point for the returner. Winner stays and switches roles. Ties are broken with a serve from the baseline until someone wins.

Since players do not play out point, up to 4 players could be playing simultaneously per court with additional players waiting to rotate in.

Return of Doom

Here's a lesson plan to focus on the 2nd most important shot of the game: the return of serve.

I used my Ropezone to divide the court diagonally from ad net to deuce baseline. All players are on opposite baseline. I fed a simulated serve into the deuce service box. We then played 21: players are trying to be the first to get at least 21 points. They get 2 points for returns hit cross court and 1 point for hitting down the line. If they are hitting a lot of net balls, I may choose to deduct one point for any net balls. Anyone landing on 13 points had to go back to zero. First player to 21 wins. Then move Ropezone to opposite corners, move players to ad side and repeat.

Now that the players have warmed up their returns, let them warm up their serves. Commence time round round robin, singles or doubles. Score game as usual EXCEPT any missed return of serve is GAME OVER. Keep track of games won per player. Player with most wins at end of round robin wins. You could also keep track of how many players lost a game by missing their return. Player with fewest misses wins.

Corners

I cooked up this drill myself as a way to work on return of serve. Borrowing a little from a drill I saw that Jim Courier used to use. Bet his targets were way smaller, though! You will need some way to mark off the targeted area of the court.

Ad side corner of 60 foot court marked
off as a generous-sized target

Mark off a good-sized area deep in the corner of one half of the court. Coach or other player is on this side of the court, feeding or serving. All other players are cross court returning. One at a time, they return the fed/served ball. Once chance only on each feed. If server/feeder misses, receiving player waits until they receive a good serve. First to 21, wins. Anyone landing on 13 must go back to 0. Points awarded as follows:

0 = over net but out of play
1 = straight ahead
2 = cross court in front of service line (short)
3 = cross court behind service line (deep)
-1 = into net

Anyone hitting the marked off target (cross court very deep) is an INSTANT WINNER. The Instant Winner component can be the great equalizer and is very popular and motivating with my students.

Very simple to convert this game to a team-based activity, so good for larger groups, camps, etc. Make sure to feed/serve quickly, one chance each, teams alternating turns. If they are lollygagging, I feed/serve even if no one is 'ready', thus giving that player/team a missed opportunity = minus 1 point for ball not making it over the net. Trust me, you only need this to happen once, especially in a team setting, for everyone to pick up the pace and rotate through quickly!

Once game is won, rotate new player into serving/feeding position. Move target to opposite side of court on each rotation. So for example if you were hitting to deuce side, move to ad.

Want to make it harder? Make the target smaller. Easier? Reduce number of points needed to win, or hand-feed adjacent to player rather than serving to them.

Easy as 1-2-3-4

In a 2011 article for TennisPro magazine, USPTA and PTR Master Professional Ken DeHart breaks down the basics of returning serve. He divides the receiving court into four blocks. Deuce service box is 1; area behind deuce service box is 2; area behind ad service court is 3; and ad service box is 4. He suggests discussing receiving/returning strategy with your doubles partner ahead of time so the net player has some idea of where the returner's ball is going and therefore how to defend subsequent balls.

Pre-planning and defensive doubles strategy may seem a little too advanced for young players, but it is never too early to ask them to be able to direct the ball to specific parts of the court. So I have devised a simple activity based on Ken's receiving principles. He mentions boxes 2 and 3 should be your fallback position if you are struggling on the return, so we will place a higher value on hitting the return into the deepest part of the court.

For the activity, you will need an assortment of cards numbered 1-4. If you are only using 4 cards, recycle them so that they may be drawn multiple times. Ideally you will have at least two players; one serving and one returning. Returning/receiving player draws a card before each return and must hit their return to that box. Player receives two points for each successful return to boxes 2 or 3; one point for each successful return to 1 or 4. Serving player receives one point for every miss. First player to 11 wins; then switch roles.

1-2 Punch

Float that serve out wide like a butterfly,
then sting like a bee with your second shot

Recently I was reading Cosmin Miholca's blog entry about practicing serving out wide. He has some very simple and practical advice on how (and why!) to accomplish this. Boiling it down, he suggests:

• Setting up some targets about a foot inside the singles line and 3 feet inside the service line on the deuce court. In other words, give a comfortable margin of error. 
• Use a slice serve on the deuce side, brushing the '3 o'clock' position on the ball. 
• On the ad side, use a kick serve to accomplish same (brushing up from 7 o'clock to 1 o'clock). 
• To add the '2' to the punch you will either need a partner returning serve or a coach or partner feeding a second ball to simulate the return. Either way, practice putting this ball far from your opponent, who should be busy recovering position from your out-wide serve.

This is an admirable goal for our advanced beginners and up, but what about the young beginners?

• Stick with the 1-2 theme. 
• Have them serve to an out-wide target, then toss them the second ball for down-the-line. If they are having trouble serving, do the entire exercise with them tossing to targets rather than hitting/serving.

Consider point play with one point awarded each time BOTH balls are on target. Want an even more competitive aspect? Add a second player receiving the 'serve'. Server gets one point for each ball he/she gets past receiver. Receiver gets one point for each ball he/she catches after one bounce. First to X wins. 

Return With Interest

I have done this drill before as an adult student in a clinic. Its purpose is similar to 7/11 in that we want to work on serve and return of serve simultaneously. But this game builds more of a sense of camaraderie between the two players because they are working together to earn points.

One player is serving with second serves; the other is returning cross court. As a team they are trying to see how many two shot combos they can complete with a total of ten chances. Team with best percentage wins.

Variation
Returner hits down the line

Progression
Server uses first serve

Adapted from TeachPE.com

Black Hole 2 - Serve and Return

If you are a USTA member and you receive their 15-30 digital magazine, you may have seen this game in their most recent issue. In the video explaining the game, host John Evert didn't give it a name, so I did. It is similar to the Black Hole game, where hitting various locations on the court determine how points are awarded. We are modifying Black Hole to make it a serve/return of serve activity.

Two players play out singles points. Part of the server's side is marked with stripes or small cones. If the returner's ball lands behind the marked area, the returner gets one point. If the returner's ball does not land in the marked area, the server gets a point. So in this example, the Black Hole is where we do NOT want the return of serve to land. It is the returner's job to hit a quality return. It is the server's job to hit such a nice serve as to make the returner's job very difficult. First to XX points wins, depending on how you want to structure the game.

Ignore the Play arrow from this screen capture. If you want to see
 the full video, click here. Inside the yellow cones is the
Black Hole. No bueno!

As for which part of the court is marked off, in the video, the goal was to return the ball deep, behind the halfway point of the back court (midway between the service line and the baseline) as well as in the  2-3 foot 'alley' adjacent to the singles sideline. So ideally the returner is returning deep cross court, or deep down the line. Even in the middle of the court is okay as long as it is deep. This may be too challenging for younger players, so consider asking them to aim for a large square deep and cross court, or just anywhere deep.

Clean Sweep

Azarenka demonstrates
either the 'out' signal
or reminding us she's
been  #1

I concocted this game to help my youngest students work on serve and return of serve. Specifically, to help them watch the serve and improve calling it 'out' when appropriate.

Two players face each other across the net. One is server. Server has a small hopper or other supply of balls, 20-30 max. Non-serving player is across net with an empty container. They must retrieve the served balls and put them into the empty container. They DO NOT have to retrieve any ball that does not land in the correct service box. Ideally they will watch the lines carefully and call 'out' and give the proper hand signal (index finger in air) when serves are out.

Continue until all balls have been served; switch roles and repeat. Repeat entire cycle on other half of court. Or, move server to other side of court (not end) halfway through the process.

If server serves into the net or whiffs, he/she may retrieve that ball and try again.

You may add a competitive element by counting how many of the balls end up in the retrieving player's hopper (indicating how many of total balls have been hit into correct service box).