Return of serve drills
The objective of this lesson is to focus on hitting the correct return of serve. This involves making decisions on when to be aggressive with the return and when to be less aggressive to get to the kitchen
The return of serve is the most important shot because a failed return of serve will lead to the loss of a point. However, a passive return may not be the best option to put the return team in greater control of the point. This lesson focuses on the key concepts.
A neutral return of serve is one that places the return deep in the center of the court with relatively low pace. It is expected that the serving team wil be able to return this with a third shot drop or drive. Generally the return team will hit this ball by the player with the best shot from their strongest side e.g. the forehand for a right handed player..
A more aggressive return is to hit with greater slice to keep the ball low. This shot would typically be hit by making contact inside the baseline, and can be hit if the ball does not have a high bounce form the serve. It can be hit deep in the court, and can be effective as an approach shot to get to the net. Since this shot is hit faster, then there is less time to get to the kitchen. However, the serving team has to hit from a lower position and is likely to hit a slow third shot drop. If executed correctly, then getting to the kitchen should not be an issue.
The most aggressive shot is an attack on the weak player. The goal of this shot is to force a weak return by rushing the servers shot. It must be targeted at the weak side of the player. However, if the weak side of the weak player is down the middle it will be difficult to force the error. This shot is typically executed on a shout serve when the ball can be struck thigh-high
Setup:
The group is divided into two groups. Ideally with an odd number. However, with 6 players then 4 should be on the return box and the return.
feed: This is a ball machine feed initially with the ball machine feeding a constant length.
The ball should be set for a long “go-to serve” first. The returner should hit a safe shot to the middle
The ballmachine should be set to a shorter serve so a slice can be practised.
The ball machine should be set to a short serve with a higher bounce so the agressive shot can topspin
The pro then does the feed with a variety of balls
Don’t run through the ball, but don’t be stationary
Move forward until the server makes contact
Hit the ball at thigh-high
Point scoring on targets
5 points for the agressive shot
2 points for the slice shot
1 point for the neutral shot
-2 points for a miss