| How is your tennis improving? Are you still having fun | | | | 2. Move in on kick serves. |
| and accepting your challenges and goals? When you | | | | If the server hits a kick serve, you try to keep control |
| start improving your tennis game, it will become | | | | of the court by moving in and taking the ball before it |
| obvious that your return of serve will be very critical to | | | | kicks too high and wide. |
| your game. You should evaluate the effectiveness | | | | 3. Get the ball! |
| and reliability of your stroke and try and make sure | | | | You can be a better returner if you react to the serve |
| that it does not break down. | | | | as quickly as possible. What you do is to make the |
| A fast serve takes less than 1 second to get to you | | | | whole process of the serve and return one entity, |
| so you have to make a very quick response if you | | | | using cue words like "Get the ball" just before impact |
| are going to return the ball. The trick is to get your | | | | so that you can be at your highest awareness. |
| racket ready in the shortest possible time. If not, you | | | | 4. A good mental ritual. |
| will be late hitting the ball. Have a look at the list below | | | | When your opponent serves the ball in the net, you |
| to help you: | | | | return an imaginary ball. Your objective is to make the |
| 1. You make up your own return of serve ritual. | | | | initial decision of reading the direction of the ball before |
| The best returners have very specific rituals to help | | | | it hits the net. If you can accomplish this, then you can |
| them return the fastest serves. They most often take | | | | also presume you will return the fastest balls. |
| a forward step just as the opponent starts the toss. | | | | 5. Give yourself more time. |
| Then they take a split step just before the opponent | | | | If you find that you still can not react quickly enough, |
| makes contact with the ball. They watch the toss of | | | | another way is to stand further back from the |
| the ball very closely and try to get a connection with | | | | baseline. Each step you stand further back will give |
| the opponent racket contact and their own | | | | just that little bit more time to meet the ball. |
| preparedness. The best returners then take a really | | | | Make sure you realise that your opponent as the |
| abbreviated back swing that takes less than a second. | | | | advantage when they are serving, and when you try |
| They now have enough time to meet the oncoming | | | | to put some of the above tips into practice it will be a |
| ball. If the ball is directed wide to the forehand, they | | | | challenge. What do we say about challenges? They |
| move diagonally towards the ball so that they are not | | | | Are only there for you to triumph over. |
| pulled off the court. | | | | Enjoy your tennis. |