Unless you ace (or doubles fault every time) the first 2 shots of a point are the most important. Believe it or not the average rally at Wimbledon is 3 ! Think of Berretini how he will hit a big serve and follow it up with a big forehand and Nadal hitting a wide serve and using his forehand as a weapon. Here are some tips and rills to help you hold your serve…
Aim for 80% first serve in !
Ideally when are serving we should aim for 8 out of 10 serves in. If the score is low, concentrate on one action to help your serve e.g. throw the ball higher, tactically look to hit deep and down the centre of the box to allow some room for error.
If they are then going well then pick your spot i.e. wide / body / centre or increase the pace.
Get into position after the serve
Simply get ready after the serve so you can react for your next shot. Often returners will deep back at the servers feet and catch servers out of position. Advanced players will jump up and into the court and then need to move backwards after the serve. Players can either move to a defensive position e.g. 2 foot behind the baseline, after a second serve if they feel they will be attacked. If you have a medium pace serve then you would move back to a 1 foot behind the baseline for rally shot. If you are big server and looking to take the ball early you may recover to inside the baseline knowing they are hitting weaker returns.
Think of the next shot (2nd Ball)
Either look for the attack and hit into space perhaps using a wide serve to open up the court. Often players will use their favourite shot and run around their backhand using inside out shots. If they are returning well then just rally the second ball to make them play another shot and put pressure on them. If they are attacking your serve then keep it deep and try and play away from their stronger shot (usually forehand), move back and hit a higher ball to buy you some time.
3 drills to help your serve
First serve challenge
Simply it 10 serves and work out how many you got in. This is your first serve percentage. Do this again with a partner feeding a ball after the serve and aiming into space with your favourite shot.
Serve Target Challenge
Set up a target area for a wide, body and centre and hit 5 serves to each area (repeat on the ad side.) Work out your best score / favourite serve and use this in your matches. work out your weaker serve and go away and work on it!
Berretini Challenge
Play points with the serve only allowed to hit a forehand after their serve. Mark a third of the court off in which you would definitely hit a backhand and therefore the other two thirds would be forehand only.
Make a decision
Play points with serve and shout defend, rally attack after the serve. This gives the player more purpose and to help react after the serve rather than hitting aimlessly. Players should be looking to get into position after the serve.
