serve going long?

[tennisfreak412]

could someone list some common reasons that a serve goes long? Mine 1st serves go just the slightest bit out some times, and I'd like to remedy that.

[Bagumbawalla]

There are basically four things involved in keeping the ball in the service court.

1, Gravity.

2, Speed of ball

3, Spin

4, Having the proper form/co-ordination to use the first three to your advantage.

You could move to one of the Earth's poles where gravity is .5% greater than at the equator. This migh be enough to bring your ball back that slight bit into the court. Also the extreme cold will probably slow your service motion, also reducing the distance traveled. The ball might also be a little less bouncy.

But that would be impractical.

I think you need a bit more topspin on your ball.

You could be hitting too flat-- (possibly even downward), generating too little spin, or even a bit of underspin, causing the ball to fly long. As far as I know, no first serve should be hit completely flat-- you need some, however minimal, spin to keep it in.

Throwing the ball a bit too far foreward could cause this. It's hard to say. Bending too soon before the ball strike, pulling your arm downward, hitting too far back-- these are possibilities.

Try hitting a couple inches back from where you normally toss the ball. Hit through it in a clean smooth arc. It might be as simple a fix as that.

The service toss is really important. Experiment with slight variations until you just can't miss.

Good luck,

B