How can i practice the serve

[Andre D]

Hey there.
I have at my disposal, a bucket filled with balls a court, some targets, and of course a racquet.
My question is, how can i train the serve, how can i make the practice more effective, any ideas?
Which serve drills do you use and advise me to do?
I want to practice direction, because I want to have a very accurate serve.
I also would like to practice second serves.

 

[jdubbs]

One drill I've found effective is to play a game with first and second serves. If you miss a second serve, run a lap around the court as fast as you can.

A lot of times during matches you're going to be out of breath, so this drill replicates that feeling.

 

[USERNAME]

Setup zones (wide, T, body) and serve away! Pick your spots and hit them, again, and again, and AGAIN. What I do is play games out, 1st serve in=point for me, 2nd serve in=point against me, double fault=20 pushups and 5 suicides, and losing serve=walking pushups along the baseline 4x and 15 suicides plus all the stuff from doubles (if any). If you have someone to help you, I got my dad or my gf normally, have them say a spot to hit for as you toss.

 

[user92626]

My post may sound like a joke, but hear me out...

Can you wack something hanging above your head with a stick really hard and reliably? Can you feel you'd have an abundant potential energy to increase? If not, do that first. Hit a tire hanging on a tree trunk or something.

Like most beginner learner, I made the mistake of going directly to court and looking at serving forms and trying to perform "real" serves. I had all sorts of ideas and developed & ingrained with bad forms & habits.

The forms you see from Fed, Verdasco, etc. are just for fitnessing and optimizing later. You need to grasp and develop the basic, major body movement of serving. Your body should know how to wack something really hard in short time... Got my idea?