chrisberchris
Semi-Pro
My question is, how do you personally play the first service game when you are receiving serve? Do you play very aggressively and try to break right away, or do you try and read his game? Looking for good tactical advice
0-0 receiving serve
- Thread starter chrisberchris
- Start date
LuckyR
Legend
If the serve is to my forehand I go straight to the netman's alley. Same on a second serve to my BH.
Larrysümmers
Hall of Fame
What Would Murray Do?
r2473
G.O.A.T.
AnotherTennisProdigy
Professional
That depends on what kind of player you are. Are you a fast starter? If so then you may want to get the first strike. Are you a slow to warm up? If that is the case you should start at 70% and work your way up.
Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
The score is irrelevant to your shot selection. Generally, in singles the high percentage target is the opposite corner on both serve returns, regardless of the score, unless you have good reason not to, ie: a short sitter that you can step in an crank inside-in.
r2473
G.O.A.T.
Really?!?!?
You gotta read your mood by how you warmed up and how you've been hitting lately. Only with that knowledge in hand can you decide upon a strategy to start the receiving AND serving games.
If you're particularly aggressive, and can hit the shots, you can go for it.
If you're playing tentative and unsure of your shots, play more conservatively.
Use the shots you can make, and avoid the shots that are low percentage for you. Only YOU can decide what can work and what usually doesn't.
That's why they P R A C T I C E.
If you're particularly aggressive, and can hit the shots, you can go for it.
If you're playing tentative and unsure of your shots, play more conservatively.
Use the shots you can make, and avoid the shots that are low percentage for you. Only YOU can decide what can work and what usually doesn't.
That's why they P R A C T I C E.
Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
Utterly and completely! Unless you're Djokovic who goes for outright winning returns on match point against.
Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
Not if you want to win. Going DTL on return of serve is almost never justified. Like I said before, you can go inside-in if you get a short sitter, but, not dtl. If you can return a serve deep to the opposite corner, you have neutralized his advantage, and preserved your court position. It doesn't matter if your opponent knows it or not. The question becomes, what is he going to do about it?
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Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
My aim on the early return games is to not miss any returns. I don't focus on hitting winners or overthinking it - just: get them all back over the net, preferably deep.
Making your opponent hit another shot to win the point should be a priority on early return games as it's likely they will not be fully sharp off the ground either either.
As a lefty I mostly try to hit or chip deuce court returns down same side of the court I'm returning from > to their backhand side.... the majority of the time their next shot will be crosscourt to my forehand. If they can hit a winner so be it, but more often than not I get to hit my preferred forehand as my next shot - which gets me into my groove earlier.
On the Ad court I go with the normal routine - getting it crosscourt and deep if possible with a broad margin for error...
I can go 2 or 3 games into a match sometimes where my opponent hasn't hit a single forehand - or at least any which they can do much with.
Making your opponent hit another shot to win the point should be a priority on early return games as it's likely they will not be fully sharp off the ground either either.
As a lefty I mostly try to hit or chip deuce court returns down same side of the court I'm returning from > to their backhand side.... the majority of the time their next shot will be crosscourt to my forehand. If they can hit a winner so be it, but more often than not I get to hit my preferred forehand as my next shot - which gets me into my groove earlier.
On the Ad court I go with the normal routine - getting it crosscourt and deep if possible with a broad margin for error...
I can go 2 or 3 games into a match sometimes where my opponent hasn't hit a single forehand - or at least any which they can do much with.
r2473
G.O.A.T.
No, but I might go for an outright winner 0-40 second serve if I'm winning 0-5.
On the flip side, I'll probably be pretty cautious with my shot selection down 5-4; 40-0.
Do you really not alter your shots / shot selection depending on the set / match score? You must be the only person in the world.
Not sure about Limpins total inflexibility on this subject.
On the one hand, he get's kudos for sticking to his guns.
OTOH, he's wrong if the server serves wide to him, comes to net, and only covers his CC return, knowing he's not flexible enough to hit a few DTL just for fun.
Blind stubborness does not make a good tennis player. You have to adapt to different situation.
On the one hand, he get's kudos for sticking to his guns.
OTOH, he's wrong if the server serves wide to him, comes to net, and only covers his CC return, knowing he's not flexible enough to hit a few DTL just for fun.
Blind stubborness does not make a good tennis player. You have to adapt to different situation.
Another case in point.Server has a 6.0 level forehand, but hurt his shoulder and cannot even hit a push backhand, with no direction or spin.
Limpin will still return every wide serve to server's forehand, totally ignoring the fact the server cannot hit any kind of backhand.
chrisberchris
Semi-Pro
Thanks for the replies! I usually am very aggressive with my forehand, I can confidently put it where ever I want, so I attack especially on the deuce side. I really just wanted to know how other players respond to their first service games.
Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
You're wrong about that. Until the match is over, the score is irrelevant. To the contrary, no one who plays percentage tennis allows the score to circumscribe their gameplan. It makes no sense.
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Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
I wasn't talking about returning to a S&V'er, which I haven't seen in about 20 years, except for doubles, in which case, your primary target is still . . . you guessed it, cross court.
Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
Server has a 6.0 level forehand, but hurt his shoulder and cannot even hit a push backhand, with no direction or spin.
Limpin will still return every wide serve to server's forehand, totally ignoring the fact the server cannot hit any kind of backhand.
You know better than that, Lee. You've read my numerous posts about the fundamentals of high percentage tennis, and the few exceptions thereto.
TomT
Hall of Fame
First service game, tenth service game. Should it matter? My humble opinion is that you play your best on every point.
tennytive
Hall of Fame
I didn't see anything mentioned about the strength of the server as a variable.
Against strong servers that can put some heat on their serve and place it well, I'm just trying to get my racket on the ball and get it back.
Against weaker servers that spin slow seconds, I usually hit hard to the cc, but there are also times I'll chip and charge down the line. This may be low percentage, but by the time they get over there I'm almost to the net, and it's pretty easy to volley their return if they've been forced to hit a running shot.
I've been on the other end as well. If I hit against the wind and my second serve sits up, more than one opponent has blasted a winner down the line as I stood watching.
Against strong servers that can put some heat on their serve and place it well, I'm just trying to get my racket on the ball and get it back.
Against weaker servers that spin slow seconds, I usually hit hard to the cc, but there are also times I'll chip and charge down the line. This may be low percentage, but by the time they get over there I'm almost to the net, and it's pretty easy to volley their return if they've been forced to hit a running shot.
I've been on the other end as well. If I hit against the wind and my second serve sits up, more than one opponent has blasted a winner down the line as I stood watching.
Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
Exactly! And, for me, that means going for high percentage targets no matter what the score is, and earning my way to a high percentage attempt at a winner, or forcing an UE.
