What serve should I use?

LanEvo

Hall of Fame
Hey guys, new season is about to start for me, and I need some advice. Currently, I am using Flat serves attacking the person's body for my first, and with a topspin or slice serve down the middle or out wide for my seconds. I wanna change it a bit, anyone have any advice on what serves I should use for different opponents? I hit a rather flat game, where I can switch to topspin if I need it for different opponents, but my whole game is pretty flat.
 

pvaudio

Legend
Add RPMs to your first. Unless you can be sure to paint the lines well, spin always wins. I promise you, 100mph topspin > 120mph flat. Why? Flat serves lose velocity very quickly. Even then, if you can get a stringbed on it, you can send it back with just as much pace. The topspin serve, while 20mph slower, will kick off the court making it appear to your opponent to be a faster serve. It will also explode off the court above your opponents strike zone, and no, I'm not talking about a kick serve. Ever notice Federer serves if not aces, but unreturnable serves at 110mph or less while players with big first serves like Berdych and Del Potro have far less effective serves even though they can get over 130? The spin is why Federer and Sampras are some of the best servers ever, and in my opinion, why Sampras is the greatest server that lived.
 

Djoker91

Rookie
I say as many free points as you can. Get a raonic/Isner thing going on. Holding comfortably, then forcing deuce on opponents serve brings great confidence. Something I need to work on.
 

Limpinhitter

G.O.A.T.
Hey guys, new season is about to start for me, and I need some advice. Currently, I am using Flat serves attacking the person's body for my first, and with a topspin or slice serve down the middle or out wide for my seconds. I wanna change it a bit, anyone have any advice on what serves I should use for different opponents? I hit a rather flat game, where I can switch to topspin if I need it for different opponents, but my whole game is pretty flat.

My primary targets are: (1) on first serves out wide on both sides (slice on the deuce side and kick on the ad side), to open up the court, and (2) on second serve to the opponent's weakness to prevent him from attacking my serve. Of course I employ disguise and mix them up as the opportunities arise ie: cranking it down the "T" on first serves, but, those are my primary targets.
 

Torres

Banned
What do you mean which serves should you use?

You want the entire range of serves available to you, whether they be flat, kick, slice, long, short, body, down the middle or out wide.

Different things work against different opponents. Different things make your serve less easy to read, and your opponent less able to get into a rhythm and get a read on what you're doing. And on different days, in different conditions, some things will work better than others. Some days, your percentages won't be there, so you had better hope that you have something else to fall back on. Other days, your serving might be on fire. Another day, the wind might be pulling your serve or your toss all over the place.

Unless you've played your opponent before, I don't see how you can go into a match with a fixed game plan regarding what serves you're going to use and what's going to be most effective.
 
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LeeD

Bionic Poster
Torres answered the best.
Have every weapon, choose the correct time to use it.
If your nomal flat first is winning the point, don't throw in every other serve you have (which can easily be over 10 different first serves). If something you serve get's pummelled, you might try it again later, but change the losing game.
 
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