What to do about a big server who's having a really good day

[raven5288]

Well, I played in a doubles tournament today and got to the finals. One of our opponents was mediocre, but the other guy was serving bombs on us the whole match. Neither myself or my partner could touch it, and we can pace and big serves.....but this thing was a monster. We tried just blocking it back.....but we couldn't track it down or get a racket on it. My partner and I both have big serves too, in fact, I have the biggest one on the whole team, but man............his was just crazy. The end result was 6-8, but we were down 0-3 and we really fought back into the match. At 6-6, the mediocre was serving at 3-3 and the net man just got a REALLY lucky volley. Then I just couldn't hold serve cause of the pressure.

Is there any effective way you can neutralize such power? We might have done better if anyone we practice with serves like that, but no one does. What do you guys think?

 

[Mahboob Khan]

Well improve your return of serve!

Improve your reaction time (watch the toss going up, watch his hitting arm's upper arm/elbow area); do lots of rope skipping, and short sprints, and do the following drill 2/3 times a week:

-- Have partner serve a basket from the T. Anticipate his serve, split step, judge the ball, and bisect the angle of the serve, and try to return it. With more practice you will develop the "sixth sense" to return hard serves.

-- Watch Roger Federer return Andy Rocket's serve (I mean Andy Roddick).

The bottomline is that you have to practice the return of serve. In practice sessions, how much time do you dedicate to return of serve? How much time to serve, how much time to ground strokes? I bet, we spend more time on ground strokes and less time on return of serve! Well a match does not start with a ground stroke. It starts with a serve, then return of serve if you are receiving! OK, return of serve is also a ground stroke but in a different situation.

 

[Camilio Pascual]

Re: What to do about a big server who's having a really good

What do you guys think?

Winner buys the beer.

 

[AAAA]

The following might be considered 'dirty' or 'dishonorable' but when your team is receiving serve the net man can stand right next to the center service line as close to the net as they dare. The idea is you MAKE the service box appear smaller to the server and question their 'killer instinct'. Some won't care whether they clock you others will be thrown by the 'tactic' and ease up on the serve. Some just go to pieces.


Up to you whether you do it.

 

[eagle]

Hi AAAA,

Someone actually tried it on my serve at one time. It was a friendly game. He was kind of clowning around since I kept serving to the backhand side of his partner. Anyway, it didn't matter to me. I kept right on serving to his partner's weak backhand. We all had a laugh of how persistent I was and not bothered by the distraction.

r,
eagle

 

[joe sch]

Since its hard to find servers capable of 120mph to practice with and you want to be somewhat prepared for these bombs incase you end up playing a hot cannon baller in a tournament, the way to get some practice is to have your partner hit serves from the service line. If you can start returning these practice serves then you will be better prepared for this situation. Good luck !

 

[Thanatos]

The following might be considered 'dirty' or 'dishonorable' but when your team is receiving serve the net man can stand right next to the center service line as close to the net as they dare. The idea is you MAKE the service box appear smaller to the server and question their 'killer instinct'. Some won't care whether they clock you others will be thrown by the 'tactic' and ease up on the serve. Some just go to pieces.


Up to you whether you do it.

That hapened to me once during a tournament, but the guy kept hopping back and forth several times from the far side to the center of the service line during my service motion. It was really distracting and made me mess up my serves. Is that legal? If that is legal then I should be able to start break-dancing during his service motion.

 

[kevhen]

If I struggle in doubles with a big serve, I will back up farther behind the baseline to give myself more time and will usually ask that my partner play the baseline as well since I don't feel comfortable returning and we need to start out in a defensive formation.

I don't like to back up too far in doubles though as it just gives their netman more time to poach, but if I can't handle the pace while trying to block balls back, it's about the only thing left to try and then you have to hope he can't place serves outwide.

You can also move inside the baseline to change his point of reference and maybe mess up his serving rhythm but you need some quick blocking reflexes if he still persists getting his serve in.

Good luck next time you play them.

 

[devwizard]

I have a few different techniques that really help me out to combat big servers. Each technique really depends on the server's style, mostly the type of spin he generates and his placement.

First, as suggested earlier, if the guy can only generate huge bombs down the middle, play way deep in the court, and just smack a backhand cross-court. And if you have decent grounstrokes, you can use the extra power from his serve to put some extra punch on your return, making it hard for the net person to poach.

Then, if the server starts getting smart and hitting wide angles or really spinny shots, what works for me is to move in REALLY close. I mean, I'll come in between the baseline and the service line, and just pick up the return really early off the bounce. I just hit a low half volley almost with an eastern grip, and come right in off it. This is actually pretty effective against really wide hard serves as well, because it gives you a shorter physical distance to reaching the ball.

However, the key to getting these techniques to work is being able to somewhat anticipate where the server is going to hit. This can usually be found by watching serve patterns and paying attention to specific serve mechanics devices. (ie toss height, where his eyes are looking, body rotation, etc)

 

[Bungalo Bill]

Re: What to do about a big server who's having a really good

What do you guys think?

Winner buys the beer.

LOL, or pray!

Seriously, you have to try and bait him and do whatever you can to get him to think more about you - then his good serving. But when somone is on - it is tough.

 

[papa]

AAAA wrote:

"The following might be considered 'dirty' or 'dishonorable' but when your team is receiving serve the net man can stand right next to the center service line as close to the net as they dare. The idea is you MAKE the service box appear smaller to the server and question their 'killer instinct'. Some won't care whether they clock you others will be thrown by the 'tactic' and ease up on the serve. Some just go to pieces."

Stand anywhere you want but I don't think this tactic is very effective against most players and remember that if you or your partner gets hit on the fly its the servers point. Kinda turns me on when I encounter someone trying to crowd my serve.

 

[kevhen]

I would plan to serve up the T anyway and doubt some clown standing there could get out of the way anyway. I have hit quick players in the foot while they were standing at the baseline before so this would make that even easier. You live and you learn hopefully (not to stand there!)

 

[fastdunn]

How about a little bit of gamesmanship ?
I can try to disrupt his rythm and turn the day into his
bad serving day. Go turtle soup strategy or interupt him
when he started his serving motion and tie your shoe laces
or something... Ha ha Ha .

 

[kevhen]

Do you keep many hitting partners or make many tennis friends that way?

 

[Smashlob]

Make sure that you HOLD your serve, the other team cannot win just by holding serve. By holding serve, you put added pressure on their team and the server. This might force him into missing more serves.

I do not believe that there is a whole lot you can do against a big server in the zone to his serve, I believe that the key to the match rests in your serve, if you must, bring it to a tiebreaker and fight it out there.

 

[Bungalo Bill]

Make sure that you HOLD your serve, the other team cannot win just by holding serve. By holding serve, you put added pressure on their team and the server. This might force him into missing more serves.

I do not believe that there is a whole lot you can do against a big server in the zone to his serve, I believe that the key to the match rests in your serve, if you must, bring it to a tiebreaker and fight it out there.

Very good point.

 

[TwistServe]

kinda off topic but..

we all know roddick has a huge serve.. however, agassi and federer can break his serve like a twig!!!

 

[jun]

yeah...I don't think you can do too much if he's on...

A few things you can try is try to make him one more ball, and make him move a little bit. If they have to move around a bit more than they are used to, it might take their leg out and hurt their serve...

You can try to delay things...try to disturb his rhythm....usual stuff

 

[vin]

The following might be considered 'dirty' or 'dishonorable' but when your team is receiving serve the net man can stand right next to the center service line as close to the net as they dare. The idea is you MAKE the service box appear smaller to the server and question their 'killer instinct'. Some won't care whether they clock you others will be thrown by the 'tactic' and ease up on the serve. Some just go to pieces.


Up to you whether you do it.

It's not much different than a batter crowding the plate. I don't like it at all when people do this to me, but I don't back down. They are being aggressive by doing that and I'm going to be aggressive right back. And if I hit them, it's my teams point! I'm happy to say that I haven't hit anyone who's done this, but I've made a few people bust out some impressive dance moves!

 

[AAAA]

I suppose the effectiveness of crowding the centre service line decreases as the playing level increases.

You can also try mind games. Make the server think about his serve by complimenting him with words like:

'Great serve'

'You're really serving well today'

Or to be more less confrontational say to your partner things like:

'Are we going to break this serve' after he hits a good one.

'I can't get his serve back' can make him start to relax mentally.

Your brain can help you so use it.

 

[Bungalo Bill]

I suppose the effectiveness of crowding the centre service line decreases as the playing level increases.

You can also try mind games. Make the server think about his serve by complimenting him with words like:

'Great serve'

'You're really serving well today'

Or to be more less confrontational say to your partner things like:

'Are we going to break this serve' after he hits a good one.

'I can't get his serve back' can make him start to relax mentally.

Your brain can help you so use it.

The compliments are also something that diminishes in effectiveness as the level increases as well!

 

[Max G.]

...well, speaking of ways to counter his serve BESIDES gamesmanship...

a) you could move further back on the return and give yourself more time. The disadvantage of that is that you'll be more vulnerable to angled serves, and you're giving the net player more time to poach and the server more time to get to net.

b) just block serves with a little bit of underspin. But you said you tried that and it didn't work.

c) look for patterns to his serving and figure out in which direction you should lean/guess.

 

[papa]

AAAA wrote:

".....You can also try mind games. Make the server think about his serve by complimenting him with words like:

'Great serve'

'You're really serving well today'

Or to be more less confrontational say to your partner things like:

'Are we going to break this serve' after he hits a good one.

'I can't get his serve back' can make him start to relax mentally.

Your brain can help you so use it."



To me, this type of "nonsense" falls into a different category than just moving around on the court which I don't think is very effective anyway. Although I don't pay much attention to what might be said during a match, others do so make sure your either bigger or can run faster. I've actually played with a guy who had a big mouth and the opposition took offense during a match and told him, in no uncertain terms, to keep his big trap shut or they would do it themselves - he's been better but I really don't care to play with him for that very reason.