Tennis technique: how to serve faster

Arm yourself with this technique and start easily scoring points, if you perform it correctly. The pursuit for speed is a common one that can drive players mad. Follow our advice to speed up your serve.

Staying relaxed is essential in tennis and is especially important while serving. Breathe deeply while preparing to serve and exhale completely while concentrating on your target. A good way to relax is to drop your shoulders, making sure that they are low and not tense. Stay relaxed throughout the serve until you make contact with the ball. This way, your arm speed will be very fast without straining or hurting yourself or missing a serve.

Give yourself time to concentrate and relax while preparing your serve. Bounce the ball a few times. Take a deep breath, set your target and then begin your serve. (This goes for every serve!)

To speed up your serve, you have to use gravity to your advantage! And yes, a high toss helps you hit from different angles, but it also forces you to push off harder and adds more power to your shot. The further the ball has to fall, the more speed it takes on: it's basic physics.

just like the ball's height, pushing stronger through your legs will help you hit the ball from higher up to give you the best vantage point for "smashing". This also sets the tone for your serve. Without a good forward push, your ball will immediately lose its speed and will often end up in the net. Don't underestimate how much the legs contribute to the serve's power. All the energy for your serve comes from the legs and is supplemented with a fast arm swing.

the serve is a choreographed movement and therefore has a certain rhythm: your rhythm. A missed serve often follows the same rhythm throughout the movement. 1, 2, 3. The preferred rhythm is more like 1... 2,3. A slower start gives you time to position your hitting arm so that you can accelerate and explode at the end of the serve.It's up to you to find the best serving rhythm for you, either fast or slow between the lead-up and contact.

The mental aspect comes into play while serving. It also influences your state of mind during the entire rally for a point. A calm attitude is therefore necessary before serving. If you want to serve a little harder, you have to relax as much as possible and clear your mind of any desire to serve hard. Focusing too much can be detrimental as it will make your body tense up, immediately making it more difficult to stay relaxed and hit smoothly, thus slowing down your arm speed.

You're now ready to speed up your serve! Try these tips first in training and then in a match once you have your serve routine perfected. Time!