TennisOne Lessons

How to Deal with Weak Serves and Sitters

Tom Avery

This month I have some tips on how to deal with those "sitters," you know what I mean, those weak slow serves, or returns your opponent hits that are just begging you to hit the cover off the ball. Truth is, those slow serves and weak returns, are not as easy as some think.

Picture this scenario: You're playing a match against an opponent who is solid from the baseline, however, his serve is weak and slow. You're trying to take advantage of this weakness but you're making way too many errors on the return of serve. You may resort to "just get it back" and lose your opportunities to go on the offensive. As you may know, it's tougher to be consistent against a slow ball as compared to someone who hits hard. When you're playing against a hard hitter you can get into a rhythm, there's not a lot of thinking, you're sticking the racquet out there and consistently keeping the ball in play. However, with a slow ball this is much tougher. Why? Because it takes better stroke mechanics to hit a slow ball, consistently in the court. With a slow ball a lot more can go wrong if the racquet face is getting out of position because of stroke mechanics that are doing too much. So, the key is to "Keep It Simple."

If you improve your stroke mechanics, less can go wrong. The video above gives you some tips on how to improve your stroke mechanics and be more consistent with those sitters. I offer four tips in the video, however, when practicing, never exceed two points (tips) at a time. When there are too many points to think about, the brain gets confused and we cannot concentrate at all, and we don't improve.

So, pick two and work on those for a while. Then pick another two and work on those. Find the two that work best for you. You can then use those tips the next time that slow serve sits up and you want to get offensive. Remember, this will take some concerted effort on your part to implement these tips. If you do, I guarantee, you'll look forward to those sitters in the future and have the confidence to go on the offensive.

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Tom Avery's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.

Tom Avery has over 35 years teaching experience. His instruction, which includes The Consistent Tennis Wins DVD Series, has been aired on the Tennis Channel. He has inspired players from the nationally ranked to those just beginning the game. He is the Designer and Founder of the AVERY Racquet Company. Tom is now teaching in Naples, Florida and accepting students. He can be reached at 239-592-5920. Visit Tom's websites at: http://www.TomAvery.com and http://www.AveryRacquets.com