TennisOne Lessons

Should You Elect to Serve or Receive?

Paul Fein

“OK, do you want to get broken first, or do you want to let me hold?” —What cheeky world No. 1 Martina Hingis quipped at the coin toss before a 1997 match against Lindsay Davenport.

Young and super confident, Martina Hingis could talk a little trash.

During the marathon deciding set of Fernando Gonzalez’s 6-4, 2-6, 16-14 bronze medal victory over Taylor Dent at the Athens Olympics, former world No. 1 Jim Courier, one of tennis’ most astute TV analysts, said he “would love to know why anyone would not want to serve first to start a set.” Courier pointed out two big advantages of serving first: holding serve for 5-4 and 6-5 leads then forces opponents to hold serve or lose the set—and losing one’s service game and falling behind 5-4 and 6-5 still provides a chance to break the opponent’s serve in the next game to tie the score.

Pete Sampras, considered by many the all-time greatest player, could not agree more. “I always decided to serve first because I felt it set the tone early on and gave you a game lead. It was also good mentally to serve first in the tiebreaker and get an early advantage.”

Andre Agassi, renowned for his terrific service returns, has a different philosophy. At the 2005 U.S. Open, Agassi elected to receive serve in the opening game of his semifinal against Robby Ginepri and again in the final against Roger Federer. That surprised some observers, but those decisions were quite logical.

At the 2005 US Open, Andre Agassi, renowned for his terrific service return, elected to receive in the opening game of his semifinal against Robby Ginepri and again in the final against Roger Federer.

Here are some reasons to consider choosing return of serve to start a match.

1. If your opponent is a slow starter, you have a better chance of getting an early service break.

2. If you are a slow starter, you have a better chance of avoiding an early service break.

3. If you serve on even-numbered games, you serve immediately after every changeover. Then you are physically and mentally rested—albeit your opponent also is—and that gives you a better chance of holding serve, especially in the latter stages of grueling matches.

4. If you choose return of serve to start the match, you still have about a 50 percent chance—depending on whether sets total an even or odd number of games—of serving to start the remaining sets. And if you start the match returning serve and you play a first-set tiebreaker, you will serve to start the second set.

5. Pete Sampras, perhaps the greatest server of all time, always decided to serve first. He felt it set the tone early on and gave him a game lead.

   If you boast an excellent return of serve and your opponent has a poor serve, you may want her to serve first so you can try to gain an early service break and get off to a fast start. A clear-cut, pro tennis example is a Lindsay Davenport-Elena Dementieva match-up. Dementieva self-destructed with a plethora of double faults in the 2004 French Open and Miami finals, and Davenport pounds awesome service returns. Davenport would put enormous pressure on Dementieva’s vulnerable serve with a service break to open the match.

6. The same thinking holds true (in reverse) if you have a weak, attackable serve and your opponent has a terrific service return. You can avoid a demoralizing early service break by selecting return of serve.

7. If your opponent wins the toss and selects a side of the court so that you’re looking into a bright sun and/or you’re against a heavy wind, you may not want to risk losing your serve in the opening game.

"Today I would receive much, much more," Billie Jean King

Finally, consider the cogent comments of 39-time Grand Slam champion Billie Jean King. “I almost always served first, probably 85 percent of the time. In my day—especially when we had so many matches on grass—it was better that way. 

“Today I would receive much, much more,” says King, former U.S. Fed Cup captain. “The equipment has changed so much that in many situations there are advantages to receiving and trying to get an early break. Also, surface plays a very important role in today’s game. Given those two elements, I would have to evaluate the serve/receive choice more carefully before the match.”

Do one or more of these offsetting factors outweigh the disadvantages of serving from one game behind in the opening set?

It’s your call.

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

Award-winning tennis writer Paul Fein's book, Tennis Confidential: Today's Greatest Players, Matches, and Controversies , published by Brassey's, Inc., was listed No. 1 among tennis books by Amazon.com and BN.com. Information about the book and how to order it can be found at: www.tennisconfidential.com . His second book, You Can Quote Me on That: Greatest Tennis Quips, Insights, and Zingers , was published by Potomac Books, Inc. (formerly Brassey's, Inc.) in February 2005. For more information, visit www.tennisquotes.com