Serve to the right box
Ready when: Fed forehands (b4) started.
What you are learning
The serve rules: stand behind the baseline beside the centre mark, serve diagonally into the opposite service box, two tries for each point. An underhand serve is the easiest start; the receiver lets it bounce once, then returns it.
Words on this card Baseline, Service court, Underhand serve, Fault, Receiver, Umpire
- Baseline
- The back line of the court, the line that ends the service boxes, and the small mark in the middle of the baseline.
- Service court
- The box the serve must land in.
- Underhand serve
- A serve hit from below the waist; one hit from above the head; a serve with spin.
- Fault
- A serve that misses the box; the second try after a fault.
- Receiver
- The player returning the serve.
- Umpire
- The person who calls the score and the lines.
Show it first for the one teaching
- Stand behind the baseline, just to the right of the centre mark.
- Drop the ball and hit it from below the waist, diagonally into the box on the far side.
- If it misses (a fault), take a second serve. Then serve from the left side.
Your part while they practise
Stand as receiver; call "in" or "fault".
Step by step
- Stand behind the baseline, to the right of the centre mark.
- Serve diagonally into the right service court with an underhand serve.
- Two tries per point: a second serve after a fault.
- Then from the left.
- The receiver returns after one bounce.
How much: 20 serves 15 min a session 2 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Serve and return
Each player serves two points, then the partner, as in a match.
Who plays: 2 to 4; you umpire.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- The server serves from the right, then the left
- The receiver lets the serve bounce and returns it; play out the point
- After two points, swap servers
- First to 7 points
- Fair play
- A grown-up serves from 2 steps further back.
- Points
- 1 point for each point won; a double fault gives the point to the receiver.
- Fouls
- A fault (the serve is taken again, or the point lost on the second)
- A foot on or over the baseline
- The serve lands outside the box
- Serving before the receiver is ready
- Winning
- The first to 7 points.
- 2 points for 1 star
- 4 points for 2 stars
- 7 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
Stand at the service line.
Try an overhand serve (ask a coach).
What you will see, and what to say
- foot on the line
Feet behind the line
Check your feet. - rushed
Wait until the receiver is ready
Look, then serve.
Self-check
6 of 10 underhand serves in the right box.
Stop and get a coach when
Learning the cut serve or the overhand serve.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains serve rules, a first serve, return.
awiseathlete.com/sports/soft-tennis/soft-tennis-b6