Five drills to improve your tennis serve

The serve is the only shot in tennis that is entirely under your control, yet it is often the most neglected in training. Here are five simple drills to make it more solid and reliable.

1. Target ball toss: toss the ball without hitting it and let it drop, checking that it always lands in the same spot in front of you. An inconsistent toss is the most common cause of double faults.

2. Serve without a jump: perform the motion keeping your feet on the ground to isolate the arm and racket movement, focusing on pronation at contact.

3. Serve to precise zones: split the service box into three zones (wide, body, center) and hit ten serves per zone, alternating first and second serves.

4. Shadow serve in front of a mirror: without a ball, repeat the full motion to fix posture, grip and arm path before taking it to the court.

5. Serve under pressure: in the last minutes of practice, play points that start only from the serve, to get used to executing it with the same tension as a real match.