In our previous serve and return of serve blog, we discussed how the serve is one of the most underutilised shots in a match. We even gave you some expert tips from 3x World Champion, Nick Matthew (If you missed it, click this link). In this article we will give you a few tips to help in choosing the right serve.
Pictured: Nick Matthew making the most of his serve at the Canary Wharf Squash Classic.
- Identify the type of court and how the court plays. Some courts play quite fast and may be suited to the occasional body serve, others have extremely high roofs which may favour the lob serve. Identifying how the courts play should be done in the warm up (check out our blog to see how you can most of your warm up), which can be done by hitting a variety of shots such as lobs, hard cross-courts, softer cross-courts etc.
- Identify the conditions. In winter where the courts are colder, a serve has to be hit a little harder to get the ball to carry through to the side and backwall. The opposite is true in summer, you have to be careful not to overhit the ball and may even need to apply some extra cut.
- Check where your opponent is standing. If your opponent is standing really high up on the court, a lob serve will be better suited. On the contrary, if the opponent is standing right at the back of the court, a hard serve directed at the corner or a serve that hits the sidewall deep in the court could be a really effective tool as it will jam the opponent up in the corner.
- Slow down. Too many people rush the serve! Slow yourself down so you are set up to execute the serve to the best of your ability.
- Choose a target to serve the ball at. Do not serve the ball unless you have chosen a specific target. Choosing a target will help you in limiting your opponent’s options when returning the serve (if they return it) and therefore narrow the possibilities that you will have to prepare for.
- Commit the serve! It’s the only way you will get the most out of your serve!
Pictured: Cameron Pilley serving at the Commonwealth Games.
If you enjoyed these tips and are looking for more ways to improve your service game or your return of serve, then we highly recommend joining us for our serveand return of serveclinics! Using deliberate practice principles, you will learn in minute detail what you need to plan to do, what to be thinking and then what to do to remove the serve and/or the return of serve as a disadvantage and turn it into an advantage!
Some of the topics covered in the 2 hour clinics are as follows:
The Serve:
The Return Of Serve:
To book your place in the serve clinic click here.
To book your place in the return of serve clinic click here.
Please note there are only a limited number of clinics that are going to be run, so get in quick!
Some of the topics covered in the 2 hour clinics are as follows:
The Serve:
- How to prepare for your serve
- The difference between the FH and BH serve
- Learn the service targets
- Determine your service style and stroke
- Should you serve to a left-hander’s backhand?
- Where should you go once you’ve “served’?
- When should you serve?
- The mental aspect of the serve
- The #1 thing to avoid when serving
The Return Of Serve:
- Where you should stand
- Your ROS target hierarchy in order of preference
- Where you should go once you complete your ROS
- Your approach to the ROS
- The mental aspect of the ROS
- How to practice the ROS
- Why the ROS is so “hard”
To book your place in the serve clinic click here.
To book your place in the return of serve clinic click here.
Please note there are only a limited number of clinics that are going to be run, so get in quick!
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