#double faults

Our tennis tip comes to us today from Robert Russell, former Director of Tennis Instruction at the Country Club of Jackson in Jackson, MS. Robert is a USPTA professional, and in over 30 years of teaching he has coached over 300 state, sectional, or nationally ranked juniors, and has coached 2 players that played on the professional tour. Robert was voted the Mississippi Tennis Association Coach of the Year in 1994, and will give us some tips on the 2nd serve today. The Second Serve How many of you out there hit a really big first serve and then you “poof” your second serve just to make it in the box. A lot of folks need to raise their hand. One of my junior players, won’t mention any names but she has a great serve, lost an important match because she got nervous and started “poofing” her second serves. It’s very demoralizing when you’re playing someone whose second serve is almost as good as their first serve; but on the other hand, when you just “poof” your serve in, number one, you give your opponent something to look forward to, and number two, you’ve lost your advantage of having the serve and this allows your opponent to dictate how the point is going to be played because they can take your second serve and be very offensive with it. By doing this, you are allowing them to gain their confidence, and you start to lose yours. You are a lot better off being aggressive with your second serve and having more double faults. This way you decide who’s going to dictate who wins or loses the points, not your opponent. If you’re not double faulting two or three times a match, then you’re really not going for your serve…Fortune favors the brave…so GO FOR IT!