Have you ever heard the phrase "you are only as good as your
second serve"? This really does bring up the point of having
an effective second serve. You need to have a serve that you
can consistently place and still keep your opponent from
hitting an offensive return. One of the most common
problems I see is that a player will have a bullet for a
first serve and then need a calendar to time the second
serve.
Many players attempt to hit a big flat first serve and if
they miss they follow it with a wimpy flat serve that they
just push over. I'm not suggesting that the ball travel
the same speed on first and second serve but I do recommend
that players learn a spin serve to slow the ball down. With
spin you can keep the same rhythm on your serve and keep
your arm moving at the same speed but by hitting the side
of the ball the spin will slow the ball down and make it
drop into the court.
Slowing your swinging arm down too much will make it
difficult to find a rhythm and will also make it difficult
to get into a groove with your first serve. You don't want
your second serve to just be a "slower first serve" -- you
still want some pace and direction. By working on putting
spin on your second serve you can hit up more and gain more
net clearance, keep the same arm speed, and hopefully throw
your opponent off balance. But most importantly, you will
keep from having that old dinky second serve. Go for it
more on the second serve and you might just find out you
should be using it more on your first serve!
