Coach delivers easy second serve. Player attacks with forehand to the backhand corner. Coach hits the ball short and player finishes to the other side.
Putting pressure on the server is an ability that all professional players have acquired. Using easy second serve to dominate the point is a necessity to build an aggressive game. Rafa Nadal or Serena Williams are great examples of players who force their opponents to go for more with the second serves because every weak delivery is punished immediately. In this exercise, the player works on offensive second serve's return and finishing with the next shot. It is important to combine return and next shot because most of the time good opponents will find a way to hit the ball back even if the return was well placed. Coach should encourage players to take forehand as a finishing weapon to build the game around this shot.
Most club players practise the serve on its own and then have no idea what to do with the ball that comes back. Serve plus one is the pattern that turns a good serve into a won point.
Wimbledon has just crowned another champion, and if you watched closely you saw the same thing every year: the best returners quietly won the tournament. Here is how to coach a return that pressures the server rather than just surviving it.
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