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Step 1
Place your left foot behind the baseline and your right foot several inches behind your left. Before and during your service, your feet must stay behind the baseline for a legal serve. If they're not, you'll receive a foot fault and lose one service attempt. You get two service attempts in a legal tennis game.
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Step 2
Hold your racquet in your right hand with the side not the strings facing you and the ball in your left hand. Bring your hands together in front of you, slightly bend your knees, and toss the ball high in the air as you quickly wind your racquet behind, then above your head.
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Step 3
Make contact with the ball while your racquet is above your head. Aim for the opposite diagonal service box and avoid hitting the net with your ball. Your service is legal if the ball lands in the diagonal service box without touching the net. If your ball lands outside the service box, you fault--or you lose that service attempt.
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Step 4
Lose a service attempt or fault if your ball lands outside the service box. This loss of a service attempt is referred to as a fault. If the ball hits the net and still lands in the diagonal service box, you had a let and you replay your first serve.
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Step 5
Play your second serve if your first was out of the diagonal box. If your second serve does not land in the opposite diagonal service box, you've double faulted, and you lose the point. In addition, if you swing and miss hitting the service ball, you fault.
