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Step 1
Watch your opponent's motion in warm-ups. Different players have very different serves, and they hit them from many different arm angles. Once a match has started, it's often too late to start figuring out your opponent's unorthodox sidearm delivery without first dropping a few important games. Always make a mental note of everything you can pick up while your opponent takes his 10 or 20 warm-up serves just prior to your match.
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Step 2
Prepare early. Preparation is the key to any good service return, particularly if your opponent has a powerful serve. It's actually a quite simple concept-if your racket and body are ready and in position when the serve gets to you, you only have to do one thing-swing your racquet forward and hit the ball. If you are not in position and are late getting your racket back, you have to do 3 things while that 100-MPH first serve is flying at you-turn your body, get the racquet back and then swing it forward.
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Step 3
Be aggressive on second serves. It's always hard to return a powerful first serve, but most club level players don't possess consistent fireballs. That means you are going to be facing an awful lot of much slower and easier-to-return second serves. It's important to take advantage of those opportunities, by stepping in a bit further on the court and hitting an offensive shot whenever possible. The server has a big advantage when he gets his first serve in--when he doesn't, you need to turn the tables with an aggressive return.
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Step 4
Keep your head in the proper position along with the rest of your body and watch the ball all the way to your racquet. A service return is different from a regular groundstroke in that it requires a more quick, reactionary and explosive move to get into position to return a fast moving ball. This can often result in the returner jerking his head off of the ball and missing a lot of returns.
