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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.
