Where to Stand to Return Tennis Serves

Video Transcript

"Okay, so when you return serve, where do you want to stand on the baseline to be able to return the serve or stand inside the baseline? Well it depends on how powerful you're opponents serve is, most players, if they're playing someone with a powerful first serve, they'll stand a little bit behind the baseline, on the second serve they'll creep up a little bit. If players have a weak serve, you can stand at the baseline or inside the baseline, but you also want to stand near the sideline, that way if they serve out wide on the do side to your forehand you can cover it, but you can still cover the serve up the middle, and then in doubles you may actually stand a little wider. So Ken's going to demonstrate. So Ken's going to stand near the sideline, which means he can easily handle a ball to his forehand, but he's a little vulnerable to a ball down the middle. So as a server, I want to try to pull him out wide, but he's trying to cut that angle off, so that's why standing about right there allows you to cut off all the angles. But, of course, it's a cat and mouse game, and the better servers are going to move you around a little bit, so you're going to have to give up some points. When you're opponent's serving, you don't have to win every point, but to win a game you just need to win two points more than him or her."