Tennis Footwork: Returning Serve

Video Transcript

"All right. Right here, we're talking about the return of serve, and we have Gustavo getting ready to return serve on that side. We're going to show you the processes of going through this return of serve and kind of show you how to get a rhythm and how to make sure that you're moving forward and coming in at an angle. A lot of players go sideways on the return of serve. And so in doubles, it's not effective. They're not able to go in. Plus, they are getting the ball spun away from them, a lot of times. They're not able to reach the ball. So you can cut off the angles if you're going forward at an angle. So what we're going to do is Gustavo is going to show you. Once I toss the ball up, you'll kind of see him getting ready. Is that how you get ready Gustavo? He looks good. See how he's ready, right there, looking balanced, getting focused. He knows where he wants to go, I think, on his return of serve. I toss the ball up. He moves forward, and he still moves forward. Once I toss it, watch what he does. See that? He has a little bit of movement forward. I didn't even hit the ball, but I just showed you what he did right there. He just moved forward a little bit. So I toss it. He comes forward. And even that wide ball, see that? He didn't go sideways. That was a tough serve. I mean, I hit that pretty well. And he went forward, and that's why he was able to get that shot. We're going to show you that again, maybe on the backhand side, this time. Going forward. There we go. See that forward motion, right there. And a lot of players, you can learn by walking. You know kind of walk into the ball a little bit. As the toss goes up, you walk in and then you're forward. Then you can handle anything. A lot of players common mistake is people will just stand there. Let's show them what people do right here. This is a player just standing there, waiting for the return of serve. Let me show you that wide ball, now. Watch how he goes sideways. Do you do this? I think you might. So we're going to show you again, the right way, going forward on that same exact serve. And it's a lot easier. See that? He's able to handle it, able to cut off the court, able to take less steps."