Where to stand in tennis while receiving a serve.

Question

While receiving the served ball in tennis, I was told by an assistant coach to stand at the inner line of the alley. This has worked well for me, but I can't help but notice that every now and then a serve will go so close to the center line that it's out of my reach.

What I really want to know is what you all think the best place to receive a serve is and why.

Answer 1

there is no one right place to recieve a serve.  Standing near the alley is a good point of reference to start from.  If you notice you oppenent serving up the tee like you mentioned take a step in that direction, or take a step back.

If you recieving a lefty serve, you need to take a step to your left to counter their spin.

When i recieve a serve i like to stand two or three feet behind the baseline, this gives me alot of time to react to the serve, and step into it.

Answer 2

Your assistant coach is not wrong by saying that, however, it doesn't mean that you "glue" yourself on that spot, but fast respond to the fast coming balls. of course, like what you said, some serves come down to the T, and you will find there are some go out really wide that you can't get to it at all. That's why there is Ace such a thing.

After all, being able to return a serve successfully relies on many factors, not only where you stand, but most importantly: the ability to read a serve, read a toss, to "foresee" where the server is going to hit the serve and respond due to your "prediction". Eventually, you will develop your "muscle memory" (neuromuscular facilitation) to be able to return fast serves like the pros.

Also, are we talking about Singles game or Doubles??

Finally, where to stand depends on what type of server you face, there is no such a thing on this question as one answer sorts out all, one rule complies to all doesn't work in this case. For example: some people likes serving out wide on duece court, then you need to stand more towards the tram line, some people have a habit of serving down to the T on the advantage court, then you need to stand closer to the middle, some people have big big kick serve, then you need to stand out more than usual, some people's serves are weak, then you need to step in & attack the weak serve. Some people like serving out wide on their first serves, but body serving on their second serves, then you need to stand differently when returning their first and second serves.

It all depends. That's why serve can be the biggest weapon of your tennis game, and returning serve is an art.

Keep practising, you will figure it out yourself gradually.