How to stand and prepare when receiving a serve

dd yy September 6, 2024 9 0

Serve receive is a collective term for the technical action of returning the ball served by the opponent to the opponent’s court. Usually there are high balls, hanging balls, killing balls, rolling balls, pushing balls, hooking diagonal balls and other methods. It not only requires athletes to master a variety of practical basic skills and good judgement, but also must implement the proactive guiding ideology. If it is said that a good serve is the beginning of the victory of every point, then a good serve receive is also the first step to regain the right to serve, which can destroy the opponent’s serve attack, limit the opponent’s speciality techniques, and also create conditions for their next shot to attack and speciality techniques, and even score points directly. Especially in doubles matches, a bad serve reception will not only cause your passivity or loss of points, but also may affect the confidence of the match.

Receiving and serving position

Singles position: generally stand about 1.5 metres away from the front serve line (can be adjusted according to your height and the opponent’s serve characteristics), in the right tee area to receive the ball, the position should be biased against the centre line, in the left tee area to receive the ball, you should stand in the middle of the left tee area.
Doubles position: Since the doubles service area is 0.76 metres shorter than that of singles, the matches are usually dominated by net and flat fastballs, therefore, the reception of serve should be close to the front serve line.

Preparation posture

body side to the net, left foot in front, right foot in the back, two feet naturally open, singles serve receiving body weight falls on the left foot, the right heel naturally lifted, knees slightly flexed, chest and abdomen, two arms naturally lifted, racket lifted in front of the body, eyes on the other side. When receiving a serve in doubles, the centre of gravity of the body should be relatively lower than in singles, and should be adjusted between the two feet according to the judgement of the opponent’s intention to serve, and the racket should be lifted higher than in singles.