Service Returns

 I was talking to a long term PB friend and I asked him what area of the game he would like to improve the most.  He said, "Service returns."

Ah, an excellent choice...  I pay attention to how many times I err when returning and it may be a topic that I've not written about much, so allow me to explain my thoughts.  Maybe that will create a conversation or give you all something to think about.

First off, I like to get well behind the baseline.  This gives me some extra time to get into position and I will never have to back up to hit a return.  There is a disadvantage to this and that is that "clever" server will assume I can't get to a short serve.  The trick is to watch the serve closely and judge how hard it has been hit.  The sound of the strike is also a good indicator as to where the serve will land.

As soon as I've figured out the serve, direction and depth, then I'm moving.  I would like to stop before I hit the return, but that's not always possible.

If I can hit the return with my forehand, I will almost always hit it with top spin and into the middle of the court.  Deeper is better than shallower, but I'm not worried too much about a short return as I will always move to the kitchen line and stop and get my paddle up to return the third shot. 

The importance of getting to the kitchen line cannot be over exaggerated.  Being stopped with paddle up is very important too.  I'll digress away from our topic for a moment.  If I hit the service return to the middle of the court, then I will run towards the middle of the court.  Some of this depends on my partner, who should have already moved over to cover the center of the court.  If I return to my sideline, then I will advance directly towards the ball.  I want to be directly in front of my opponent.  That cuts down on the angle available to my opponent for the third shot.  My partner will cover more of the middle in this scenario.  

If I return cross court, my partner slides to their left and I will move to the middle of the court at the kitchen line.

Backhand returns...  I tend to hit backhands with some back spin, which causes the ball to float a bit and it's easier for me to hit a shot long with that kind of spin.  The avoid that, I will generally not hit as deep a shot with the backhand.  And like a lot of players my backhand is more awkward than my forehand.

And like the forehand, I'm happy to hit this shot to the middle of the court and then move up as described in the above paragraphs.

And that is about it.  I rarely hit cross court as I don't want to start an angle war with my opponents and I find that hitting almost all shots to the middle causes fewer misses on my part and a middle shot can be difficult even for good players.