These four exercises will wire your musceles to hit up on the ball. The key to putting topspin on your serve.

By Debbie Graham Shaffer

1. HIT THE STRINGS
Step up to the baseline as you would on a serve. Place a racquet on the ground with the handle lined up with the outside of your front foot, so the head of the racquet points toward the net post (the right post if you’re right-handed; the left one if you’re a lefty). You now have a target for your toss—the ball should fall in line with your front shoulder and land on the racquet face (slight adjustments are acceptable and normal, so don’t be afraid to fi ddle with your target a little). When you toss the ball, hold it in your fi ngertips and keep your wrist fi rm. Try to get into a rhythm by making 10 accurate tosses in a row.

2. BUTT IN
To hit a topspin serve, the strings have to brush up the back of the ball at an angle from 7 to 1 o’clock for right-handers (for a full kick serve, righties will brush from 8 to 2 o’clock). To get acquainted with this motion, get in your serving position and hold your racquet as if it were a javelin, with the head pointing to the back fence, your elbow in front of you, and the butt cap aiming in the direction of the net (use your Continental serving grip). Toss the ball and, as it falls, try to tap the bottom of it with the butt cap of your racquet. You may be strong enough to hit the ball over the net, but don’t worry if you can’t. You simply want to get a feel for hitting up on the ball.

3. THROW YOURSELF INTO IT
Racquet-head speed is the key to an effective serve, topspin or otherwise. Here are three simple throwing exercises that will give your swing more pace.

A. LONG BALL
Step up to the baseline as you would to serve, but with a tennis ball in your racquet hand. Throw the ball over the net to the proper box. Good height over the net plus a long throw equals a lively throwing arm, which is what you want. As you throw the ball, keep your service motion in mind. When you fi nish a throw, your body should be inside the court, as it would be at the end of a serve.

B. SUNDAY IN THE PARK
Throw a football back and forth with a partner.

C. THE TWIST
This drill helps coordinate your shoulders, hips, and legs. Take your serving position and put your tennis bag behind your back foot (your right foot if you’re right-handed; left foot for lefties). Place six or seven balls on the bag (any steady object that prevents the balls from rolling off is fi ne, as long as it’s no taller than your knees). Start from your serving position, turn your shoulders, reach down for a ball, and throw it as you did in exercise A. You should do this in one continuous motion. Grabbing the ball behind you forces you to turn your shoulders and hips and bend your knees. You want to feel like you’re throwing the ball up and over the net.

4. SIT AND SERVE
To really get the feel for hitting up, sit on the ground parallel to the baseline with your legs extended and your eyes facing the side fence. Begin with your racquet up and try to serve the ball into the proper box. Take a full swing as you would if you were standing. You’ll see right away how you have to brush up on the ball to hit it over the net and to avoid driving your racquet into the ground when you follow through. Imagine that you’re throwing your racquet up and toward the side fence. If this is too diffi cult at fi rst, try the drill from your knees on a towel and eventually graduate to the seated position.