Tennis Serve – Never Serve First
Here’s a bet you can win 90 percent of the time with your tennis friends: “What choices does the player who wins the spin of the racket (or toss) have?” Most of the time they will say the answer is to serve/receive or select which side to begin the match on. Wrong! There is one other option. It is to give the first choice to the other player. Knowing all of this and how to use it can be important. As you’ll see.
Most club or public court players like to win the spin of the racket so they can elect to serve first. I believe that you should almost always choose to receive serve first. But it’s a big thing for most players, serving first. When your opponent spins the racket and informs you that your choice of “up” or “down” is wrong, have you ever caught yourself wondering if they may already have “hooked” you so they can serve first? That’s okay. Let them. Don’t argue with a player who wants to serve first. In fact, you can help them to do it by electing to receive a serve when you win the spin.
They may think they get an advantage by serving first, but in most cases, they don’t. In fact, they get a disadvantage. At the pro level in men’s tennis, it’s generally better to serve first in a match. With some exceptions that isn’t the case in recreational tennis.