Lefty against righty pendulum serve

Jarno Virtanen Asked 7 years ago

Being lefty myself, I've always found the most difficult serve to be a good righty pendulum serve that is short or half-long. It seems difficult or impossible to return short and long backspin return gives the opponent a great opportunity to open with forehand. There are no easy answers to this but I'm curious as to what is the recommendation. I'm relatively slow mover myself so that limits a bit too. My typical level is 2000+ now.

Alois Rosario Answered 7 years ago

Hi Jarno,

The main thing is to get close to the ball on that return.  Something that I find helps a lot of players is telling them to get their nose close to the ball on contact.  This gives you better control and also give you the ability to adjust easier.  The difficulty with the right handers serve swimming away is that you tend to play behind the ball.  This is an issue for a lot of left handers.