Serving Strategy at the French Open
As the pro tennis tours shift to the clay courts of Roland Garros, there is often a debate regarding serving strategy on the clay. Should players who posses strong, acing first serves such as Gael Monfils or Mario Ancic, who played Roger Federer, continue to go after their first serves or should they spin a few serves in the court? In terms of overall serving strategy, a player who relies on free points from a strong first serve should
continue that approach on clay rather than adopting the more conservative approach of spinning in first serves. This strategy makes the most sense because the player can still win many free points off of a strong serve on clay and also set up the rally for the second shot. Should a player such as Maria Sharapova, who has served a fair number of double faults in her first few matches, spin more of her first serves in on the clay? Probably not because going after first serve may help the confidence on the second serve, as well as the fact that she needs any free points she can win with the first serve to compensate for the double faults. The one serve that can be more effective on clay courts than on other surfaces is the kicking topspin serve to a right-hander’s backhand in the ad court. This serve pulls the returner wide which not only opens up the court, but allows the server to occasionally hit behind the receiver. This reverse strategy works well on clay because it’s often harder to change directions on the slippery clay courts. It may take a couple more shots to finish the point on clay, but that doesn’t require a complete change in serving strategy, but instead simply a bit more patience in the rallies.
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