Today we shift our attention to the most underhanded serve in tennis, the drop serve. To execute a drop serve, the server lets the ball fall from the hand and strikes it with the racquet before it hits the ground. In this case the toss is “dropped,” hence the name of this particular service motion. This is clearly allowed in the rules.
The server shall then release the ball by hand in any direction and hit the ball with the racket before the ball hits the ground.
USTA Friend at Court, ITF Rules of Tennis, Section 16
2019 saw a resurgence in the usage of drop serves, a trend that seemed to be started by Nick Kyrgios. The ATP Tennis TV put together published drop serve highlight reel on YouTube, including some epic drop serve fails.
While the serve is clearly legal, the ATP highlight video clearly shows the derision that both the players and fans have for the tactic. A chorus of whistles and glares from the receiver were elicited in response to many of the attempts. This is unfortunate, because it is a perfectly legitimate shot.
At the ATP level, I am surprised that more players with booming serves, don’t attempt the drop serves against players such as Rafael Nadal who return the serve so deep they actually stand behind the officials and the ball kids when the serve is delivered. It is probably no coincidence that the start of the trend in 2019 was Kyrgios serving to Nadal.
I have seen drop serves used on occasion in my own tennis matches. I once played a double match at the USTA Senior Intersectionals Event against a player who had a shoulder condition forcing her to exclusively hit drop serves. My partner and I smiled to ourselves with the idea that we would break her serve every time. We didn’t. Our opponent delivered the drop serve and was standing at the net before the ball even bounced on our side.
An active tournament player in my section hits the drop serve frequently enough in both singles and doubles that it is a mandatory bullet point in her scouting report. Her rendition is delivered with a crazy amount of side spin. I spent a set and a half in a tournament match with her a couple of years ago spraying my returns of her drop serve into the fence before accepting that I needed to simply put the ball in play. Far from derision, I think of this tactic as more of a puzzle to solve.
As an adult I have hit drop serves from time to time, usually prompted by court conditions. I executed a drop serve double fault at the NTRP National Championships one year on a super windy day while suffering from vertigo from a sinus infection. It takes a special obstinance to miss two consecutive drop serves.
Once in league playoffs I drop served facing a viscous sun glare on an advantage point. That case was memorable because my opponent had apparently never seen a drop serve before and believed it to be illegal. Fortunately an umpire was close at hand to sort that out.
Yesterday we discussed that certain trick serves violate “The Code” because the racquet motion is intended to distract the opponent. The drop serve does not fit into that category because there is no motion other that the service delivery. It is surprising, but not prohibited.
This concludes analysis of the section titled “The Service” and we will move onto the section titled “Serving” tomorrow. The distinction between those two sections will be discussed and there will certainly be more grousing about the organization of the rules.
- United States Tennis Association (2020) Friend at Court. White Plains, NY
