All tennis players need to be able to serve into a bad sun court. If you never face the sun when practicing serves, then you are absolutely hampering your match play performance. Players that are truly serious about maximizing competitive potential should deliberately chase the sun. Specifically, serve practice sessions should be scheduled during those times when the sun location is particularly bothersome.
There are a variety of compensating mechanisms for dealing with a bad sun court. Players that toss to different locations for various types of serves may be able to deal with a bad sun court through shot selection. Players that consistently toss to the same location may struggle with a toss modification strategy, however.
It is always a good idea to have a lower toss slice serve as a fallback plan for both windy and sunny days. Additionally, the drop serve is also an option, and should be practiced occasionally. If you ever find yourself in a situation where the drop serve seems like the only option, you probably want to have some recent experience delivering that shot.
I have never seen this compensating mechanism promoted anywhere else, but I have recently discovered that the best way for me to serve effectively into the sun is by shifting the location of my feet before starting my service motion. Essentially that slightly rotates the angle of the body, which can be enough to keep the toss path away from the sun.
The modified stance approach does cut down on my normal placement options. For example, if I pull my back foot slightly forward, my body faces the net more than in my usual position. From there I can still serve out wide to the deuce court and down the T on the ad side. If I pull the foot backwards, all of that is reversed to the opposite direction.
It may be delusional, but I don’t think that the modified stance automatically tips off the service location. I have found that it is pretty rare to have to compensate in this way for both service courts in the same game. Additionally, I typically only have to do it for a game or two when serving from the tough sun end. I just don’t think it provides enough data points for the other players to catch on. Even if they do, it is likely to be about the time when the need for that compensating mechanism has passed.
I am curious to see if sharing this observation kicks off a cavalcade of other players who have been coached to do this their entire lives or just figured it out on their own. After all, there is nothing new under the sun.
It also doesn’t hurt to invest in a good pair of sunglasses.
Sunglasses w/ photochromic lenses.