I am assuming you are just getting into tennis and learning to serve.  You probably have a lot of questions similar to the ones I have anticipated below.  By presenting this article in a question-and-answer format, I can break the serve down for you into its basic components, making it easier to understand.  As you improve, you can read some of the other service articles in the Tutorials for Intermediate and Advanced Players. 

Where am I serving to?

How many serves do I get before I lose the point?

Where do I stand?

How do I position my body?

What grip do I use?

How do I hold the ball?

Where do I toss the ball? 

How high do I toss the ball?

So, where again is my hitting zone?

How do I actually toss the ball?

What do I do with my tossing arm after I release the ball?

What if my toss is bad?  Do I have to hit it?

What path does my racquet take on the back swing?

I see pro players drop the racquet behind their back when they serve.  Should I do this?

Is the service motion like anything else I can relate to?

Is my racquet hitting the ball flat or am I trying to put spin on the ball?

Where does my racquet go after it makes contact?

Do my feet move during the toss or the swing?

Does my body move during the swing or am I straight up and down?

What about my head?  Where does it go?

Pro players seem to bend their knees a lot on the serve.  Should I?

What about second serves?  Do I swing differently for those?

What if I swing and miss?

How come I can't hit the ball when I toss it?

Why does my serve keep going into the net?

Why does my serve go long?

What is the simplest way to serve just to get the ball in the box?

What can I do to stop being so nervous on my serve?

What is a service ritual?

Will my serve ever get any better?

Where am I serving to?  You serve from behind the baseline into one of the service boxes on the other side of the net.  The courts are divided lengthwise into the deuce court and the ad court.  The deuce court is on your right, the ad on your left.  You begin your service game from the deuce court, and you serve into your opponent's deuce court.  The next point begins from the ad court, and it continues thus until the game is over.  Each time you serve, you are serving on a diagonal into the opposite service box.

How many serves do I get before I lose the point?  You are allowed two serves to get the ball into play on each point.  Each unsuccessful serve is called a fault.  Fail on both your serves (called a double fault), and you lose the point.  A ball hitting the net and then landing in the service box is a "let" and you are entitled to another serve.

Where do I stand?  You stand behind the baseline.  The baseline is usually marked in the middle by a hash mark corresponding to the center line dividing the two service boxes.  You stand to the right of this mark when serving into the deuce court; and to the left of the mark when serving into the ad court.   In singles, you must stand somewhere between this mark and the singles sideline.  In doubles, you must stand somewhere between the center mark and the doubles sideline.  It is a fault if your foot touches the baseline before you make contact with the ball (called a foot fault), so make sure your front foot is an inch or so behind the line.   It is also a fault if you serve a ball from beyond the corresponding singles or doubles sidelines.

How do I position my body?   In the deuce court, stand facing the right net post (for a righty) with your front foot at an angle of about 45 degrees to the baseline, and your non-hitting shoulder facing the service box into which you are serving.   Your feet are about shoulder width apart and your back foot is parallel to the baseline or net.  The heel of the front foot should be aligned with the arch of your back foot.  Stand relaxed, as if you were waiting for something to happen.  In the ad court, you are still facing the right net post and your non-hitting shoulder is aimed toward your opponent's ad service box.   Your front foot, however, is now a little more parallel with the baseline, say, at about 20 degrees.

 Photo 1.   This girl is positioned to hit a serve from her ad court to the opposite service box.

What grip do I use?  The recommended grip is a continental or a hammer grip.  This is found by putting your index knuckle on the second bevel or panel of the racquet handle; the heel pad of your palm will be on the lst or second panel (see illustration below).  Another way to obtain this grip is to pretend you are hammering a nail with the edge of your racquet head.  The grip that would make this hammering motion effective but comfortable is probably a close approximation of the continental grip.

Photo 2.  Continental Grip

Try to get comfortable with the continental grip as soon as you can.  The grip causes your racquet to strike the ball at an angle, creating natural spin on the ball, which will result in a more consistent serve for you.  If the continental feels awkward at first (and it always does), spread your fingers out more so it feels like there is more handle in your palm.   Your index finger can be spread more than the other fingers. 

Most beginners find the continental uncomfortable because they don't toss the ball up high enough (see below).   Low tosses using a Continental grip almost always result in missed serves.  If you toss high, the continental grip will feel more comfortable and will result in more good serves, too.

The grip itself is supposed to be loose.  You only need to hold on tightly with your index finger and thumb.  The other fingers hold the racquet loosely and provide support.  This looseness will contribute to the spin that you are tying to put on the ball.  Don't worry about the racquet flying out of your hand.  At contact, the racquet will snap upward into your palm and will be secure.

How do I hold the ball?  Hold the ball gently in the palm of your hand with your fingertips away from the ball.  The ball should rest mainly over the base of your fingers, where they join with the hand.  Your thumb can be on the side or top of the ball to secure it in your hand.  Your wrist remains firm throughout the toss, and your palm stays up, facing the sky throughout the toss.  I repeat, your palm stays up. 

Your hand acts as a platform on which the ball rests as it is being lifted upward. As your arm raises, you will have to relax your wrist so it lays back slightly in order to keep your palm parallel to the surface.  Let your arm do all the lifting. When the ball leaves your open hand it should not have any spin.  If it does, you probably flicked your wrist or your fingers at the last moment and your finger tips affected the flight of the ball.  The wrist flick is the cause of most tossing problems.  Keep your finger tips open and away from the ball throughout the toss.  A gentle tumbling of the ball as it leaves your hand is okay.  You should be able to read the lettering on the ball when it is in the air.

Where do I toss the ball?     Think of the service toss as more of a lifting of the ball into your hitting zone rather than a toss.  A useful image is that you are holding a bird in your hand and are lifting it gently above your head, spreading your fingers to release it into flight.  Similarly, the ball should be lifted gently into the air and then travel to a point to the right of your hitting shoulder and in front of you.  If you were to let the ball bounce, it would land about a foot or so inside the court.   When you swing, your right shoulder should rotate around to bring the racquet in line with the ball.  The tossed ball at contact should be almost in a direct line from the tip of your racquet, down through your arm, shoulder, and front leg.

How high do I toss the ball?   Toss the ball a foot or more above your extended racquet.   Go to the back fence and raise your racquet straight up as if you were contacting a ball on your serve.  Observe the tip of your racquet against the fence.   You'll need to toss a foot or so higher than that point.  Back at the baseline, occasionally extend your racquet straight up before you serve in order to keep in mind the idea of tossing high on your serve.  Remember, you need to toss high in order to get the full benefit from your continental grip.

So, where again is my hitting zone?  It is slightly to your right (for a righty), about a foot or more inside the baseline, and about as high as the center of your strings when you raise your racquet as high as you can out toward the net.

How do I actually toss the ball?  Most players at the start of the serve hold the ball and their racquet close together in front of them and at about waist level.  They begin taking their racquet down and back with a shoulder turn, while the hand holding the ball drops down slightly and then rises, usually straight up in front of them.  (See Photo 1 above, Photos 3, 4, and 5 below).

 The tossing arm acts as a lever, lifting the ball into the hitting zone.  As the ball gets to shoulder level or above, the fingers open up and the ball rests in the open hand; the tossing arm keeps moving upward, however, guiding the ball into the hitting zone, which is to the right of the server and a foot or so inside the baseline. (See Photo 5 below)

Advanced players, although their contact point might be about the same as less skilled players, have a different tossing motion.  These top players almost always begin turning their hitting shoulder away from the net before they begin lifting the ball with their non-hitting arm.  This shoulder rotation away from the net causes their tossing arm to point toward the sideline as it rises almost directly above the baseline and parallel to the net.  You can see this clearly in Photos 4 and 5 below.

The release of the ball still occurs at about shoulder height, but the ball does not go straight upward from the hand.  It actually travels along an arc from right to left and outward toward the net.  This is because the server releases the ball to his right, about an arm's length away from him, which is too far away to strike a ball released straight upward.  The ball must come back toward the server, from right to left, and out toward the net in order to intersect with the path of the server's upward and forward moving hitting shoulder, racquet arm, and racquet.

Series of Photos, 3-7, showing the lifting of the ball and the racquet to the position at the end of the backswing. 

 What do I do with my tossing arm after I release the ball?  The tossing or lifting arm continues upward, guiding the ball to the hitting zone, as in the photos above.  Better players leave their arm extended upwards for as long as possible, only bringing it down as their hitting shoulder begins to rotate back toward the net.  These players then let their tossing arm wrap around the right side of their torso, about rib level, as if they were hugging themselves.

Some people claim that this hugging movement stops the forward momentum of the upper body, creating a more whip-like action to the hitting arm and racquet, and thus increasing racquet head speed, which in turn results in more pace on the ball.  High speed photography does not support this contention, however. 

What if my toss is bad?  Do I have to hit it?  You don't have to hit a bad toss.  You can catch it or let it bounce and then start again.  If you swing at a bad toss you risk an error on your serve (a fault); if it is the second serve, it might cost you the point.

To improve your toss, practice the toss alone without hitting it.  Mark a spot where you want it to land and practice tossing it so it bounces there.  Try the advanced players' toss discussed above to see if that will improve your toss.

What path does my racquet take on the back swing?  You start with your racquet in front of you, with the head of the racquet touching the ball in your tossing hand.  Your palm is facing down. The racquet should move from this position to a raised position behind your head.   Rotating your hitting shoulder backward away from the net, to a point where the shoulder is slightly beyond being perpendicular with the net, will move your racquet a good part of the swing.  As your racquet is moving backward, raise your arm and bend your elbow until it is at 90 degrees.  The series of five photos above shows this clearly. 

Your palm, which began facing down, will face the side line as you rotate your shoulder backward, and will end facing the net at the end of the backswing.  

At this point you are at the classic finish of the backswing that nearly all good players achieve.  Your weight is on your back foot, knees are bent, tossing arm straight up in the air, ball a few feet above your outstretched hand, the elbow of your hitting arm is bent at 90 degrees, the under side of your elbow is parallel to the court surface, the racquet is straight up in the air, your palm is facing the net, your shoulders are perpendicular to the net, and your head is focused up and on the ball.  See photo below.

I see pro players drop the racquet behind their back when they serve.  Should I do this?  At the end of the backswing on the serve, many players drop the racquet down behind their back in order to stretch their arm and shoulder muscles.  As they begin the forward motion toward the ball, these stretched muscles contract, adding additional power to their swing.

You can accomplish the same effect simply by loosening your grip on the racquet when it is in the upright, bent elbow, position.  The weight of the racquet will cause it to drop down behind your shoulder, pointing toward the court.  As you rotate your shoulder back toward the net, your arm will be stretched backward slightly and then pulled sharply upward toward the ball.   The effect you want is that of a buggy whip or a locker-room towel being snapped.  All the energy you are creating (from pushing off with your feet, rotating your shoulders, and swinging your arm) will go to the head of your racquet, and it is this force that creates the power on the serve.

Is the service motion like anything else I can relate to?  Serving is somewhat like throwing a baseball or a football, but probably more like a javelin in the sense that you are pulling your arm and racquet through the shot as your shoulders rotate back to parallel with the net.   Your arm itself moves somewhat like it would if you were fly fishing.

Is my racquet hitting the ball flat or am I trying to put spin on the ball?  If you toss the ball up high and swing up and through it, you will naturally put some topspin on the ball (because anytime your racquet comes from below the contact point it will impart topspin).  Also, because you toss the ball slightly to your right and are swinging up and out toward the right, you will put a bit of side spin or slice on the ball.  Even so-called cannonball serves have a little bit of topspin on them.  Any spin on the ball will decrease somewhat the speed of the ball, while at the same time controlling it better.  Spin generally increases your margin for error, especially on the serve.  Good players try to put some spin on the ball in order to get their serve in the box.  They will increase the amount of spin put on the ball when serving a second serve.

Where does my racquet go after it makes contact?  As noted above, on the best service motions, the racquet brushes up and across the ball, imparting both top spin and side spin or slice.  The racquet continues this same upward and outward movement after the ball has been struck.  Your forward momentum will eventually bring the racquet around to the opposite side of your body.  Don't worry about your follow through on the serve.  It tends to happen naturally long after the ball has been struck.

Do my feet move during the toss or the swing?  Your front foot should be fairly stationary throughout the service, so as not to foot fault.  Your back foot can move forward a little as your weight shifts from your back foot to your front foot.  Many players bend their knees and then lunge upwards toward the ball, pushing against the ground to get added height, leverage, and power.  These players will actually come off the ground with one or both feet as they extend up through contact.  The girl in the photo above has come off the ground on her extension into the serve and has landed on her front foot; her back foot extends backward for momentum and balance. 

Does my body move during the swing or am I straight up and down?  Most players shift their weight on the serve, just as they do on a groundstroke.   At the service line, lean forward so your weight is on your front foot.  Bouncing the ball a few times in front of you will achieve this naturally.  As you begin to toss the ball and bring your racquet back, your weight should shift to the back foot.  As you begin to swing up and rotate your shoulders into the serve, your weight should shift back again onto the front foot.  This will give both power and smoothness to your service motion.

What about my head?  Where does it go?  As you toss the ball, follow the flight of the ball upward with your eyes.  Keep your head up and your eyes focused on the ball throughout the entire swing.  Try to focus on only one part of the ball, say, the lower left side. Only look down to see where the serve went after your hitting shoulder has come through the swing.  "Keep your chin up" is a good reminder for yourself.

Pro players seem to bend their knees a lot on the serve.  Should I?  Bending your knees so as to push up and off the ground will add height and power to your serve.  You should bend your knees slightly as you end your shoulder turn and start the forward motion of your swing.  At this point, the ball is at its maximum height after the toss.  Some people mistakenly bend their knees as they toss and then never bend them again.

What about second serves?  Do I swing differently for those?  As mentioned above, you should generally try to put some spin on your serve to increase your chances of making a successful serve.  Smart players increase the amount of spin they put on their second serves in order to avoid double-faulting.   You should swing just as hard on your second serve as you do on the first serve, just add more spin to the second.  You do this by exaggerating the verticalness (for topspin) or the side-to-side brushing (slice) of the service motion.  If you try to slow the pace down on your second serve, your various arm and shoulder muscles will not fire efficiently and you are likely to double fault. You slow the pace down by increasing the spin.  More spin gives you more control, and it is the spin that is bringing the ball down into the box.

The continental grip will give you natural spin if you toss the ball high enough.  You can increase this spin by turning your racquet head away from you, so that your index knuckle approaches the lst bevel on the grip handle.

What if I swing and miss?  If you swing and miss your toss, it counts as a fault.  This generally will only happen if you take your eye completely off the ball or your toss was so poor that you couldn't get to it.  As noted above, if your toss is bad you don't have to swing at it.

How come I can't hit the ball when I toss it?  Usually if you can't hit the ball, it is due to a really bad ball toss or you are taking your eye off the ball as you swing?  Looking down to see where the ball is going before you have actually made contact with the ball is the major culprit here.  If your toss is consistently poor, spend some time practicing the toss only.  Remember, you want your toss to be higher than your outstretched racquet, a little to your right, and in front of the baseline.

Why does my serve keep going into the net?  Usually you hit the ball into the net because you didn't toss it high enough; or, you may have tossed it high enough, but you let it fall too low before you hit it.  The solution is to toss higher and to hit the ball at the highest extension of your racquet.  Some players don't realize how high the net really is and try to pull down on their serve to get it into the box.  This will also cause the ball to go into the net.  Remember, you have to hit up on the ball.  We want to produce some topspin as we hit up and out, and it is the spin that will bring the ball down into the court, not our racquet.

Why does my serve go long?  If your serve is going long you probably need to toss it out in front of you a little more.  The toss should land inside the court if you let it bounce.  A ball that is directly above your head or behind you prevents your racquet from putting the necessary spin on the ball to bring it into the service box. 

What is the simplest way to serve just to get the ball in the box?   If you just can't seem to get the ball into the court, try this.   With a ball in your tossing hand and your racquet in the other, raise both hands up in the air stretching out toward your target.   The ball should be touching the lower part of your racquet face (photo 1, below).  Bring your racquet arm back behind your right ear, keeping your elbow bent at 90 degrees and racquet high (photo 2).  Next, lower your tossing arm to about waist level while keeping your elbow straight (photo 3)  Now, lift the ball gently straight up along the same line you just lowered it.  At the same time bring your racquet forward, along the same line as you just brought it back (photo 4).  Contact with the ball should be in the same general area where you started, that is, when you had raised both hands together so the ball was touching the racquet strings.

This simple service motion isolates and grooves the two fundamental motions of the serve: the toss and the racquet swing.  By starting from the contact point and moving backward, it reduces the complexity of the stroke and makes it easier to coordinate the two prime motions.  Note, however, that this is more-or-less an emergency serve.  You still want to develop a correct ball toss and a rhythmic swing.

What can I do to stop being so nervous on my serve?  The serve is supposed to be a very relaxed swing.   Any tension in your arm or shoulder will adversely affect your serve.  When you stand at the base line ready to serve, relax all your muscles in your body, exhale deeply and let your shoulders droop down.  Try to keep this relaxed feeling. 

Your grip should also be very loose in your hand.  Some players even take their little pinky off the handle to loosen the grip.  You want a real loosey-goosey feeling in your entire arm when you swing.

What is a service ritual?  Better players approach each service point the same.  They have one or more motions or movements that they perform before each serve, and these are called rituals.  Some players bounce the ball a certain number of times, some adjust their grip or their hair or their clothing, and others stare at the opponent or the service box.  They all do something that makes them comfortable and relaxes them.  They do this every time, whether they are ahead or behind in the game or the match.  By performing these rituals they are forcing themselves to slow down and take things methodically.   This takes their mind off the score or the moment and gets their focus on the upcoming serve.  The boy bouncing the ball in Photo 3 above is performing his service ritual before preparing to serve.

Will my serve ever get any better?   With practice, your serve will get better.  Guaranteed.  Try to practice your serve a couple of times a week, if you can.  Get yourself some old balls and a bucket or a ball hopper and go to a nearby park.  Start off nice and easy with a relaxed swing until you are warmed up.   Hit half the balls into one court, the other half into the other court.   Pick them up, do it again.  Play a game with yourself.  If you get your serve in, you win the point.  If you double-fault, you lose.  Play a set this way.  As you get better, try to hit targets on the court (old tennis ball cans work great).  

I also suggest you study the serves of good players.  Tape your favorite player next time he is on TV.  Later run the tape back in slow motion and observe the key points his service motion passes through.  Put an image in your head of this favorite player, but with your face in place of his.  Now when you serve, run that imaginary tape through your mind and try to duplicate the key features.  Also, study the slow motion videos of serves on this website, especially Roger Federer's Serve and Tommy Haas's Serve.

The service motion is complex and initially awkward.  The grip is different, and you have to do some precise movements with your non-dominant hand.  It requires lots of practice before you can serve comfortably and accurately.  Because the serve begins every point in a game, it will be to your advantage to work on it and make it a solid part of your game.

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