Contents
The Swiss technical concept
The 2005 booklet (p. 2) starts from what the racket does to the ball: it acts on its direction, its speed and its spin. Strokes come from three key movements:
- Hitting with a swing
- Blocking
- Throwing, the movement of the serve
Their combinations produce the stroke families (groundstrokes, volleys, overheads), then the variants (drop volley, jump smash, slice serve…). To learn to serve, the booklet uses the shake-hands grip (p. 5).
The federation sources read describe neither the named grip families (continental, eastern, semi-western), nor the one- versus two-handed backhand choice, nor the kinetic chain of the serve. Paak therefore does not teach them here.
The serve progression
Five steps, from a throwing game to managing risk in a match. Each one is a drill in Paak’s tennis library.
| Step | Drill | Band | What the player does and what is counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Throw overhead | “Straight at the target (throwing)” | u9 | Aim at targets (hoops, balls, the ball cart), always throwing from above the head. Then: who throws highest, farthest? |
| 2. Hit from a simplified position | “Under the roof” | u9, u13 | Side-on stance, racket already above the head like a roof; toss with the hand at chest height, the racket draws an arc and hits forward. Who lands five in a row in the zone? |
| 3. Place it | “Serve record” | u13 | Shake-hands grip, crosscourt serve: the most good serves in a row, then the most out of ten, into a zone matched to the level. |
| 4. Dare | “One hundred percent” | u13, u17, sen | 10 or 20 serves with a real swing and spin, never “pushed”. The player announces in advance how many will go in; in the progression each serve is rated 1 to 5. |
| 5. Manage risk | “Seven to win” | u17, sen | Seven serves to win the game: the server decides when to play safe and when to take risks. In the progression, one joker per game makes that rally count double. |
For u9 and u13 the ball follows the child: red up to 8, orange from 8 to 10, green for advanced 9–10-year-olds on the full court (ITF Rules of Tennis 2026, Appendix VIII). See Balls, courts & age groups.
Varying spin and aiming
Once the action is in place, the 2005 booklet (pp. 4–5) works on precision, speed grades and spin variation: slice, topspin and flat. The doubles booklet (p. 6) gives the targets:
| Serve | Target |
|---|---|
| Slice | wide, towards the outside of the service box |
| Kick | towards the T or towards the sideline |
To add pressure, the doubles booklet also plays with one serve only: the safety second serve disappears (booklet no. 55, pp. 8 and 13).
The return: position, read, attack
Three instructions from the 2005 booklet (pp. 6–7):
- Position well behind the bounce, on the bisector of the serve’s possible trajectories.
- Beginners: take the ball on the way down, which leaves more time to read the trajectory.
- Attack the second serve with a topspin return.
| Drill | Band | What it trains |
|---|---|---|
| “The funnel” | u9 | Reading the trajectory: catch the ball after one bounce in an upturned cone. Its progression is the Kids Tennis red-level test (8 out of 10). |
| “Turn and react” | u9, u13 | Back to the feeder, turn on the signal, find the ball, set the feet, play it as instructed (down the line, crosscourt). |
| “Ten on the counter” | u13 | Ten counted returns: +1 in the service box, +2 beyond the service line, −1 in the net or out. Variant “Seven points and that’s it” with targets near the baseline. |
| “Cool head” | u17, sen | A tie-break limited to serve and return: return in play, point to the returner; ace or service winner, point to the server. |
The return in doubles and the “if… then…” decision
In doubles most of the play happens at the net, so serve and return weigh even more. The doubles booklet (p. 7) lists six returns, which the drill “Return of fire” (u17, sen, four players) puts to work to keep surprising the serving team:
- Long crosscourt
- Down the middle
- Short crosscourt
- At the feet
- Fast and flat down the line
- Lob down the line
The same booklet trains the choice with “if… then…” forms and worked answers. Against a strong serve, for example: a blocked crosscourt return to the feet, a defensive lob down the line over the net player’s backhand, or a high, deep lob down the middle. This form is in the booklet; it is not one of the 44 drills in Paak’s library.
Frequently asked questions
Which grip for learning to serve?
Where should a beginner stand to return?
Should serves be counted in training?
How is “Cool head” scored?
Sources
- OFSPO/BASPO mobilesport, practical booklet no. 3 “Tennis” (April 2005), S. Bachmann, M. K. Meier, R. Hunziker (Swiss Tennis / J+S): pp. 2, 4–7 and 15.
- OFSPO/BASPO mobilesport, practical booklet no. 55 “Tennis – Double” (mobile 4/09, 2009), S. Bachmann, M. Meier (J+S Tennis head of discipline): pp. 6–8 and 13.
- ITF, Rules of Tennis 2026 (Rule 5, tie-break; Appendix VIII, stage balls), as reproduced in “Rules of the Court 2026”, Tennis Canada.
- Paak tennis corpus, files 03 (technique, drills and pedagogy), 04 (tactics) and tennis-drills.json, verified September 2026.