Oli Mason Tennis

Serving progressions 🎾

Simple progressions to help build a more consistent, repeatable serve — taking you from the basics through to the full motion.

Some of these drills come from my work with & , with elements of worked into the progression.

Don’t just hit more serves. Build the serve.

Save this for your next practice session 👊

I want to know what YOU want to see next 👇
More serve progressions? Return? Forehand? Movement? Something else?

Drop it in the comments — I’ll build the next videos around what you want to see! 🎾

If your serve looks like a windmill or cricket bowl… this is for you 🎾

A question came in about how to stop this happening — and more importantly, how to build a better serve motion without putting unnecessary stress on the shoulder.

Here are 2 ways I teach it 👇

1️⃣ Racket tap drill
Get the racket to gently tap your back before hitting the ball.

It’s simple, gives you an immediate feel for the motion and can be a great quick fix.

⚠️ The downside? It can exaggerate the racket drop and potentially create another habit later on.

2️⃣ Half serve / 90-90 position — my preferred method
Start from the 90-90 position and focus on bringing the elbow around.

For a right-hander, the racket should travel right → left, going over or close to your head.

At first, let the racket come through edge/frame first and actually hit the ball with the frame.

Then repeat the same motion, but this time pronate through the hand so the strings turn towards the ball before contact.

It’s harder to learn, but it teaches the actual mechanics of the serve rather than just exaggerating the racket drop.

👉 Save this and try both drills next time you practise your serve.

And if you’ve got a tennis question you want me to answer in a video, drop it in the comments 👇

Does your serve feel rushed, disconnected or inconsistent?… you might not have a technique problem.

You might have a rhythm problem. 🎾

The serve should feel like ONE fluid movement — not a series of separate positions.

Here are 3 drills I use to improve timing & rhythm 👇

1️⃣ Feel the drop and tempo

Take a pair of football socks, put 2 tennis balls in each and tie them together.

Go through your serving motion and keep the socks moving together.

The key? Feel the drop of the socks before you initiate the racket throwing action. The socks should stay together during the motion.

2️⃣ Feel the racket drop

Hold the racket with just your thumb and 2 fingers at the bottom of the grip.

Go through the motion again and focus on feeling the rhythm of the movement — especially the racket drop.

3️⃣ My favourite — COUNT IT

1️⃣ Start the motion
2️⃣ Ball toss
3️⃣ 90/90 position
4️⃣ Contact

And remember… it should be fluid.

You shouldn’t be going:

1… 2…… 3……… 4 😅

The numbers should flow quickly together.

1-2-3-4.

That rhythm is what helps everything connect.

Try these 3 drills and see if your serve starts to feel more natural, effortless and consistent.

🎾 Save this for your next serving session.

Follow for more simple tennis coaching tips.

🍦 Stop flicking your ball toss!

One of the biggest things I see with the serve is players flicking the ball out of their hand on the ball toss.

That creates unnecessary spin on the ball, which makes it much harder to control the height, direction and consistency of your toss.

Try this simple drill 👇

🍦 Imagine you’re holding an ice cream cone
🎾 Place the ball on top of your hand
⬆️ Move through your normal tossing motion
✨ Give it a little “pop” at the end to create the height

The goal is to reduce the spin and let the ball travel up cleanly, rather than throwing it with your fingers.

A more consistent ball toss = a more consistent serve. 🎾

Save this and give it a try next time you’re on court.

Stop trying to hit your tennis serve forwards. 🎾

One of the biggest mistakes I see is players chasing the service box with their racket. That makes the contact angle incredibly difficult to get right.

Instead, focus on reaching up to the ball. A higher contact point creates a better angle into the service box, helping you serve with more consistency, more power, and better net clearance.

In this video, I break down why this works and show you one of my favourite drills to improve your serve and develop the reaching up phase.

There’s a detail in this breakdown that most club players never do when working on technique.

💾 Save this for your next practice.
📤 Share it with a tennis partner.
👇 Have you ever been told to “reach up” on your serve?