1. Returning serves at chest height or above. Immediate reaction, either forehand or backhand, take the serve to the ceiling with a ceiling shot. If the serve, most likely a lob or lazy Z comes into your backhand, take it back to the side in which your competition is weakest, most likely the backhand.

If you are playing a righty, a soft serve comes into your forehand, take the shot crosscourt to the ceiling to their backhand. It's a mistake to deviate from this philosophy.

Hitting down on the ball (an overhead kill or pass) is very difficult and is usually reserved for those with a high skill level. All you want to do in this situation when the serve comes to you at chest height or higher is to hit a ceiling shot to force your opponent from the center court control zone and into deep court and you take over center court. Of course, if the soft serve is short, by all mean pass or kill the setup.

 

 

2. Returning serves from waist to midchest level. One option is to take the ball back to the ceiling. Another option is to take a high-percentage offensive shot, dictated by your opponent's position on the court and where the serve is headed. Remember to think in terms of percentages. You have two sub options: down the line or cross court pass.

Both are one wall shots that will keep the ball away from center court. Because if you attempt a two-walled shot such as a side wall/front wall pinch and you miss, the ball will almost certainly carom out into center court resulting in a nice juicy setup for your opponent.