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Strategy
Had a doubles match today with lovely sunny weather. First set everything went well and we won it quite comfortably. However, the moment we started the 2nd set and I served on the other side it went down hill. I had to serve while on the peak of the toss the ball was right next to the sun. I couldn’t see a thing and kept hitting my serve in the net. I tried lower toss or even closed eyes but nothing seemed to work.
How do you deal with this? Do you adjust your serve?
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You didn’t need to serve on the other side with the new set. You could change the order at the set change so that you would continue to serve on the non sunny side.
That being said, use your tossing arm to block the sun
Toss the ball two feet in front of you and shield the sun with your off hand.
Alternatively close your eyes and pray?
The Michael Jordan of tennis
My success rate is far lower than Jordan I promise lol
The Sofia Kenin of tennis
Peripherals and mastering your toss and timing. If you try anything else like adjusting your toss or using your hand to block the sun, you’re completely killing your serve.
Muscle. Memory.
Yep agree with this. Sunglasses and a hat/visor as a first order to address things. Next thing is adjust where you’re serving from. You have the whole half of the baseline. Work with your partner and adjust. Eg stand at an extreme and serve out wide. The partner may need to stand further back.
Next you can adjust your angle of how you stand at the baseline and serve.
Finally and as a last measure lower/change the toss. I have a high throw up but have a simpler serve for when weather plays a factor.
Aka - unless you yave a dialed in serve, your best bet is to hit something slicy with a low toss.
This is not at all what they were going for, lol
Did you play the entire first set without changing sides on odds? Or was your partner serving on the sunny side? If you did well with them serving on that side, why not have them continue serving on that side?
Sunglasses? Hat/visor?
I toss more in front of me, or to my left or right depending on the position of the sun. or I might turn my body's starting position slightly.
You could underhand serve as an option too.
I was serving in awful sun a few weeks ago and just started underhanding them as I truly couldn’t see at all. Dude kept dumping his returns into the net or hitting long. I felt kinda bad as he’s my friend but I won the game 😬😬
Why did you change sides if you won the first set comfortably?
Tap it in, then they attack in, lob it back, boom they got sun
Change your angle on the baseline. Whether this is standing more side on like McEnroe, or standing more front on like Pospisil, you can alter the angle of the sun hitting your face.
Additionally, refrain from hitting flat serves so as to increase your serve consistency.
4.0 player: toss to the front or side so that your ball and the sun doesn’t line up together and adjust your toss, so you’re not looking at the sun directly. Also my coach use to purposefully have us practice serve while it’s blazing out in China. You just need to get used to it. Same with wind, high heat or near winter time when your muscles are not fired up.
It's important to practice and have a backup serve where you either toss in front of you around your head or way to your right along the baseline (assuming right handed). Generally one of those will be away from the sun. It feels weird throwing along the baseline but just topspin the serve in. You know it'll suck for your opponent as well so just gotta get that point started and hope you don't see too many stars when the ball is in play
Get yourself a pair of Oakley or other high quality sunglasses. Yes, professional players don't normally wear sunglasses, largely because you will occasionally get sweat falling on the lenses mid-point which makes it very hard to see the ball and you get issues with depth perception. However, it's better for your eyes not to be looking anywhere near direct sun.
More slice serves tossed at 2 or 3 o'clock.
The absolute worst is sun from a slightly negative angle from the baseline. Like 1 o'clock. Especially when it's a little lower. Impossible to block from view and blinding one eye.
I just bought a pair of photochromic sunglasses after a horrible session trying to serve with that kind of a sun.
That said, the best thing to do with sun in my experience is simplify the serve, lower toss and no jump etc. You can get about 85-90% of the pace into the serve and because it's more stable, probably even more consistency to boot. I'm even thinking of making that my 1.5 serve for matches, but I'll need to give it another go before making up my mind.
Just toss it lower. I’m surprised people can play without a hat and sunglasses when it’s pretty sunny. I need both usually lol
Underhanded serve.