In tennis, the only way to win is by gaining points. These points are earned when you’re able to hit the tennis ball in a way that your opponent fails to hit back correctly.
So, what is an ace in tennies? An ace in tennis is when you score a point by serving in a way that your opponent completely misses to hit the tennis ball altogether. Although it’s considered one of many ways to score a point, an ace is a rare sight to see because of the difficulty in its execution.
Ace In Tennis: Definition & Context
In its true sense, tennis is a game of wits that requires you to train both, your mind and body. While physical training is obviously necessary, players are also encouraged to devise strategies to score points against their opponents. An ace in tennis is a combination of both aspects.
Professional players usually attempt to hit an ace from their very first serve. The main aim is to whack the tennis ball with added power. If the speed tends to be quick enough, the chances of your opponent missing the ball can increase quite significantly.
At the same time, however, it is important to keep certain conditions in mind. While power is a key component to score an ace, you’d want to make sure that the ball lands within the court’s boundaries. Too much power or speed can force the ball to land outside of the boundaries which, in turn, will cause to lose a point instead!
One important condition of an ace is for your opponent to completely miss out on playing the tennis ball. By missing out, you’d want the ball to move across your opponent without touching their racquet at all. If they manage to hit the ball, the point scored won’t be categorized as an ace.
The Serve: How To Score An Ace In Tennis?
Serving is one of the most crucial elements of the game, especially if you’re playing on a hard surface. In the right circumstances, you can make use of the opportunity to score an ace by perfecting your serve and deceiving your opponent.
It’s not just enough to slam your racquet against the ball. Rather, to be able to pull off a successful ace point, you’ll be needing to follow a specific set of guidelines that involves positioning yourself and applying just the right amount of power.
As a beginner, developing your serving skills is the first step towards scoring an ace in tennis. So, before moving on to the complicated stuff, let’s take a look at the basic steps of serving that you can improvise and improve upon and get yourselves ready to score an ace!
1. Foot Position
The first and foremost step is to position yourselves appropriately. No matter how hard you try to strike the ball, you’ll never be able to score a point unless and until you maintain a balanced physical position.
Traditionally, the correct tennis stance is when a player positions their feet parallel to each other. In simpler terms, you need to put your strong foot in front of your body, facing towards the net. Whereas, the other foot should be positioned in the same direction as the baseline.
As far as the internal positioning of the feet is concerned, you need to keep your toes relaxed and in position with your back heel. If you apply any additional pressure on either the heel or your toes, it’s highly likely that you’ll end up with bruises or exhaustion.
2. Knee Position
The knees are evidently what gives you that extra boost of energy while you’re about to hit the ball. As part of our stance, it is standard to keep your knees slightly bent instead of completely standing straight. This is because the bend empowers your upper body, including the arm, to move the racquet and maintain its position as it comes into contact with the ball.
The positioning of the knees particularly before and during the process of a serve. You start with your knees bent and then slowly straighten them out as you move your arms above your body to initiate the serve.
3. Choosing The Right Grip
Don’t end up confusing this with the rubber material wrapped around a racquet. Grip, in this sense, refers to how you hold the racquet in your hands while playing a match.
To discuss it in more detail, there are four types of grips that are commonly used by international players:
- The Continental Grip
- The Eastern Grip
- The Semi-Western Grip
- The Western Grip
The continental grip is the most commonly used type and is especially implied at the time of serves. This is because the positioning of the hand in this grip makes it naturally easier for players to bend their wrists accordingly. In the continental grip, players can add sidespin or underspin to their serves or shots in general. This, combined with the right amount of power and speed can give you a solid chance at scoring an ace.
Having said that, the continental grip is not something that comes off as easy. If you’ve read all the details, you would automatically understand how you’d have to improvise several actions at the same time. Moving your wrists at a certain angle, along with balancing your speed and accuracy can, indeed, be a difficult task. However, never forget that there’s no glory without putting in the hard work!
The other three types of grips are useful as well but are not used at the time of serving. Thus, we will not be discussing them in this section since our focus is to make sure you’re able to at least understand how serves can help you in your objective to score an ace in tennis.
4. Arm Position & Swinging The Racquet
Everything comes down to this final step. How well you’re able to serve or the chances of scoring an ace depend on this very moment.
The previous steps are ultimately connected to accumulating energy and momentum for the racquet swing. However, for the service to be perfect, the arms need to adjust dynamically with all the other parts of your body that are in motion.
The video portrays the exact positioning of your arms but to break down exactly what happens, you need to understand the technique behind the swinging.
Once the previous steps have been processed, you’re required to loosen up your racquet arm and place it behind your head. As you throw the ball in the air, bring your arms forth in the same loose manner and strike the ball while moving your wrists downwards. Now, the looseness is particularly emphasized because if you keep your arms stiff, your wrists won’t bend. As a result, the ball will either land outside the designated baseline or behind the net on your side of the court.
The most difficult part is to maintain your momentum while keeping your arms loose. If you manage to accomplish this mark, the chances of you scoring an ace will greatly increase!
What Happens if a Ball Hits On The Line?
There is a misconception amongst people who often end up confusing the rules associated with the baseline. As a beginner, the question of whether the ball landing on the line would have also crossed your mind.
The short answer to this question is that if a ball touches any part of the baseline, it would be considered legal play. This also applies when you serve the ball. If you attempt to score an ace and the ball lands on the white line, you will be granted the point; even if it’s a lucky one!
Conclusion & Statisticical Significance Scoring An Ace in Tennis
To Beat The Best, You Gotta Learn To Be The Best!
Tennis Aces are generally applauded to be a power move. A reckoning force you can use to dominate your opponent throughout the match. The influence of an ace is such that all tennis giants try to actively add it in as part of their shot arsenal. According to a report by the Association of Tennis Professionals, Roger Federer has managed to score 10,216 aces ever since the beginning of his international career. Federer, like always, never fails to remind everyone why he’s the best of the best!
Truthfully speaking, scoring an ace in tennis is not an easy task for beginners. You’ll be needing an insane amount of practice just to make adjustments to your service. However, nothing is impossible! If you work hard enough, there’s no reason why you can’t become as good as players like Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. Much like everything else in life, the only way to succeed is to remain focused and consistent in your efforts to improve in this game that we all love.
For more information and tips, please feel free to visit our website where we talk about ways you can improve as a beginner.