A Connecticut tennis friend and teaching pro, Ernie Uthgenannt (who is also an excellent skier), has a great philosophy when serving at 40-love.
He says, “At that point in your service game, you then have six first serves to win the game.â€
His point is: this is the time to be aggressive in your serving. Don’t over hit the serve; but at 40-love, you can go for two solid serves to start and win the point. And if you don’t, you can do the same again at 40-15.
The theory is the same if you were to then get to 40-30; but I confess that I then wimp out and go back to my usual “get the ball in.â€
But if there is ever a time to be aggressive and go for your serve (and your ground strokes) it is when you have the lead.
Tell Ernie I wish I had read this before playing friday when playing Sea Oaks # 1 team. We were up 40-love and never won another point at 5 all. I guess you know the rest. Gene Wheeler