Tip of the day

This Serve Is Dominating Pickleball in 2026

If your hardest serve takes everything you've got and still floats over like a practice feed, the effort is probably all coming from your arm. The coach in this video says advanced serves use a lot less arm and a lot more core.

Start with the swing. If you hitch the paddle back and pause before serving, you only use about half of your swing's leverage.

Use the same C shape as your forehand instead. Take it back, make contact at your hip, and follow through over your shoulder.

Next, hit the center of the paddle, because off-center contact costs you power. The fix is a habit: look at your target before the serve, then stare at the ball all the way through contact and lift your head only after the swing.

Now the part the coach calls the one thing to take away. Before you serve, turn your chest sideways, perpendicular to the court rather than square to it.

At contact, let your chest close so it turns to face the court. Your hips and core have to snap closed for your chest to change direction, and that is what puts your body weight into the ball.

Finish with the paddle over your shoulder. Stopping short usually means you were already slowing down at contact, and the upward finish adds the spin that keeps the ball in.

Stay a little low and let your legs push up into that finish too.

There is a fifth piece, a wrist snap. The coach only recommends it once you have mastered the other four, since it is hard to time and leads to a lot of errors.

The video goes on to five other serves, including the short corner and the lob serve. The chest turn is the part to watch, because seeing the coach go from facing sideways to facing the net right at contact shows the timing better than any description can.

Key points

Swap any hitch for your forehand's C shape, with contact at your hip and a finish over your shoulder.
Stare at the ball all the way through contact and lift your head only after the swing.
Start with your chest sideways to the court and let it close to face the court at contact.
Finish over your shoulder, since stopping short usually means you were already slowing down at contact.
Save the wrist snap for after you have mastered the other four, since it is hard to time and leads to errors.

Watch the full tutorial here.