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What do you do with the return of serve?
The return lob is how the receiving pair steals the net. Aim over the player who is still moving.
You are receiving. The serve is a normal, medium-paced ball into the box. What is the highest-percentage return?
The return lob is how the receiving pair steals the net. Aim over the player who is still moving.
Why
The serving pair are at their most vulnerable in the two seconds after the serve, because one of them is running forward and cannot change direction. A deep cross lob over that player is the cheapest way to turn the point around: they either let it go and lose the net, or they take it moving backwards, which is exactly the shot nobody practises. It is not glamorous. It is the single highest-value return in the game.
What this means at your level
Beginner
Get side-on, take the racket back low, and lift under the ball with an open face. Aim well past their heads: most beginner lobs are too short, never too long.
Intermediate
Lob cross-court by default: it is longer, so you get more margin, and it keeps the ball away from the server who is running in on the straight line.
Advanced
Mix in the chiquita and the occasional flat drive down the line, otherwise a good pair will start camping under your return lob. The lob is your default, not your only note.
Common questions
You are receiving. The serve is a normal, medium-paced ball into the box. What is the highest-percentage return?
A deep lob, cross-court, over the incoming server. The return lob is how the receiving pair steals the net. Aim over the player who is still moving. The serving pair are at their most vulnerable in the two seconds after the serve, because one of them is running forward and cannot change direction. A deep cross lob over that player is the cheapest way to turn the point around: they either let it go and lose the net, or they take it moving backwards, which is exactly the shot nobody practises. It is not glamorous. It is the single highest-value return in the game.
Why not a short drop into the middle?
You have just invited both of them to the net a full second earlier than they were going to arrive.
What should a beginner do here?
Get side-on, take the racket back low, and lift under the ball with an open face. Aim well past their heads: most beginner lobs are too short, never too long.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Mix in the chiquita and the occasional flat drive down the line, otherwise a good pair will start camping under your return lob. The lob is your default, not your only note.
Puzzles like this one
Both of them are at the net. What is the highest-percentage ball?
Only the lob moves a net pair backwards. Everything else invites them forward.
advancedThey are camped at the net and you cannot lob. What now?
If you cannot lift it over them, make them lift it for you. The chiquita is a slow ball at their feet.
intermediateCross or down the line: which way should the lob go?
Lob cross-court by default. It is the longest line on court and it makes the far player run.