How to Play Racquetball

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Racquetball Drive Serves
 
The basic idea of a drive serve in racquetball is to hit a low, hard serve that your opponent will have difficulty returning effectively. Mixing up the speed, angle and even your service motion to add deception is very important.
 
Here's a video example of how to be deceptive with your serves:
 
 
Basic Drive Serve 
 
The basic drive serve is a low hard serve that is designed to end up in one of the far back corners, making it difficult for your opponent to return effectively. This serve is hit at such a height and angle that after hitting the front wall it rebounds back and takes it first bounce just past the short line on a direct path into one of the corners. The ball then continues along in the air and takes its second bounce before it hits the back wall.
 
Drive Jam 
 
The drive jam serve is designed to catch your opponent off guard while they are already moving to retrieve your serve. It differs only slightly from the basic drive serve in that you contact the ball a little further ahead in your hitting zone (closer to the front wall). The ball hits the front wall and rebounds all the way back into the deep side wall (5 to 15 feet away from the back wall); takes its first bounce after hitting the side wall and travels directly at your opponent who is then “jammed” by the ball.
When hit properly, the jam serve can take its second bounce before hitting the back wall.  If the second bounce comes after the ball hits the back wall this can be called a "wrap around" serve, because it can "wrap" around your opponent, forcing them to have to spin around to hit it.
 
Drive Crack Serve (or simply Crack Serve) 
 
The crack serve is often hit by mistake but can also be hit on purpose by very accurate servers. It is designed to be an “ace” serve that your opponent can’t return before the second bounce. The ball is hit into the front wall at such an angle that when it rebounds off the wall it heads directly toward the “crack” or “crotch”, which is the area along the side walls where the wall meets the floor. The ball hits the crotch in a way that it often won’t even bounce away from the wall for your opponent to retrieve. It simply hits the crack and “rolls” away from the wall for an ace serve.
This serve can be hit into any of the sidewall “crotch” areas past the short line.
 
Wrap-Around Drive Serve
 
The idea behind a wrap-around serve is to make your opponent spin around and have to make extra body movements, ultimately forcing them into a weak return. It is hit with the same mechanics as all drive serves. However, the contact point within your hitting zone is even further up than a drive jam serve.
 
After hitting the front wall the ball ricochets back toward the deep side wall and contacts it before bouncing on the floor. After contacting the side wall the ball then bounces on the floor at angle that brings it toward the middle of the back wall and behind your opponent. The ball then hits the back wall and redirects toward the opposite wall that it initially hit. The second bounce should be before the wall.
 
Drive-Z Serve
 
A very effective and often under-used serve in racquetball is the drive-z serve. It is designed to fool your opponent and keep them deep in the court on the return. It is also fairly similar to the lob-z serves, except it is hit much harder.
 
The drive-z is hit hard into the front wall so close to the corner (one to two feet depending on where you are in the service box) that it immediately hits the side wall and shoots back in the opposite direction. This collision with the front wall and then side wall imparts a heavy spin on the ball that is important to the serve.
 
As the ball continues away from the corner it takes its first bounce after the short line and around the dotted line. It then continues on an upward path into the deep side wall located near the back corner. Depending on how hard you hit the serve, it is sometimes beneficial to get the ball closer to or further from the back wall as it hits the side wall. If you hit the serve very hard you will probably want the ball to hit the deep side wall closer to the back wall. The opposite is true if you didn’t hit the serve hard. This philosophy is to ensure that after contacting the side wall the ball doesn’t make its way to the back wall and bounce off. The second bounce should be before the back wall.
 
As the ball makes contact with the deep side wall the spin that you imparted on the ball takes effect. When done right the ball will come off the wall at around a 90 degree angle to the wall. This is where the deception comes into play.
 
Drive-Z serves can be hit from either side of the service box and to either side of the court. It is not recommended to hit this serve from the center of the service box as the ball will often bounce right toward where you are standing.
 
Here's a video example of the Drive-Z from the left side of the service box.  This serve is designed to attack a right handed player's backhand, or a left handed player's forehand.
 
 
And here's the Drive-Z from the right side of the service box, aimed for the back right corner.  It's a great serve to lefties, and as a way to mix up your serve to righties.