Picture two up-and-coming players. One has really tricky serves, often going long, and wins many points when opponents miss the serve or give him easy pop-ups – but when opponents read the serve, they often attack them, putting the server on the defensive. The other has simple serves that don’t directly threaten opponents as much, mostly very low and short backspin or no-spin, and so gets fewer easy points directly from his serve – but they aren’t attacked effectively that often. He learns to move and follow up each serve with an attacking shot, often against long pushes.

Guess which one progresses faster?

Players who rely too much on their serve often fall behind in the long run when they start facing players who return serves better, and that’s when the great server discovers he’s fallen behind in the rest of his game development. However, the player with simpler serves, while improving faster and perhaps reaching a higher level, is somewhat handicapped by the lack of serves that really challenge the opponent, including those few “free” points a player with good serves gets.

One note – it’s a myth that simple serves aren’t often popped up. But this usually happens when the server fakes backspin but serves no-spin, and the opponent pushes it back like it has backspin – and so pops it up a bit. But such serves don’t directly threaten opponents as much as tricky, spinny serves, especially long, breaking serves or fast no-spin ones. At lower levels, such serves are deadly; at higher levels, they get attacked, and so are mostly effective as surprise serves.

So, what should you do? Find a balance. Develop tricky serves, but learn to win in practice matches without using them except sparingly. But you do need to use those tricky serves in practice matches so you instinctively learn how often and when best to use them. Find a balance and develop your entire game, and you’ll have the best of both worlds.