Get relaxed in your stance! Get the serve back and you stand a chance!
Don’t think football, think softball or baseball!
How should you receive serve? This is an interesting one as I see several variations of what I call the Linebacker stance. This stance is great at reacting to a football play and stuffing a running back at the line of scrimmage, ,but not so great at a fine motor skill like return of serve on the forehand or backhand side. Instead of football look to baseball infielders. They are upright and “loose” until the ball is pitched and then they drop and react to the ball being hit (even when it is not hit). They do not get into a sumo wrestler stance and stay in that position.
Still another position I used to see were players poised on the balls of their feet. The theory was you were halfway there on the balls of your feet. But the first move you make from that position will be from a stationary position.
We have two cats who can jump up to our counters when we are not looking! Each of them move a little, crouch a little and spring! That is more like the movement for return of serve! Imagine you are a cat and pounce on the serve. This works better than getting all wound up like tight rubber band and twisting into pretzel like movements!
Read and react, do not hunker and explode!
Go get’em Tiger!!