As the joke goes, a priest, a minister and a rabbi walk into a bar….you can fill in the rest, but the punchline has to be delivered perfectly to make the joke funny! What does this have to do with racquetball? Bear with me! I marvel at the lack of creativity sometimes when watching tournament and league play. What I mean by that is the serve goes in the same trajectory to the same place at the same speed over and over. Eventually the receiver of the serve will dial in and be able to handle the serve. Even if you can rip the serve a good player can adjust to the pace.
Here is a suggestion. Think of three speeds, the heat or 100%, the fastball or 80% and the changeup at 50% of your pace. Work on just those three speeds, and you will be amazed at the results. Now, throw in some different angles rather than the pedestrian V angle of the drive serve into the corners. Cooking up the drive serve with several angles, several speeds and sensing when to do that will take your game up a level for sure. Back to the comedian and timing to deliver a punchline for the audience; you need to sense when to change that speed or angle.
Many athletes never “feel” the game; they play the game! Deliver a punchline drive serve at crunch time and you will play a level higher! Now go get’em Tiger!!