How to serve up a tennis feast

THE big servers have made their mark again this year.

Men like Milos Raonic, Ivo Karlovic, John Isner and Kevin Anderson have been booming down the aces in bucket-loads since the grass court season started.

While I enjoy seeing a serve-volleyer in action – especially against a baseline specialist – I’m bored seeing serves crashing into the stop netting with receivers given no chance of getting a racket on the ball.

Tennis court dimensions were laid down when the average height of men was 5ft 9ins. Great players of the past were barely six-feet tall.

It was impossible to consistently hit flat serves for outright winners, particularly when the rules stipulated one foot must be on the ground at point of contact.

Today, we’re in the land of giants. Karlovic and Isner are both 6ft 10, Anderson 6ft 8 and Raonic 6ft 5. When they jump into the serve, they’re hitting the ball from such a massive they create angles that were impossible in the past.

Something has to be done to curb this kind of service dominance or the game – certainly on grass – will become mind-numbingly boring to watch.

Some thought has to be put into possibly shortening the service box – at pro level – or at least restoring the rule of keeping one foot on the ground during the service action.

Who enjoys watching ace after ace whistle down the court? Only the server himself and his followers.

Professional tennis relies on spectators, who want to be entertained. That derives from rallies.

People who want to see giants slugging it out can go to heavyweight boxing bouts.

Tennis should be about more than brute force and big serves.