In tennis, as with any sport, your foremost priority should always be to master the fundamentals. After all, you have to learn to crawl before you can walk, and you have to learn to walk before you can run.

For that reason, it's a good idea to make sure you have a good grasp on the basics before you start practicing any fancy Roger Federer-style between the legs backhands.

That's why today we here at Strathfield Sports Club Sydney are going to offer you a few basic tips on the most essential part of any tennis player's game – the serve.

A good serve can often mean the difference between success or failure on the court, as anyone who has successfully aced their opponent will know.

However a common mistake that many players make is to try and over hit the ball, putting too much power into their serve and sacrificing accuracy as a result.

That's why the first tip in our series is to serve with control, meaning that it's a good idea to take your time and focus on putting the ball in the right place rather than getting carried away with blasting through your opponent.

Another good thing to keep in mind when serving is to bend your knees. By staying nice and fluid throughout the serve, you will be able to get more power behind the ball and also ensure that you are set up to move quickly into position afterwards.

This leads us into our next point, which is to always plan ahead. Just because you have hit a good serve and put your opponent in a vulnerable position doesn't mean it's time to start patting yourself on the back just yet.

Make sure that you are ready to move quickly and smoothly out of service position and into the centre of the court, that way you will be prepared to play your opponent's return and hopefully win the point.

If all this sounds a bit confusing, don't worry! The important thing is to practice, practice, practice until your serve becomes so comfortable that you barely have to think about it.

The next time you are down at your local tennis court, grab a basket of balls and devote some time purely to serving, that way you will be able to ensure you are ready to take on the best of them the next time you hit the court.

If you want to really improve your game, you might also want to consider taking on some professional tennis coaching.

The friendly team here at Strathfield Sports Club will be able to help you work out the kinks in your technique in no time and ensure you are serving like a pro this summer!