I’ve noticed that my serves breakdown over the course of a set. I’ll start off strong both first and second serves. But as the set goes on, my percentages go down.

Reflecting on this, I feel like a few factors might be at play:

1) Fatigue. As the match goes on, my form breaks down because my energy is dwindling.

2) Tentativeness. As I start missing more serves, I begin to not hit through my balls.

I’ve wondered about other factors like how a ball might play differently as new balls wear down over a set. No conclusive evidence there.

In my doubles game today, I noticed this pattern happen among the other players to some degree.

What are people’s thoughts on this? Do you adjust your serve throughout a set to account for fatigue? Do you do drills like serving while tired? Do you notice the characteristics of new balls changing within a set (I know pros change frequently but I’m talking rec tennis at a 3.5/4.0 level).