The fun is out-thinking your opponent. In serving, having a plan in mind is essential to its execution. The following suggestions will stimulate your thinking. Hopefully some of these techniques will work for you. Not all these suggestions will work all the time. That is where your thinking comes in, figuring out each match what may be working and what doesn't. Remember to keep probing your opponent by applying some of these strategies.
Make first serves. The risk-taker bucks the odds, then suffers the consequences. This alternative is to compromise, to make a well-placed serve that is difficult to return; this reduces pressure on yourself and applies it to the receiver.
Develop the second serve. An aggressive second serve is essential at higher levels of play. More spin, pace and depth keeps the receiver in the backcourt. (Note: to learn, you must be willing to double fault occasionally.)
Apply extra pace. Know which of the receiver's strokes is suspect; use the flat serve to break it down.
Use the element of surprise. Mix placement with slice and spin serves. On the deuce court, if you always go wide with slice and down the center with spin, your opponent will read the toss.
Keep 'em in the corner. On the deuce court, make the receiver hit a forehand from the sideline; on the ad court, make him hit a backhand. Pin him in the corner and a weak return gives you an open court.
Give no angles. By serving down the middle, the likelihood is increased that the return will come back down the middle, which improves your position to play a forehand or a first volley.
Go to the body. It's difficult for the receiver to move out of the way, and the racquet doesn't work effectively when the stroke is cramped. Serving to the body on the deuce court sets up a wide slice serve.
Serve wide. The wide serve on the deuce court sets up the slice serve to the body, or the flat or spin serve down the middle.
Go to the strength. Sometimes you must first go to a strength to expose the weakness. (The player who enjoys running around his backhand on the deuce court may not be so successful when moving to their right.)