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Sore Shoulder After Serving? A Tennis Pro's Guide

If you play tennis long enough, at some point you'll finish a match, reach into the back seat for your bag, and feel it: a dull ache across the top or back of your hitting shoulder. I've taught tennis for more than 20 years, and after the sore elbow, a sore serving shoulder is the thing my adult students ask me about most.

The good news is that most of it comes from a few habits you can change. Here's what I look for when a student tells me their shoulder hurts, what I have them change, and what I tell them to do after they play.

Why the serve is so hard on the shoulder

The serve is the one shot where your arm goes all the way up and over your head at full speed. A good serve is a chain: legs push up, hips and trunk turn, the shoulder and arm come through last and fast. When the chain works, the big muscles of your legs and core do most of the work and the shoulder just delivers it.

When the chain breaks, the shoulder makes up the difference. That's where the ache comes from. The small muscles in the back of the shoulder have to slow your arm down after every serve and overhead, and if they're doing more than their share, you feel it that night and the next morning.

Where it usually hurts

  • Top and front of the shoulder. Common in players who serve with an "arm only" motion and don't use their legs.
  • Back of the shoulder and shoulder blade. Those muscles do the braking after contact. Hit 100 serves in a practice session and they'll let you know.
  • Neck and upper back on the hitting side. Often from a toss that drifts behind your head, so you arch and crank to reach it.

Six things I change with my students

1. Use your legs

Bend your knees as you toss and push up into the ball. I tell students to feel like they're jumping up to the ball, not reaching for it. Even a small knee bend takes a big load off the shoulder. If you watch video of your serve and your knees never bend, start here.

2. Fix the toss

The toss should go up in front of you and a little to your hitting side, high enough that you hit it on the way up or at its peak. A toss behind your head makes you arch your back and swing your arm in a bad position. A toss that's too low cuts the motion short and you muscle it. Practice 20 tosses without hitting, letting each one drop. If it lands about a foot inside the baseline, in front of your front foot, you're close.

3. Turn your shoulders, then let them uncoil

Turn sideways so your back faces the net a little at the start of the motion. That turn is free power. Players who face the net and swing straight on have to make all of their pace with the arm.

4. Hit fewer, better serves

The basket of 100 serves is where a lot of sore shoulders start, especially after time off. I'd rather you hit 30 good ones with rest between sets of 10. If you're coming back from a break, build up over a few weeks.

5. Learn a second serve that doesn't need muscle

A spin second serve, where you brush up the back of the ball, is easier on the shoulder than trying to hit two flat bombs. It also wins more points. Ask your pro to show you; it's worth a lesson by itself.

6. Check your racquet and strings

A very light, very stiff racquet with stiff strings at high tension sends more shock up the arm. A bit more weight and a softer string setup is usually kinder to the shoulder and elbow.

A 5-minute warm-up before you serve

  1. Two minutes of easy movement: a light jog, side shuffles, skips.
  2. Arm circles, small to big, forward and backward, 10 each way.
  3. Ten slow "throwing" motions with no ball, getting a little bigger each time.
  4. If you have a light resistance band in your bag, 10 to 15 easy pull-aparts and outward rotations with your elbow at your side.
  5. Rally from the service line, then the baseline, and serve at three-quarter pace before you go full speed.

Most of my students who serve cold are the ones with the sore shoulders. Five minutes is not much to ask.

After you play

  • Stretch gently. Pull your hitting arm across your chest and hold for 20 to 30 seconds. Then a doorway chest stretch. Nothing should be sharp.
  • Ice anything that's actually sore for 10 to 15 minutes with a towel between the ice and your skin.
  • Rub in a pain relief cream on the spots that ache. More on that below.
  • Keep moving the next day. A walk and some easy arm circles feel better than keeping it still.

Where a cream fits in

A topical pain relief cream is for the temporary relief of minor aches and pains of muscles and joints associated with simple backache, arthritis, strains, bruises and sprains. It won't fix a toss that drifts behind your head, but it makes the evening after a long match a lot more comfortable while you work on the cause.

We make Active 10 with menthol, capsaicin and magnesium. It goes on cool, then warms, and it rubs in without a greasy feel. For the shoulder I usually point people to the 3 oz roll-on, because you can reach the top and back of your own shoulder without getting cream all over your hands, and it lives in your tennis bag. The 4 oz tube is the one most people keep at home, and if you play several times a week the 8 oz pump is the best value.

Follow the Drug Facts label. Don't use it on broken skin, don't wrap the area tightly, don't use it with a heating pad, and wash your hands before you touch your eyes or grip the racquet.

When to stop and get it checked

Normal soreness is a dull ache that fades in a day or two. Stop serving and see a doctor or physical therapist if:

  • the pain is sharp, or you feel a pop or a catch in the shoulder;
  • you can't lift your arm overhead, or it feels weak;
  • it wakes you up at night, or you can't sleep on that side;
  • there's numbness or tingling down the arm;
  • it isn't better after about a week of easing off.

I've watched good players turn a two-week break into a six-month one by serving through that kind of pain. Don't be that player.

Common questions

Should I stop serving if my shoulder is sore?

If it's a dull ache, cut way back for a week or two: play doubles where you serve less, and hit easy spin serves. If it's sharp or getting worse, stop and get it looked at.

Is it my racquet?

Sometimes it helps, but the motion matters more. A new racquet won't fix a toss behind your head. Get your serve looked at first.

Pickleball players get this too, right?

Yes, mostly from overheads swung with the arm alone. The same rules apply: turn sideways, point at the ball, use your legs. I wrote more in sore muscles after pickleball.

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Darrin Cohen is a tennis pro with more than 20 years of teaching and the founder of Active 10. This page is general information, not medical advice. Read the product label for Drug Facts, directions and warnings before use.