Interactive Forum: Sam Querry Serve

[EricMatuszewski]

Sam Querrey

Could 19 year old steady riser Sam Querrey swing his big game in to the top 50, 20 or even top 10 this year?

Sam has caught fire over last year, moving 538 places up the rankings since last February.

Since January, he's taken out Croatian Ivo Karlovic, French top 40 player Julienne Benneteau and had his biggest break against number 28th ranked Argentinian Jose Acasuso at the Austrailian Open.

Take a look at the animations of Sam using his 6'6" to good effect by slamming some big serves at Vince Spadea last year in Los Angeles.

Can Sam take his "big gun" to the top ATP rankings in 2007?

The serve is huge but his motion looks different than Roddick or Sampras. What is happening here?

[EricMatuszewski]

Sam Querrey Quick Times

Front




Rear




Side

[lukman41985]

I haven't devoted a lot of time to studying the clips yet, but what is readily apparent to me at first glance is Sam's stance. Even though he steps up with the backfoot a la Hewitt, the stance isn't really that narrow. The stance isn't narrow enough, I think, to be termed pinpoint, even though Sam steps up. Upon stepping up, Sam's stance is as wide as Roddick's platform stance.

[jlkm2219]

He looks very relaxed, like practicing serves. His arm is like a spaghetti so he can make these whip effect that gives a great acceleration to the racquet head.

[stroke]

I noticed how totally relaxed his hitting hand, wrist, and arm is, to the point that in his initial palm down position, when the racquet face is facing the court, his racquet is actually drooping down as he loosely hold his racquet handle.

[malice]

I must say his serve reminds me alot of Krajicek in the footwork department.

He lifts off at the same time from both feets which i would say is very rare from pinpoint servers.

The rest are just very nice fluid motions present in most other big servers.

I do notice his backfoot comes in front of his front. Would thsi actually rob him of some torso rotation ?

[vmiller]

It is hard to see for sure, but it looks like his grip is a bit more towards a forehand grip than most other players.

[lannonk]

What strikes me the most is what seems to be incedible flexibility. From the side view you can see that his elbow has reached its maximum height, yet his racquet is still pointing straight down at the court.

[josef]

If you look at the second filming (rear) two frames before contact, you will see that Querry squares his racket extremly soon. If you look at federer or Roddick one frame before contact the racket is perfectly on edge. This looks def. different than most pros. He loses speed because of air resistance. Its not so clear in the first and last filming but the serve from the rear two frames before contact looks special.

[carrerakent]

he's tall

he's very tall!!!!

tall people typically get it kinesthetically...they think hit down into the box subconsciously, but short people like me think subconsciously about hitting out and over the object (the net). i asked some shorter students what they think about and the agree that they feel like they have to hit out and over the net, not down into the court. i asked several guys that are over 6' 4" and they said, "we hit down into the box." of course Sam's doing alot of other things properly, but make him a 8-10 inches shorter and he wouldn't be in the top 1000 in the world.

[maverick1]

he's very tall!!!!
...

I agree with most of carrerakent's post.

I see good, but sub-pro mechanics in a 6'6 body.

Querry's racket drop is by no means spectacular for a pro. The racket
barely get below waist height, let alone knee height, which some pros(Djokovic?) achieve.

His overall motion looks gangly and raw, nothing like the well oiled pefection of Sampras.

If Querry were 10% shorter he would still be taller than average. For the average guy to get a feel for what it is like to be that tall, imagine shrinking the court 10%. Imagine the net 4" shorter and 4 feet closer. I salivate at the thought.
If you are 5'5, imagine the net 8" shorter and 8 feet closer. Life never seemed so unfair, did it?

[mrellis]

Sam Querry Serve

I am amazed at the different comments made about Sam's serve. I have never seen him play. Thus this is the first time I have seen him serve and I am very impressed. He has an effortles motion which is very simple. Whatever he does that is diferent from the textbook or today's top players(Roddick etc.) is irrelevant. He is unique and does not need to be like anybody else. If Sam does not live up to the expectations placed on him it will not be becaus of his service mation.

Scott

Sam Querrey

Could 19 year old steady riser Sam Querrey swing his big game in to the top 50, 20 or even top 10 this year?

Sam has caught fire over last year, moving 538 places up the rankings since last February.

Since January, he's taken out Croatian Ivo Karlovic, French top 40 player Julienne Benneteau and had his biggest break against number 28th ranked Argentinian Jose Acasuso at the Austrailian Open.

Take a look at the animations of Sam using his 6'6" to good effect by slamming some big serves at Vince Spadea last year in Los Angeles.

Can Sam take his "big gun" to the top ATP rankings in 2007?

The serve is huge but his motion looks different than Roddick or Sampras. What is happening here?

[drsous]

He seems to do the funadamentals very well. I think he generates lots of pace from his shoulder rotation. Looks like he makes contact further inside the baseline than most and I guess thats easier being that tall. Nice flowing motions almost seems to hit the ball on the rise.

[alechorton]

Sam Querry-good biomechanics

Hi guys, been a while since I posted. I think Sam's serve is good certainly he is very limber. Also his toss placement to the right and forward is going to give him tremendous power and allow his shoulder complete freedom versus tossing the ball over his head like most pros.
I can only speculate based on this serve sequence.
He does regrip the racquet in the backswing but not sure if that is problematic or if he does this to get looseness.
I like it,pretty smooth for a tall kid.

Alec

[iftypatel]

opens up too soon

Taking a brief look, I feel he opens up too soon, (he's too square on at contact)...so I would encourage him to stay sideways longer. He could also work on getting his racket lower behind his back. His footwork needs looking at....again he's too square on to the court...(needs more kick back etc..).
Obviously changing to my first recomendation, above..things might change.