Why I Prefer the Pinpoint Stance

Lehechka another crushing pinpoint server taking out Nadal today,,,he was stellar

[dimbleby69]

Before focus shifts to Pat’s latest contributions (May Issue), I have a couple of questions or queries in regard to the first article. And before that I’ll say thanks for a very stimulating piece (in the context of much of the content about serving on TPN, you could substitute the word provocative for stimulating!).

No.1 From the article (under the heading The See-Saw) :

“The font leg is the preferred support and driving fulcrum that the shoulder mechanics need as they elevate the body upwards.” When I watch the animation of Zverev in the article it seems to me that after moving his back foot up, he resettles significant weight on that foot and gets a good push up off it at the same time as the push off the front foot. If you look at both thigh muscles, at the moment of launch there is great muscle definition visible, whereas of course it’s only visible in the front thigh while the back foot travels forwards. Is Zverev unusual for pinpoint servers in doing this? The foremost biomechanist we read on these boards is of course Brian Gordon and he says that the biggest chunk of racquet head speed comes from external-to-internal shoulder rotation and you set the body up for this by having a push off the back foot sufficient to raise the back hip quickly and with it the hitting shoulder. I appreciate that Pat isn’t writing as a biomechanist but is sharing vast experience as a successful coach, and the concepts he uses to teach his students. But I remember seeing a video of a coach doing a drill with a talented junior (from a Spanish speaking country, I think) who was a pinpoint server, and he said to him “remember to keep 55% of your weight on the back foot”, which I think could only mean 55% at launch. Pat, do you think that this is in fact the case, but just isn’t a helpful concept for the student, or do you think the biomechanics don’t work like this? Or do biomechanics hold less interest for you than what you’ve simply found works best?

No.2. This is more of a self-interested question.

Brian Gordon states that “You can have a great serve [with pinpoint] there just isn’t any biomechanical advantage to it”. Now I used to serve pinpoint but partly because I was focusing on thrusting my hip forward I eventually produced chronic sciatica in my front hip and had to teach myself to serve platform. Then I found material on TPN to back up some of the solutions I found. BG really is at 180 degree position across from you as he prefers his students to serve platform but will adjust if they really can’t do it. Pat, you must have had the opposite experience. I would be really interested to hear what concepts, drills or tips you could give to platform servers to stop their legs from working against them, and get themselves in the optimal readiness for launch. You make a repeated point about having the chest pointed upwards and that in the pinpoint the lower body can accommodate this. Does platform obstruct this? Have you ever found a workaround?

Thanks again for your article

regards
Rob