From a Friend
Bot, if you are casting about for a serving idea for your column, here's a good one an instructor gave to Tennis or World Tennis years ago. Perhaps you'll recall it. Perhaps you do it.
Make like you're throwing a dart at the ceiling... at about a 70 degree angle, I guess. That was it, in a full-page cartoon.
I'm adding, let the wrist lag back, good and relaxed, turned inward while you let the racquet down your right side, and stay loose on the way up to the strike. Think about this only in practice. Then think/feel only looseness during points. As you well know, thinking likely will louse up a serve. Your forearm will propel the wrist and racquet into the strike. Do not tighten up on the way up. Do not be muscular. Let the racquet do the work. Trust that it will. You might think you've gotten your wrist to be really loose, but you can probably improve on it. And it probably won't come close to being loose enough after only a half-dozen serves.
This will look like a nice easy motion, but there will be a lot more racquethead speed than you'd get if you grip the handle at all tightly. And no one will see it, it happens so fast.
If you grip the racquet too lightly, it will fly out of your hand and break when it hits the court. I used to have a rawhide thong tied to the handle and looped over my wrist to prevent this, after having cracked a brand new Pro Staff.
RH
Bot, if you are casting about for a serving idea for your column, here's a good one an instructor gave to Tennis or World Tennis years ago. Perhaps you'll recall it. Perhaps you do it.
Make like you're throwing a dart at the ceiling... at about a 70 degree angle, I guess. That was it, in a full-page cartoon.
I'm adding, let the wrist lag back, good and relaxed, turned inward while you let the racquet down your right side, and stay loose on the way up to the strike. Think about this only in practice. Then think/feel only looseness during points. As you well know, thinking likely will louse up a serve. Your forearm will propel the wrist and racquet into the strike. Do not tighten up on the way up. Do not be muscular. Let the racquet do the work. Trust that it will. You might think you've gotten your wrist to be really loose, but you can probably improve on it. And it probably won't come close to being loose enough after only a half-dozen serves.
This will look like a nice easy motion, but there will be a lot more racquethead speed than you'd get if you grip the handle at all tightly. And no one will see it, it happens so fast.
If you grip the racquet too lightly, it will fly out of your hand and break when it hits the court. I used to have a rawhide thong tied to the handle and looped over my wrist to prevent this, after having cracked a brand new Pro Staff.
RH
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