The Power Serve Loading

[rfhjr]

I had some questions regarding the article "The Power Serve". When you are loading the serve I was writing to ask if someone could describe the feel or what muscles are affected. I have read articles and watched videos about the serve and have heard it described as a stretching of the chest muscles and have heard others describe using the abdominal muscles around the stomach area when serving.

I have been working on my serve for a few months and was trying to determine what my muscles should be doing during the serve motion. I understand in reading the article about how the legs drive the shoulders up which then drives the arm. I also know the point of loading is to get a spring like or rubber band effect. I come from a golf background and was taught to swing using the lower body to create a point of opposition between the shoulders and hips. By this I mean if you watch a good golfer during the swing the point of opposition occurs with the hips turning forward while at the same time the shoulders and arms are still going back. Actually during this motion the body is moving in different directions at the same time. Would this motion compare to the point in the tennis serve when the legs pushing up which drive the racquet down and into the loop would this be the point where you should feel the stretch and loading.

Another question I had was regarding the racquet arm in the serve. Is the arm controlled with the motion of the body during the kinetic chain or should there be a conscious use of the arm. I guess what I was asking is the arm pulled along with body or pushed during the tennis serve. Any assistance would be appreciated. Thank you

[johnyandell]

Good questions, and to a great extent it does come down to a matter of feel. But I think this has to be tied to the positions in the motion.

The knee bend. Simply stand in your starting stance and let both knees drop as far as you can still standing erect from the waist. That is what your legs should feel like--you want to amiximize your ability to coil them in the motion.

As far as the hips, my own opinion is that it's a big mistake to try to manipulate the motion by consciously moving the hips--I'm talking about tennis, not golf--and in general I think it's also a mistake to try to cross sport analogize.

Base it on the shoulder turn, which is a function of stance, mainly. I would highly recommend that you check out the Sampras serve articles on this in the Tour Strokes section. You don't have to go--and probably shouldn't go as extreme as Pete. If the shoulders turn correctly however, the hips will follow suit.

A critical part here is to stand up as straight as possible from the waist--or more accurately, keep your torso in line and not bend forward or to the side at the waist.

Regarding the hand and arm--yes they move on their own. Again I think the best description we have of it on the site is the Sampras article on racket path. (Well, ok, I did write the article...)

As I always do, I wanted to ask if you have some good miniDV video of your serve? It is very difficult to offer any relevant advice without seeing what you are actually doing. If you do you can send it for Your Strokes or we'll put it up in the Forum.