Roddick Serve Article; Dual Leg Drive

[GMann]

Great Article on the Roddick serve. I have a question regarding to your fascinating observation about Roddick being able to push off both legs because of his narrow stance. Are you implying that one must start off in this narrow stance to get both legs leaving the ground at the same time. Can't a server simply bring the back foot up into a very close together pinpoint stance and then simply push off with both legs at the same time if he concentrates on it?

I suspect that something that really helps Roddick to naturally get more weight on his back leg is his use of that toss arm as it comes back over his face and much farther than most players. This seems to help his balance so he can put weight on his back leg and really bend it while holding that bend on the balls of his feet. The toss hand coming back over his head and back pushes more weight onto the back leg instead of only the front foot like most servers.

[johnyandell]

About the two foot push, I guess it's possible to drag it and still push with both feet. Although I'm not sure because I have not seen a top player do it. Hewitt comes close. Sharapova does too. But I need to look at the high speed footage more closely. If the narrow stance is the goal though I don't know why you would want to drag the foot. The weight has to be distributed at the deepest part of the knee bend. That's the knock on the pinpoint--it can cause more problems than it allegedly solves. Look at this one of Goran:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...tionAdRear.mov

He's already uncoiling with the front leg before the back leg is in position to push--and the added issue is what the pinpoint does to the rotation if it comes too far around.

By the way, as I hope was clear in the article, I'm not truly advocating this as the way to go. Not sure what I really think about. Prefer it to an extreme pinpoint, but not sure versus a platform for players at the various levels. The analysis at this point is more a voyage of exploration.

[johnyandell]

PS: Interesting theory about the tossing arm! That's what I like about the Forum--you guys are always giving me something new to think about!

[blakeb]

I Tried the Dual Leg Drive

Hi John,

After reading your article I decided to try Roddicks stance. I did not move the front foot during the serve, but I simply started with my feet much closer together. Approximately where Roddick ends up.

I then just visualized myself pushing off hard with both legs. I noticed an increase in velocity on my serve. I played my regular partner, and I did not tell him that I had changed anything. He mentioned that my serve was considerably faster. He was also having more difficulty returning it.

I had previously used a platform stance similar to Sampras.

I think you really discovered somthing very interesting. Based on my experience, I think it is a fairly simple change to make for an experienced server.

Thanks,
Blake

[johnyandell]

Cool. Very interesting feedback. Scott Murphy had a similar experience.