Service leg action

[winding]

While watching Federer Serves in stoke archives in an ongoing attempt to see how it is so effortless it appears to me that Federer (Roodick also) seem to bend their back leg earlier than their front leg which I'm guessing gives them much of the upward shoulder angle without having to do as much side bend. Is this old news that has already been addressed, something that might be worth looking at or am I just spending too much time looking at stroke archives thus wasting my time along with yours?

[johnyandell]

You could NEVER spend too much time in the stroke archives...never noticed that myself, doesn't mean it isn't true, doesn't mean it means something, or that it doesn't mean something---thoughts, others??

[westcoast777]

It's great to hear that I'm not the only one spending hours in the stroke archives mining for tidbits of the pro's success...
I enjoy reading posts of this nature - if you come across similar ideas please post them or PM me.
But on this one I would say it's not significant. I think it may be related to Roger's slight pick-up/movement of the front foot. The below clip of the Sampras serve shows the knees bending at the same time. http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...stSAdSide2.mov
Other servers even bend the front knee first, such as the Philippoussis pin-point stance serve with the back foot coming up.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/mark_philippoussis/MP_serve/MP_1st_serve/MP_1st_serve.html?MP1stSAdSide1.mov

Hope to see more posts!

[winding]

I appreciate the support. I'll just keeping watching Federers serve until I can figure out how he hits the ball so friggin hard without any effort. I'll be sure to keep you updated on any more trivial observations I might have.