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I first recorded Sampras during the 1989 Philly indoor, where he beat Lendl for his first title, and watched and watched him thousands of times in slow motion since then. My take on Sampras comes from these many hours of slow motion studies over a 20 year period.
sampras serve oh
sampras french open
No one really talks about the energy used, or the type of energy used by any given shot or pro shot. To produce a world class shot, your energy has to be very fast, and very relaxed. You can watch film all day, and practice all day, but if your energy is not just as polished, you will never gain anything close to a pro result.
Stance:
The Sampras stance starts with all the weight on the rear foot, which makes it simpler to move his center of mass, gravity wise, into and up. He hunches over and forward, with arms relaxed, and frame up at start of motion, yet, all his weight is backwards on rear foot and front foot de weighted, even as all his focus is forwards. His serve is all about moving his center of mass and trading rear position for forwards position, in a very smooth and relaxed way. Look at the last over head frame picture in the Mercedes Benz tournament, and you can see just how twisted his core is. His chest is facing the back fence, and he has begun his leg drive upwards, yet, his frame is still pointing downwards and back! Raonic and Harrison look almost identical in this same position, but they don't coil sideways quite as much, with back to net, and chest to rear fence. No server in history had as much core twist as Sampras.
Toss:
He J tosses and turns shoulders, externally abducts his shoulder in a very relaxed way. Did anyone ever see him catch a bad toss? No. His toss is super accurate, step one. As he goes into a knee bend 18" downwards as his whole body mass moves forwards, bowing the left hip way out over the baseline, leading hip much higher than rear hip, and this allows a very large coil/shoulder over shoulder sideways. He creates a near almost 70 degrees to the ground with his shoulders, as his right side back scrunches up as he bends badkwards.
Delay on racquet drop from trophy:
His racquet arm delays the frame drop, not yet even to vertical, before the leg drive begins, and his elbow then collapses very fast, forwards into a straight/up/down angle with a huge back arch, with his chest to the sky now, which he maintains through the whole shot. The large arch allows a greater coil with a higher elbow. Then his leg drive forces his shoulders into a parking meter coin slot forwards, and the back arch quickly moves to the left side back, father forward than any other server in history, so his contact point is often 4' inside the baseline! The back arch then switches from rear wards to forwards, moving his entire body very fast from a rear cock to a forward scrunch. Fed is only about a foot in front at contact, and Becker about 2 and a half feet and Raonic is only about 2 and a half feet at contact in front of the baseline..
Forearm pronation:
Then his arm pronates around the elbow, so the wrist stays locked with the forearm until after contact, and the forearm snaps around a lightning fast 180 degrees or more, forging a longer lever arm due to the delayed wrist break and the locked wrist at contact, forming a much long lever arm at contact, and now the hip over hip shoulder over shoulder completes, with the 90 degree angle now completely reversed, so that his shoulders exchange positions entirely, everything rotating around the elbow. And now the shoulders are straight up and down forwards, with leading shoulder the lower one now.
Secret of his accuracy:
The locked wrist also gives a very stable and accurate platform for accuracy, at the cost of some pace, but allowing him to hit aces on the lines at 120mph vs. 144mph. More accurate under pressure, than anyone else in the world's history. Why is that? The far forward contact point, the deceptively simple form, the locked wrist, combine with the delayed trophy drop allow his serve to have a greater kinetic path way, a longer, smoother, more accurate path way, than any other in history. This keeps the back arched even through contact, allowing the elbow and frame greater motion under his elbow. This combines to create a "vicious whip lash", as he describes in his autobiography. The whip lash is all based on that simple, locked wrist, giving his shot a long rifle accuracy, vs. a .22 caliber shorter lever, that most servers use. The smooth relaxed rhythm of the locked wrist during contact causes automatic accuracy. He said to Justin Gimelstob, "I turn my shoulders, I bend my knees, and I put it on the line.", when Justin asked him,
"Hey, hey, Pete, how do you serve so well?" Thanks a lot Pete. That really helps me.
How he creates vicious whip lash:
He also stops his shoulder at the top of the stroke, during contact, and internally rotates it, transferring all its motion to the locked wrist, and forearm twist. The entire motion of the shot then causes the frame to snap over violently, the frame bed which contacted the ball now facing towards the side fence after contact. His serves are never flat, always spin serves, but 120mph spin serves, and 108mph on seconds. The forearm during contact snaps forwards, and the stopped shoulder, causes the forearm to then snap around way past contact point, always imparting a lot of spin: 2200-2800 rpm on firsts, and 4000-4800 on seconds, creating a curving vicious heavy ball that the top returners often returned, but popped up for easy volley put a ways. It's the heavy spin, that caused his serve to rapidly "kick" off to the side, which put the ball out of the sweet spot at the last mili second.
The chong stance also starts it all, and then the J toss, into a parabolic arc, 3' higher than contact, at start going down to groin area, and then curving out front to an 11 oclock position or 12, farther left than any other server. After the toss, which is 3 feet higher than contact, he simply turns his shoulders so his chest is facing the back fence. This far left contact allows greater access to the back hand side of returners. The leg drive then drives him forward and to the left, so he can get a lower back bend, and straight/up/down shoulder angle on the ball, and his knees come up into a bend, just like Fed does.
The double V:
The hitting structure then forms a V, with the elbow the lower pointed end of the V, and then a < > with his head in the center of the rotating V. The speed of the V is increased by the delayed trophy drop as the frame faces the back fence, until after the leg drive. The leg drive is driven from the rear foot forward, forcing the left hip out, all done before the frame ever even reaches vertical over his head. The V collapses while his back stays arched, even as he drives forwards, rotating his shoulders, while the V remains intact until the last mili second. The forearm then snaps up and around the elbow, and the V straightens out, and reattains its shape after contact, which acts as a rotating stopping point for kinetic transfer of motion. Like a pitcher, who coils all the way back towards the plate, he coils all the way back towards the net before leg drive, twisting his core incredibly, form shared by Raonic, and the leg drives the left hip forwards way out over the baseline. The pitcher also lays his wrist back all the way, and leaves it there coiled for as long as possible. They are throwing 100mph without a racquet lever arm! Sampras also lays the frame back until after leg drive forwards and up. But he only goes up as a consequence of moving the shoulders into the parking meter slot, and the V bullets forwards into contact point. This arched back and parking meter slot at contact, allows far greater forwards contact into the baseline.
The combination of the collapsing elbow, and the back scrunch trading from right rear to front left side of the back, happen so fast and smoothly it fools the eye. The range of motion of the shot is huge, due to the far rearwards start, the back arch trading places so far out in front, yet all done so fluidly and relaxed and fast. Not only does the back arch trade positions, but the shoulders trade, the V trades, so it all about reversing the rear positions into the forwards positions. But the angle of the V and wrist at contact are automatic, and locked in a way, providing incredible accuracy. All he has to do is focus on which part of the ball to hit, and the angle. Since the toss is super accurate, the motion is locked into this accuracy as well.
No leg kick back:
Sampras had little leg kick back. He was in a hurry to get to the net, and a large kick back slows that down.
So the things I never see anyone talk about are: his very far forward contact. His locked wrist/forearm lever being longer. The double V. His energy used for the serve. The dipsy doodle movement his knees make as he changes direction from sideways, to forwards on leg drive. Raonic does it too. His extreme twisted chest to the rear fence. His delayed frame at trophy. His elbow collapsing very fast towards his head. HIs weight in stance being all the way back, yet his back hunched over and entire focus forwards. His back being arched the whole time, including contact, which allows his contact to be so far out in front. His use of spin on all serves. The cause of his accuracy: the longer lever arm, of his shoulders/forearm/wrist, straight up and down to form one long lever during contact. HIs elbow moving back wards just after the shot, creating a whip like effect.
The most important part: Is only the part that relates to you and helps your own serve improve. Don't forget the fast energy you need to create a fast frame.
sampras serve oh sampras french openNo one really talks about the energy used, or the type of energy used by any given shot or pro shot. To produce a world class shot, your energy has to be very fast, and very relaxed. You can watch film all day, and practice all day, but if your energy is not just as polished, you will never gain anything close to a pro result.
Stance:
The Sampras stance starts with all the weight on the rear foot, which makes it simpler to move his center of mass, gravity wise, into and up. He hunches over and forward, with arms relaxed, and frame up at start of motion, yet, all his weight is backwards on rear foot and front foot de weighted, even as all his focus is forwards. His serve is all about moving his center of mass and trading rear position for forwards position, in a very smooth and relaxed way. Look at the last over head frame picture in the Mercedes Benz tournament, and you can see just how twisted his core is. His chest is facing the back fence, and he has begun his leg drive upwards, yet, his frame is still pointing downwards and back! Raonic and Harrison look almost identical in this same position, but they don't coil sideways quite as much, with back to net, and chest to rear fence. No server in history had as much core twist as Sampras.
Toss:
He J tosses and turns shoulders, externally abducts his shoulder in a very relaxed way. Did anyone ever see him catch a bad toss? No. His toss is super accurate, step one. As he goes into a knee bend 18" downwards as his whole body mass moves forwards, bowing the left hip way out over the baseline, leading hip much higher than rear hip, and this allows a very large coil/shoulder over shoulder sideways. He creates a near almost 70 degrees to the ground with his shoulders, as his right side back scrunches up as he bends badkwards.
Delay on racquet drop from trophy:
His racquet arm delays the frame drop, not yet even to vertical, before the leg drive begins, and his elbow then collapses very fast, forwards into a straight/up/down angle with a huge back arch, with his chest to the sky now, which he maintains through the whole shot. The large arch allows a greater coil with a higher elbow. Then his leg drive forces his shoulders into a parking meter coin slot forwards, and the back arch quickly moves to the left side back, father forward than any other server in history, so his contact point is often 4' inside the baseline! The back arch then switches from rear wards to forwards, moving his entire body very fast from a rear cock to a forward scrunch. Fed is only about a foot in front at contact, and Becker about 2 and a half feet and Raonic is only about 2 and a half feet at contact in front of the baseline..
Forearm pronation:
Then his arm pronates around the elbow, so the wrist stays locked with the forearm until after contact, and the forearm snaps around a lightning fast 180 degrees or more, forging a longer lever arm due to the delayed wrist break and the locked wrist at contact, forming a much long lever arm at contact, and now the hip over hip shoulder over shoulder completes, with the 90 degree angle now completely reversed, so that his shoulders exchange positions entirely, everything rotating around the elbow. And now the shoulders are straight up and down forwards, with leading shoulder the lower one now.
Secret of his accuracy:
The locked wrist also gives a very stable and accurate platform for accuracy, at the cost of some pace, but allowing him to hit aces on the lines at 120mph vs. 144mph. More accurate under pressure, than anyone else in the world's history. Why is that? The far forward contact point, the deceptively simple form, the locked wrist, combine with the delayed trophy drop allow his serve to have a greater kinetic path way, a longer, smoother, more accurate path way, than any other in history. This keeps the back arched even through contact, allowing the elbow and frame greater motion under his elbow. This combines to create a "vicious whip lash", as he describes in his autobiography. The whip lash is all based on that simple, locked wrist, giving his shot a long rifle accuracy, vs. a .22 caliber shorter lever, that most servers use. The smooth relaxed rhythm of the locked wrist during contact causes automatic accuracy. He said to Justin Gimelstob, "I turn my shoulders, I bend my knees, and I put it on the line.", when Justin asked him,
"Hey, hey, Pete, how do you serve so well?" Thanks a lot Pete. That really helps me.
How he creates vicious whip lash:
He also stops his shoulder at the top of the stroke, during contact, and internally rotates it, transferring all its motion to the locked wrist, and forearm twist. The entire motion of the shot then causes the frame to snap over violently, the frame bed which contacted the ball now facing towards the side fence after contact. His serves are never flat, always spin serves, but 120mph spin serves, and 108mph on seconds. The forearm during contact snaps forwards, and the stopped shoulder, causes the forearm to then snap around way past contact point, always imparting a lot of spin: 2200-2800 rpm on firsts, and 4000-4800 on seconds, creating a curving vicious heavy ball that the top returners often returned, but popped up for easy volley put a ways. It's the heavy spin, that caused his serve to rapidly "kick" off to the side, which put the ball out of the sweet spot at the last mili second.
The chong stance also starts it all, and then the J toss, into a parabolic arc, 3' higher than contact, at start going down to groin area, and then curving out front to an 11 oclock position or 12, farther left than any other server. After the toss, which is 3 feet higher than contact, he simply turns his shoulders so his chest is facing the back fence. This far left contact allows greater access to the back hand side of returners. The leg drive then drives him forward and to the left, so he can get a lower back bend, and straight/up/down shoulder angle on the ball, and his knees come up into a bend, just like Fed does.
The double V:
The hitting structure then forms a V, with the elbow the lower pointed end of the V, and then a < > with his head in the center of the rotating V. The speed of the V is increased by the delayed trophy drop as the frame faces the back fence, until after the leg drive. The leg drive is driven from the rear foot forward, forcing the left hip out, all done before the frame ever even reaches vertical over his head. The V collapses while his back stays arched, even as he drives forwards, rotating his shoulders, while the V remains intact until the last mili second. The forearm then snaps up and around the elbow, and the V straightens out, and reattains its shape after contact, which acts as a rotating stopping point for kinetic transfer of motion. Like a pitcher, who coils all the way back towards the plate, he coils all the way back towards the net before leg drive, twisting his core incredibly, form shared by Raonic, and the leg drives the left hip forwards way out over the baseline. The pitcher also lays his wrist back all the way, and leaves it there coiled for as long as possible. They are throwing 100mph without a racquet lever arm! Sampras also lays the frame back until after leg drive forwards and up. But he only goes up as a consequence of moving the shoulders into the parking meter slot, and the V bullets forwards into contact point. This arched back and parking meter slot at contact, allows far greater forwards contact into the baseline.
The combination of the collapsing elbow, and the back scrunch trading from right rear to front left side of the back, happen so fast and smoothly it fools the eye. The range of motion of the shot is huge, due to the far rearwards start, the back arch trading places so far out in front, yet all done so fluidly and relaxed and fast. Not only does the back arch trade positions, but the shoulders trade, the V trades, so it all about reversing the rear positions into the forwards positions. But the angle of the V and wrist at contact are automatic, and locked in a way, providing incredible accuracy. All he has to do is focus on which part of the ball to hit, and the angle. Since the toss is super accurate, the motion is locked into this accuracy as well.
No leg kick back:
Sampras had little leg kick back. He was in a hurry to get to the net, and a large kick back slows that down.
So the things I never see anyone talk about are: his very far forward contact. His locked wrist/forearm lever being longer. The double V. His energy used for the serve. The dipsy doodle movement his knees make as he changes direction from sideways, to forwards on leg drive. Raonic does it too. His extreme twisted chest to the rear fence. His delayed frame at trophy. His elbow collapsing very fast towards his head. HIs weight in stance being all the way back, yet his back hunched over and entire focus forwards. His back being arched the whole time, including contact, which allows his contact to be so far out in front. His use of spin on all serves. The cause of his accuracy: the longer lever arm, of his shoulders/forearm/wrist, straight up and down to form one long lever during contact. HIs elbow moving back wards just after the shot, creating a whip like effect.
The most important part: Is only the part that relates to you and helps your own serve improve. Don't forget the fast energy you need to create a fast frame.
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