A New Teaching System: The Serve: Swing Path

[bottle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4-w2FYIJbw

[10splayer]

Yep...I saw it.

Hey mlogarzo...take this with a grain of salt or a beer or two.

Attached Files
Zoe.mov (1.86 MB, 72 views)

Set Up Position...

I would like to see the pre-shot routine also. Without a doubt I would change that too. That said without even seeing it. I want to see the hands setup a bit higher. As it looks here, her hands begin their motion at the level of her upper thigh and I would like to see them at her waist or just below and just a bit more forwards...this will give her just a bit of bend in her elbows. It will encourage her to "drop" the racquet head into motion. This will also encourage some nice gentle flexing and give her a bit more play in the entire swinging motion. It looks to me as if there is far too much tension in the racquet forearm which is moving down into the wrist, hand and racquet...I want to see some little tiny “waggling” with her arm and racquet structure to demonstrate a relaxed engagement in coordination with the entire body. Waggling is a micro demonstration of the swing to come in its entirety. The weight shifted just a bit more forwards over the front foot.

The setup position is a dynamic part of the service motion as it sets the body up to make the first movement which will of course setup the next movement. It is a chain reaction and it won’t do any good to have the body set up in the wrong position. Get your ducks in a row...in a line.

The Back Swing...

The first fifteen clicks by dragging the mouse evidence zero motion with the racquet and arm structure. The only movement is a lateral movement backwards that shifts the weight entirely back on to the back foot without swinging the racquet at all. This is to me a total violation of fundamental service motions.

The backswing should be initiated with a movement of the hands and arms that travels into the shoulders and then into the body and legs. The order of movement in the backswing is a mirror opposite of what transpires in the forward motion...which is legs, torso, shoulders and then arm and racquet. What I would like to see as her initial movement is a dropping motion of the hands and arms in a free fall movement towards the ground...particularly with the racquet head being set in motion as a rollercoaster car beginning its initial descent down the track of a thrilling ride.

At click #15 she has created her position by rocking backwards with a lateral move of about two decimeters with 90% of her weight back on her back foot and with a rather stiff straight front leg. Her back leg is bearing way too much weight so early in the swing. The initial motion should be slightly downwards with a gravitational influence dipping the shoulders in order to set up for the next part of the backswing...the lifting motion that is accomplished with the turning shoulders and lifting of the chest to the sky. Both arms lifting to the sky...the tossing hand and the backswing simultaneously lifting.

The racquet and arm structure should not have lost any of its original shape at this point. However, the angle of her structure has been reduced from an angle of more than 100 degrees to something that is less than 90 degrees before she finally makes an ascending movement with the arm and racquet structure. Changing parts in a moving motion equals increasing margin for error...which is the equivalent of uncertainty in the emotional state of the player. Statistically speaking...a recipe for inconsistency.

The backwards movement is particularly bothersome as it sets off a whole chain reaction of events that are not in the servers best interests. In golf...the swing is sometimes said to be accomplished within the confines of a barrel. The golfer tries to stay in the barrel without moving about laterally as the energy is best generated with a turning movement backwards that winds the body up as a rubber band...which is only setting up the whole thing to unwind. That is the whole purpose of the backswing. To wind up. If you want to hit the ball further you rotate your shoulders more. If you want more power on the serve do the same thing. This backward movement is also going to inhibit the shoulder turn. An initial downward motion will on the other hand encourage more rotation.

Clicks #15 through #30 are the evidence of faulty set-up and the fruits of which are a very convoluted backswing that will require all kinds of compensation which the result of which is the super high toss of the ball. Instead of allowing the racquet to freely swing back and up into position where it should be with the original shape of the racquet and arm...our young Aussie princess has managed to attempt to direct things with an over abundance of her own invention. From the point where she has completed her backwards rocking motion she proceeds to take matters into her own hands...instead of allowing the one force that you can depend on in all given situations, gravity, to work its magic. Somehow she looks to be pushing the racquet away from her body and then has to reign things back into alignment by redirecting her arm back in line with her shoulders. This has taken precious time...and she knows it as she heaves the ball high into the air to compensate for all of the extra convolutions.

The Forward Swing...

There is really no point in discussing her serve further as her backswing and setup are the problems. She clearly has an abundance of athletic ability. She only needs to be set up properly to go forwards and there isn’t any doubt that she will be able to do this. It is only that her set up fails to produce the proper initial motion and then she further complicates things with a backswing that is far more complicated and misdirected than it needs to be or should be. The sum of the motions should always be in line with the target and the push away of her racquet from her body instead of allowing the racquet to freely swing along the line of her feet is the worst culprit here. This movement will prevent her from feeling any sense of rhythm or freedom of movement.

The Footwork...

I teach footwork. You bet I do. On every single shot. The serve is no exception I feel that the footwork in this example is real suspect as well. I really don't like the big shift of weight with the lateral movement backwards and this movement has killed any chance and all of the impetus of the momentum needed to go forwards effectively and efficiently. I am not really crazy about the movement of the back foot coming forwards like it does. There is a lot of coming and going...going on in this motion. This is another time consumer and the pin point seems to encourage a higher toss of the ball as well. I have noticed that many players with pin point motions seem to throw the ball significantly higher. I like to see the feet lined up with a line directly at the end of the toes pointing at the target. Particularly with beginners or those with service motions that are being redirected along fundamental lines. This line serves as the “track” of the racquet head to follow down, back and finally up into position. I like to keep the backswing on a line in front of the body so that the racquet can "fall" down behind the server with the last turning of the shoulders. The first step in a good solid, fundamental service motion is to get all of your ducks in a row. John Yandell´s service model verifies all of this.

The Toss Itself...

The rocking motion backwards really complicates delivering the ball consistently in the same place every time under any and all circumstances. The wind and the nerves are going to take their due effect on the accuracy and ability to consistently put the ball in position to get in the way of the racquet head. Due to all of the funny business in the backswing our student makes the only compensation that will allow for her to meet the ball and even so she does not meet the ball at full extension. Instead she is leaving the ground in a rather futile attempt to appear to be doing so. In the setup position the tossing hand is basically directly below the point where you want to deliver the ball and the simplest way to think of throwing the ball up...is to simply lift it into position to the point where you intend to strike it. With the lateral movement backwards and then forwards this becomes an impossibility.

Convoluted...

Convoluted? Not as a matter of opinion...but as a matter of fact. Convolution means extremely complex and difficult to follow. I guess we might say that the service motion in general is convoluted. The best way to describe our Aussie tennis student here is overly convoluted. Excessively convoluted. Unnecessarily convoluted. That is a criticism...not to be misconstrued as an insult. She is creating more complexity in her service motion when the object of such a difficult and complex motion is to simplify. Tennis isn't for sissies...there is a lot of bad news involved. A lot of people don't like to hear it...and resist change as a consequence.

julian1

Go ahead julian1...call in DougEng. Call the police while you are at it. You probably will feel more secure hearing virtually the same thing from him in twice the words and more scientific lingo. He'll throw in some gadgets and computer generated lines for good measure. Birds of a feather flock together and as fellow Phd’s you can probably find great solace in one another. Which makes me happy to no end. Trust me.

Stotty...

Thank you.

there's really no need for this. Doug has forgotten more about tennis than you know. Really. I enjoy his posts and think this is a ridiculous cheap shot. Get over yourself.

Btw, I'll take empirical, gadgets, etc. over song lyrics any day.

[bottle]

Re # 12, "major confidence issues...it's no wonder"

Sex never hurt nobody. And rebuilding a stroke from scratch is nothing if you do it every day. Oh, I know, then you'll be a complete beginner all over again, thoroughly de-chunked.

Reader, I'd like to debunk your de-chunk. Because, in the meantime, tennis will be coming to you.

I'm sorry, Matthew Syed, former table tennis champion of Great Britain, that you couldn't return Michael Stich's serve, not once, despite the excellent shot you devised.

Because you didn't practice the devising of new service returns in tennis every day so that you had at least ten to try. That is where you should have put your 10,000 hours, a thousand hours apiece, instead of playing all that ping-pong.

[don_budge]

Convoluted...by definition extremely complex and difficult to follow

Please see post #16

Yep...I saw it.

Hey mlogarzo...take this with a grain of salt or a beer or two.

Attached Files
Zoe.mov (1.86 MB, 72 views)

Set Up Position...

I would like to see the pre-shot routine also. Without a doubt I would change that too. That said without even seeing it. I want to see the hands setup a bit higher. As it looks here, her hands begin their motion at the level of her upper thigh and I would like to see them at her waist or just below and just a bit more forwards...this will give her just a bit of bend in her elbows. It will encourage her to "drop" the racquet head into motion. This will also encourage some nice gentle flexing and give her a bit more play in the entire swinging motion. It looks to me as if there is far too much tension in the racquet forearm which is moving down into the wrist, hand and racquet...I want to see some little tiny “waggling” with her arm and racquet structure to demonstrate a relaxed engagement in coordination with the entire body. Waggling is a micro demonstration of the swing to come in its entirety. The weight shifted just a bit more forwards over the front foot.

The setup position is a dynamic part of the service motion as it sets the body up to make the first movement which will of course setup the next movement. It is a chain reaction and it won’t do any good to have the body set up in the wrong position. Get your ducks in a row...in a line.

The Back Swing...

The first fifteen clicks by dragging the mouse evidence zero motion with the racquet and arm structure. The only movement is a lateral movement backwards that shifts the weight entirely back on to the back foot without swinging the racquet at all. This is to me a total violation of fundamental service motions.

The backswing should be initiated with a movement of the hands and arms that travels into the shoulders and then into the body and legs. The order of movement in the backswing is a mirror opposite of what transpires in the forward motion...which is legs, torso, shoulders and then arm and racquet. What I would like to see as her initial movement is a dropping motion of the hands and arms in a free fall movement towards the ground...particularly with the racquet head being set in motion as a rollercoaster car beginning its initial descent down the track of a thrilling ride.

At click #15 she has created her position by rocking backwards with a lateral move of about two decimeters with 90% of her weight back on her back foot and with a rather stiff straight front leg. Her back leg is bearing way too much weight so early in the swing. The initial motion should be slightly downwards with a gravitational influence dipping the shoulders in order to set up for the next part of the backswing...the lifting motion that is accomplished with the turning shoulders and lifting of the chest to the sky. Both arms lifting to the sky...the tossing hand and the backswing simultaneously lifting.

The racquet and arm structure should not have lost any of its original shape at this point. However, the angle of her structure has been reduced from an angle of more than 100 degrees to something that is less than 90 degrees before she finally makes an ascending movement with the arm and racquet structure. Changing parts in a moving motion equals increasing margin for error...which is the equivalent of uncertainty in the emotional state of the player. Statistically speaking...a recipe for inconsistency.

The backwards movement is particularly bothersome as it sets off a whole chain reaction of events that are not in the servers best interests. In golf...the swing is sometimes said to be accomplished within the confines of a barrel. The golfer tries to stay in the barrel without moving about laterally as the energy is best generated with a turning movement backwards that winds the body up as a rubber band...which is only setting up the whole thing to unwind. That is the whole purpose of the backswing. To wind up. If you want to hit the ball further you rotate your shoulders more. If you want more power on the serve do the same thing. This backward movement is also going to inhibit the shoulder turn. An initial downward motion will on the other hand encourage more rotation.

Clicks #15 through #30 are the evidence of faulty set-up and the fruits of which are a very convoluted backswing that will require all kinds of compensation which the result of which is the super high toss of the ball. Instead of allowing the racquet to freely swing back and up into position where it should be with the original shape of the racquet and arm...our young Aussie princess has managed to attempt to direct things with an over abundance of her own invention. From the point where she has completed her backwards rocking motion she proceeds to take matters into her own hands...instead of allowing the one force that you can depend on in all given situations, gravity, to work its magic. Somehow she looks to be pushing the racquet away from her body and then has to reign things back into alignment by redirecting her arm back in line with her shoulders. This has taken precious time...and she knows it as she heaves the ball high into the air to compensate for all of the extra convolutions.

The Forward Swing...

There is really no point in discussing her serve further as her backswing and setup are the problems. She clearly has an abundance of athletic ability. She only needs to be set up properly to go forwards and there isn’t any doubt that she will be able to do this. It is only that her set up fails to produce the proper initial motion and then she further complicates things with a backswing that is far more complicated and misdirected than it needs to be or should be. The sum of the motions should always be in line with the target and the push away of her racquet from her body instead of allowing the racquet to freely swing along the line of her feet is the worst culprit here. This movement will prevent her from feeling any sense of rhythm or freedom of movement.

The Footwork...

I teach footwork. You bet I do. On every single shot. The serve is no exception I feel that the footwork in this example is real suspect as well. I really don't like the big shift of weight with the lateral movement backwards and this movement has killed any chance and all of the impetus of the momentum needed to go forwards effectively and efficiently. I am not really crazy about the movement of the back foot coming forwards like it does. There is a lot of coming and going...going on in this motion. This is another time consumer and the pin point seems to encourage a higher toss of the ball as well. I have noticed that many players with pin point motions seem to throw the ball significantly higher. I like to see the feet lined up with a line directly at the end of the toes pointing at the target. Particularly with beginners or those with service motions that are being redirected along fundamental lines. This line serves as the “track” of the racquet head to follow down, back and finally up into position. I like to keep the backswing on a line in front of the body so that the racquet can "fall" down behind the server with the last turning of the shoulders. The first step in a good solid, fundamental service motion is to get all of your ducks in a row. John Yandell´s service model verifies all of this.

The Toss Itself...

The rocking motion backwards really complicates delivering the ball consistently in the same place every time under any and all circumstances. The wind and the nerves are going to take their due effect on the accuracy and ability to consistently put the ball in position to get in the way of the racquet head. Due to all of the funny business in the backswing our student makes the only compensation that will allow for her to meet the ball and even so she does not meet the ball at full extension. Instead she is leaving the ground in a rather futile attempt to appear to be doing so. In the setup position the tossing hand is basically directly below the point where you want to deliver the ball and the simplest way to think of throwing the ball up...is to simply lift it into position to the point where you intend to strike it. With the lateral movement backwards and then forwards this becomes an impossibility.

Convoluted...

Convoluted? Not as a matter of opinion...but as a matter of fact. Convolution means extremely complex and difficult to follow. I guess we might say that the service motion in general is convoluted. The best way to describe our Aussie tennis student here is overly convoluted. Excessively convoluted. Unnecessarily convoluted. That is a criticism...not to be misconstrued as an insult. She is creating more complexity in her service motion when the object of such a difficult and complex motion is to simplify. Tennis isn't for sissies...there is a lot of bad news involved. A lot of people don't like to hear it...and resist change as a consequence.

julian1

Go ahead julian1...call in DougEng. Call the police while you are at it. You probably will feel more secure hearing virtually the same thing from him in twice the words and more scientific lingo. He'll throw in some gadgets and computer generated lines for good measure. Birds of a feather flock together and as fellow Phd’s you can probably find great solace in one another. Which makes me happy to no end. Trust me.

Stotty...

Thank you.

[julian1]

Please see post #16

First of all...thanks for sharing mlogarzo. It's very generous of you.

One of the major problems in the tennis world today is that coaches seem to be unable to "build" a sound service motion. A big reason for that is that motions are no longer designed to be followed into the net. Instead the server tries for the big delivery then backs up. This kind of behavior is a fundamental change...much as society has changed with the use of the cell phone. Now you must begin to ask yourself what are the ramifications of such behavior changes. Here is a very good example. I wonder if there are problems in the second serve delivery. I imagine that there are.

It's no wonder that this girl is suffering from major confidence issues because she has some major mechanical issues going on in her service motion. tennis_chiro attributes it to rhythm. GeoffWilliams attributes it to lack of shoulder rotation. klacr adds that more weight should be placed on the front foot...or front leg. Stotty shows the most acumen...he suggests calling in the good doctor don_budge, the metaphysical engineer. They are all right but there is more.

Whenever this young lady is in a tight situation she is going to have an anxiety attack because she knows...her body knows that there is something really wrong here with the rhythm. She is going to struggle to hold on to the faulty rhythm that she uses...although that being said she very well may get away with it most of the time, more often than not, because the lack of significance that the serve has on the way the game is being played today. Particularly on the woman's side. But things can get a bit dicey once that confidence in your rhythm goes...the rest of the game can go right down with it.

The proof is in the video...do you see that 18 story building directly behind her? Her toss goes above that structure and probably 3 or 4 stories higher than that but that is something that we will never know. She has thrown the ball completely out of the view of the camera. Yet, she is making contact with the ball at the level of the 12th story. Just imagine the effect that the wind alone could play havoc with the timing of the swing, the contact and the toss. Sometimes it pays to pay attention to what is in the background. Most people see what they want to see and disregard the rest.

The ball should only drop a maximum of a decimeter and to me there is absolutely no reason for the ball to not be struck at practically the precise apex of the toss. When teaching the overhead smash I begin with the tennis student bouncing the ball as opposed to hitting on the fly...and this is what I would compare this young ladies service motion to. She is attempting to smash a very high lob as opposed to letting the ball bounce. The significance of her high toss has some really bad implications for the motion. The question is why does she throw it so high. The answer...to compensate for the rest of the convoluted motion. I like to think of the serve as an upside down golf swing in some respects and if you are going to tee it up why not tee it up where you are going to make contact. A lot of problems in golf swings come from compensating moves and the same can be safely said with tennis service motions.

What is more...I know exactly why her toss is too high. I beg to differ...this serve needs to be rethought, retooled and rebuilt from scratch. Rebuilt on the lost art of the fundamental service motion. Anything less will be a disSERVICE to this tennis student.

Please see post #16

[julian1]

Better?

Does having a deeper racket drop result in more power? I was looking through a couple of BG's articles and he seems to suggest it does. Is it a case of the deeper, the better?

Also, how significant is the angle of the bend/break at the elbow as the racket hits the bottom of the racket drop and starts the upward swing? A video taken from above would reveal this best, but there are two clips in the archive that reveal enough...and have intrigued me for some time.

Both players in the clips, Ferrero and Murray, bend very moderately at the elbow in the trophy position, but Murray's elbow is breaking far more than Ferrero's as the upward swing commences. You have to toggle through the clips and pause them at the start of the upward swing to view what I mean. I wondered if this is a factor with players in terms of power or even spin? I wonder if any research has ever been done in this area as, generally speaking, this takes place out of eyeshot of the observer and requires shots taken from directly above the player's head to truly reveal the angle of the bend?

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/andy_murray/am_serve/am_arm_action/am_arm_action.html?AM1stSDeuceArmActionSide1.mov

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...LevelSide1.mov

The basic difficulty with a LARGE vertical drop is that it takes time.
The second issue is keeping the serve motion
CONTINUOUS in terms of the head racket speed

PS One of reasons that the toss is of Zoe is so high is that she needs
enough time to get into a significant vertical drop and back.
Whether it is "CONVOLUTED" is a matter of opinion
(see the corresponding post by don_budge on this subject)
Doug Eng is a very good person to talk about this subject

[GeoffWilliams]

Sampras' elbow was extremely straight up, and his back arched way back, to allow his elbow to point up more, and his frame to reach a lower point, and to go far further under his elbow to the rear. The higher the elbow at drop, the more power available.

[stotty]

Racket drop...and something else.

Does having a deeper racket drop result in more power? I was looking through a couple of BG's articles and he seems to suggest it does. Is it a case of the deeper, the better?

Also, how significant is the angle of the bend/break at the elbow as the racket hits the bottom of the racket drop and starts the upward swing? A video taken from above would reveal this best, but there are two clips in the archive that reveal enough...and have intrigued me for some time.

Both players in the clips, Ferrero and Murray, bend very moderately at the elbow in the trophy position, but Murray's elbow is breaking far more than Ferrero's as the upward swing commences. You have to toggle through the clips and pause them at the start of the upward swing to view what I mean. I wondered if this is a factor with players in terms of power or even spin? I wonder if any research has ever been done in this area as, generally speaking, this takes place out of eyeshot of the observer and requires shots taken from directly above the player's head to truly reveal the angle of the bend?

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/andy_murray/am_serve/am_arm_action/am_arm_action.html?AM1stSDeuceArmActionSide1.mov

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/jcferrero/jcferrero_serve/jcf_1st_serve/jcf_1st_serve.html?JCFerrero1stSDeuceCourtLevelSide1.mov

[stroke]

Michael,

Hey you were the only one who could kick the serve over the back fence! How are you mate!

First would love to see a rear view to look at the left to rigth axis of the contact and the drop although I think it looks damn good from the side. Main thing as has been noted, the limited hand and arm rotation as evidenced by the racket position in the followthrough. Not a true platform stance but at least not an extreme pinpoint (that's me versus Chris...) and at least some turn off the ball!!

I like her motion, but her followthrough does possibly indicate too much arm, or acceleration after contact, instead of before contact. There are a couple of tennis coaches I have read, Dave Smith and Jeff Counts, that suggest that a great way to check/diagnose your serve for proper followthrough/arm action is to put a towel down on the court and serve on both your knees. If you hit the ground on the followthrough instead of having more of the Sampras type snap finish(which would not even come close to hitting the ground), it indicates too much arm/muscle type action.

[don_budge]

Major confidence issues...it's no wonder

Have a few juniors I'm working with at the moment who really struggle with this after years and years of developing bad habits. Previous coaches haven't paid attention to it and it's been to detriment of their serve.

Have just started working with the top 16 year old girl in Australia and she's come to me with major confidence issues with her serve and I'm going to show her this video as a starting point. I've attached her serve, feel free to have a look.

First of all...thanks for sharing mlogarzo. It's very generous of you.

One of the major problems in the tennis world today is that coaches seem to be unable to "build" a sound service motion. A big reason for that is that motions are no longer designed to be followed into the net. Instead the server tries for the big delivery then backs up. This kind of behavior is a fundamental change...much as society has changed with the use of the cell phone. Now you must begin to ask yourself what are the ramifications of such behavior changes. Here is a very good example. I wonder if there are problems in the second serve delivery. I imagine that there are.

It's no wonder that this girl is suffering from major confidence issues because she has some major mechanical issues going on in her service motion. tennis_chiro attributes it to rhythm. GeoffWilliams attributes it to lack of shoulder rotation. klacr adds that more weight should be placed on the front foot...or front leg. Stotty shows the most acumen...he suggests calling in the good doctor don_budge, the metaphysical engineer. They are all right but there is more.

Whenever this young lady is in a tight situation she is going to have an anxiety attack because she knows...her body knows that there is something really wrong here with the rhythm. She is going to struggle to hold on to the faulty rhythm that she uses...although that being said she very well may get away with it most of the time, more often than not, because the lack of significance that the serve has on the way the game is being played today. Particularly on the woman's side. But things can get a bit dicey once that confidence in your rhythm goes...the rest of the game can go right down with it.

The proof is in the video...do you see that 18 story building directly behind her? Her toss goes above that structure and probably 3 or 4 stories higher than that but that is something that we will never know. She has thrown the ball completely out of the view of the camera. Yet, she is making contact with the ball at the level of the 12th story. Just imagine the effect that the wind alone could play havoc with the timing of the swing, the contact and the toss. Sometimes it pays to pay attention to what is in the background. Most people see what they want to see and disregard the rest.

The ball should only drop a maximum of a decimeter and to me there is absolutely no reason for the ball to not be struck at practically the precise apex of the toss. When teaching the overhead smash I begin with the tennis student bouncing the ball as opposed to hitting on the fly...and this is what I would compare this young ladies service motion to. She is attempting to smash a very high lob as opposed to letting the ball bounce. The significance of her high toss has some really bad implications for the motion. The question is why does she throw it so high. The answer...to compensate for the rest of the convoluted motion. I like to think of the serve as an upside down golf swing in some respects and if you are going to tee it up why not tee it up where you are going to make contact. A lot of problems in golf swings come from compensating moves and the same can be safely said with tennis service motions.

What is more...I know exactly why her toss is too high. I beg to differ...this serve needs to be rethought, retooled and rebuilt from scratch. Rebuilt on the lost art of the fundamental service motion. Anything less will be a disSERVICE to this tennis student.

[johnyandell]

Michael,

Hey you were the only one who could kick the serve over the back fence! How are you mate!

First would love to see a rear view to look at the left to rigth axis of the contact and the drop although I think it looks damn good from the side. Main thing as has been noted, the limited hand and arm rotation as evidenced by the racket position in the followthrough. Not a true platform stance but at least not an extreme pinpoint (that's me versus Chris...) and at least some turn off the ball!!

[stotty]

Like it...looks really promising

Hey John,

Great article. You may not remember me, but I did the demonstrations for Chris Lewit's kick serve article back when i was the Head Coach in his Academy in 07/08.

Have a few juniors I'm working with at the moment who really struggle with this after years and years of developing bad habits. Previous coaches haven't paid attention to it and it's been to detriment of their serve.

Your point re the face of the racquet being perpendicular to a line across the torso is spot on. I'm also a big believer in players being able to feel what they are doing and encourage shadowing the motion or specific parts of the motion that they need to correct. Find in particular girls struggle with this checkpoint and the pronating of the wrist after contact.

Have just started working with the top 16 year old girl in Australia and she's come to me with major confidence issues with her serve and I'm going to show her this video as a starting point. I've attached her serve, feel free to have a look.

I think her serve is real nice overall. The only real change I would make other than perhaps one already mentioned is how the start of the motion is initiated. Her racket arm sets off slightly earlier of the throwing arm. She manages to compensate nicely and gets into a good trophy position...but I would reverse that...or better still...get both arms off at the same time but with the throwing arm going off slightly quicker than the racket arm, so the racket arm has to catch up a bit.

I am just wondering whether setting off a tad early with the racket arm has caused rhythm problems, resulting the lack of confidence you mention. I have found this some players with similar technique in the past. As they descend deeper into matches things start to go more out of synch. It's hard to say with a player as good as Zoe without seeing how her serve performs throughout the course of a match.

It's certainly very close to being a good serve and much better looking than some you see on the women's tour. No unresolvable problems that I can see.

Be interesting to see what John thinks...and don_budge who is somewhat of a maestro when it comes to serves.

[julian1]

Percentage of serves in

Hey John,

Great article. You may not remember me, but I did the demonstrations for Chris Lewit's kick serve article back when i was the Head Coach in his Academy in 07/08.

Have a few juniors I'm working with at the moment who really struggle with this after years and years of developing bad habits. Previous coaches haven't paid attention to it and it's been to detriment of their serve.

Your point re the face of the racquet being perpendicular to a line across the torso is spot on. I'm also a big believer in players being able to feel what they are doing and encourage shadowing the motion or specific parts of the motion that they need to correct. Find in particular girls struggle with this checkpoint and the pronating of the wrist after contact.

Have just started working with the top 16 year old girl in Australia and she's come to me with major confidence issues with her serve and I'm going to show her this video as a starting point. I've attached her serve, feel free to have a look.

Hi,
do you have any ball park numbers about her serve percentage?

[klacr]

I know the low start is very popular these days, but she is a natural to imitate Krajicek or Stich, my favorites. I'd get her hands a little closer together and a little higher and see if she could get a better rock and rhythm. Try to mimic Krajicek or Stich. It looks just a little contrived at the beginning for me. Then check the article about getting the racket face to go to full vertical following impact; she doesn't make it.

don

Great Points tennis_chiro. Agree on those points. In full disclosure, you got me with the mention of Krajicek. He was my favorite server and thats how I modeled my serve. Great model.

The rock and rhythm seem non existent to me. It may just be the editing of the video as it starts quickly with the beginning of her motion. Perhaps getting more of her weight leaning forward at beginning of the motion will help and then transferring the weight back (pendulum). I'd love to see her pre-service ritual.

I also see that her racquet seems to be going forward towards target, not really vertical to the ball. I'd like to see her chest pointing upwards towards the tossed ball instead of towards the side fence.

Compared to many players, the serve is not that bad. A few adjustments but no major overhauls. Good luck with her.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[tennis_chiro]

Pretty good.

I gotta agree with BMan. A lot of really good elements. Geoff may be correct that she could pull her shoulder back a little more, but I'd be more concerned with the initial rhythm of the toss. She is too deliberate at the beginning. I know the low start is very popular these days, but she is a natural to imitate Krajicek or Stich, my favorites. I'd get her hands a little closer together and a little higher and see if she could get a better rock and rhythm. Try to mimic Krajicek or Stich. It looks just a little contrived at the beginning for me. Then check the article about getting the racket face to go to full vertical following impact; she doesn't make it.

don