A New Teaching System: The Serve: Contact Point

[johnyandell]

Would love to get your thoughts on my latest article "A New Teaching System: The Serve: Contact Point"

[captnemo]

Thanks for putting the money where the mouth is...it's funny there is a lot of hype around about the Rafter serving course...hundreds of dollars, but so far this series is doing an amazing job with fundamentals.

This contact point article shows change in the service motion and also what was done to make the change. That is your writer Scott Murphy in the before and after shots, is that right? What did he say afterwards?

[scottmurphy]

Dear Captnemo,

Virtually every time John films me I have revelations and this serve video was no exception. I've always done well by my serve but in the last couple of years some changes crept in as a result of injuries I'd sustained to my shoulder and feet. The shoulder trouble virtually eliminated my serve's topspin component and the foot problems did the same with my ability to launch. My toss started to drift to the right and my contact point moved back. Although I'm happy to say I've overcome the injuries, the bad habits I'd formed around them remained. Interestingly, despite myself, I was serving quite well but when the video exposed these lapses I was excited about what I might do if I got things back on track. In addition I realized I could be putting my shoulder in jeopardy again with the poor arm angle at contact.

I'm happy to say that in the time since John filmed me for this tremendous series of serve articles I'm serving better than ever. I've seen all there is out there with regard to the serve and as objectively as I can be I have to say John's observations and descriptions are bar none the best.

Scott Murphy

[tennis_chiro]

FYB Rafter serve series

Thanks for putting the money where the mouth is...it's funny there is a lot of hype around about the Rafter serving course...hundreds of dollars, but so far this series is doing an amazing job with fundamentals.

...

Pat is one of the nicest guys ever. During the mid-90's he was generally regarded by the players on tour as the best pure athlete. And that, as well as a great Aussie work ethic, had a lot to do with his success. But his service technique left a lot to be desired. Certainly, his kick serve was great for getting to the net, but the way he hit it was also tough on the shoulder. FYB did a few freebie lessons to tease and entice people for the new Rafter serve series. Unfortunately, a few of the suggestions are just simply incorrect. For example, tossing the ball up in a straight line as opposed to have it swing right to left may be simpler, but it keeps you from getting a full shoulder turn away from the target before coming forward. This is one of the reasons the best pure athlete on tour could only serve big serves in the 120's even when he did try to hit a bigger serve(average was much lower) while smaller, lesser athletes were serving well into the 130's and generally averaging 10 to 15 mph faster first serves.

JY's video work enables us to examine stroke mechanics based on reality rather than conjecture or impression. It's the gold standard.

don

[klacr]

Pat is one of the nicest guys ever. During the mid-90's he was generally regarded by the players on tour as the best pure athlete. And that, as well as a great Aussie work ethic, had a lot to do with his success. But his service technique left a lot to be desired. Certainly, his kick serve was great for getting to the net, but the way he hit it was also tough on the shoulder. FYB did a few freebie lessons to tease and entice people for the new Rafter serve series. Unfortunately, a few of the suggestions are just simply incorrect. For example, tossing the ball up in a straight line as opposed to have it swing right to left may be simpler, but it keeps you from getting a full shoulder turn away from the target before coming forward. This is one of the reasons the best pure athlete on tour could only serve big serves in the 120's even when he did try to hit a bigger serve(average was much lower) while smaller, lesser athletes were serving well into the 130's and generally averaging 10 to 15 mph faster first serves.

JY's video work enables us to examine stroke mechanics based on reality rather than conjecture or impression. It's the gold standard.

don

Rafter got by with athleticism. Tough to teach his quirks to the everyday player. Agree with Don about the serve. It would be nice for students to hit a kick serve like that, but is Rafter the model you want students replicating to a T? Same goes for his volleys. Remember those lunging swinging topspin volleys he'd hit often, is that volley technique what you can teach to your students, or is that just being uber-athletic and letting instincts and strength take over? Very difficult to teach that type of athleticism, just like I explain to many of my students that its tough to teach 6'6" 200lbs so they can hit like their coach.

This contact point on the serve video is awesome. And gives me the visual evidence I need to make this required viewing in my pro shop to all my students.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

Hey, Kyle, I outweigh you by 15 lbs.!

[klacr]

Hey, Kyle, I outweigh you by 15 lbs.!

Congratulations. You beat me. Wait...How tall are you?

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[bman]

With regard to the ball toss, I've never understood why no one seems to teach letting the arm release straight in front of you (like Rafter advocates) and THEN coil the shoulders. That's what works for me.

[captnemo]

Scott Murphy,

Thanks for the response I find that quite encouraging that even accomplished players still strive to make technique improvement and that we have this series about that on the serve.

Unlike so many serve articles that start with the stance and progress to the windup and the toss, these articles are more like intervention points to see where you really are instead of trying to learn an entirely new motion from the ground up.

[GeoffWilliams]

Congratulations. You beat me. Wait...How tall are you?

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

6'0". Shrimp compared to you. The serve, no one has ever put together a video that I have seen that covers it fully.

Common topics not covered: The toss and its importance. Toss forward more for flat shots, backwards and over the right shoulder more further for kicks. Bad toss=bad serving.

Center of gravity: The importance of moving it backwards and then forwards so the left hip is higher than the rear right hip. Curves the archers bow.

Turning the shoulders and bending the knees forwards. Back placed to the net allows for more kinetic path, as does getting down forwards low on the knee bend. Extending the left hip outwards, will raise it higher than the rear hip, allowing for more kinetic path and bow.

External shoulder rotation: Cocking your shoulder all the way back like pitchers do, coils the shot.

Racquet path: Back swing down towards the left rear fence post, but not just the path, the bodies orientation first facing backwards with the frame hitting bed, and then flipping it forwards.

Lagging the coil: The leg drive starts up even before the racquet drops down, so that a "lag" develops, so that there is more vicious whip lash created and the whole shot has to catch up the the pronated forearm.

Snap back: No one talks about it, yet, all the top servers "snap back" the shot to create vicious whip lash, and a faster heavier more mass filled acceleration. Yeah, I know the mass won't change, but it does get heavier if you snap back.

Internal shoulder rotation: The shoulder stops, so that the racquet can whip lash under and backwards towards the rear fence, giving you a very stable, very high energy whip lash.

Keeping your forearm connected in one piece to the frame: Rather than waving bye bye with the wrist, connecting the forearm with the wrist, so you create a longer lever arm when the forearm is pronated, and then the wrist snaps the frame back towards the rear fence, while the shoulder has stopped, transferring all the upwards speed into the snap off.

[sfrazeur]

Most players need to learn the basic serve as is taught by the TennisPlayer.net new videos and by several others articles on the site. Even most 4.0 players I see have broken service motions. They DO NOT need a $400 course fronted by Pat Rafter; they need fundamentals. FYB is good at baking doughnuts: Glazed goodness on the outside, but empty in the middle.

For the basics Scott Murphy has some great articles on the serve. As well, Jeff Salzenstein has some good free videos and videos on here regarding the serve.

[captnemo]

sfraseur,

I like the donut analogy--that is what it feels like to me--a lot of build up but very little of substance--and I will also check out the Scott Murphy serve articles you reccomended.