Teaching the serve

[mntlblok]

Keep us posted on how it's going, Kevin. I'm interested in hearing more.

We tried emphasizing "racquet drop" in her serve for a while, but didn't really get anywhere. Yesterday, we had her practicing overheads - at her insistence. (She had been hitting swinging forehand volleys - successfully - rather than overheads for months).

Yesterday we had her use the swing thought of sending the "butt" of the racquet grip toward the ball. (I find this thought to be valuable for just about every shot that I hit). In order to send the butt toward the ball, you have to have it pointing in that direction to start with. To me, this is just another way of getting to a good racquet drop position.

This seemed to click with her and she started to actually get some "pop" on her overheads for the first time ever. *And*, she was actually getting some spin on some of them. It was late in our practice session, so we haven't tried the swing thought with her serve, yet. It will be interesting to see if it translates.

Kevin
Savannah

[mntlblok]

Something for John.

So what type of serve would you recommend teaching someone who is just learning? Topspin slice? Slice? Twist. Topspin? Kick? Flat. Etc.

My wife had been making so little progress with her serve (though her NTRP rating has just gone up to 4.0) that I had suggested that she try just using variations of a forehand feed as a serve - especially since she already knows how to hit drop shots off either side, and could easily disguise that sort of delivery. She won't even consider it.

Then, I had a chance to talk with some old-timers at a recent tournament who had played with or watched Dodo Cheney play. One of them stated that Dodo had four different serves that she used regularly, at least two of which were sidearm "feed" style deliveries. I believe they said that Dodo turned 90 this year and is still competing.

Kevin
Savannah

[johnyandell]

I don't buy these assumptions and I don't believe there are truly "types" of serves. All good service motions have basic positions in common. The differences in spins are slight variations in ball position and hand movement.


Most people will tend toward one variation or the other. That should be encouraged. It's the swing positions that matter. Without those all the other talk is pure bs.