elbow question on serves

[ulam]

I have limitatations in bending my serving elbow( 100 degrees from when the arm is straight). Will that cause problems with the backswing on serves?

[johnyandell]

It is what it is! 100 degrees seems like about as much or maybe a little bit less than what I see when I bend my elbow--bit more than a right angle, correct?

However close you can get to the pro racket drop is how close you should try to get.

[ulam]

I see about 135 degrees in some pros( Haas) when he takes the racquet behind his back. Graf doesn't bend her elbows that much like about 90 degrees. Is there any advantage of bending the elbow more than 100 degrees?

[ulam]

"The point of the windup is to position the racket at the full drop position so it can then travel upward to the ball on the right path and with the most speed. If the windup doesn't accomplish that, you're probably better off starting the motion with the racket already dropped behind you."


This is what I was looking for. Thank You.

[johnyandell]

The height of the elobw varies with shoulder flexibility. the higher the elbow the greater the angle of the elbow bend.

[ulam]

I thought the elbow shouldn't go above the shoulder because it's bad for the rotator cuff. That is why I think of a serve as a sideways pitch in baseball with the torso slanted. When I was reading an article in the overheads and McEnroe's serve, I noticed the torso is almost upright and elbow way above the shoulder. I'm confuse. Also, in the back scratch position, bending the elbow helps in pointing the racquet down faster, so the elbow does not need to travel pass 45 degrees to the court to fully have the racquet drop pointing down but for me the elbow must be around 80 degrees I think to reach a full racquet drop. I need some advice. Perhaps I might need McEnroe's stance to compensate for the higher elbow location on the deep racquet drop position to get more power. What do you think?

[ulam]

The height of the elobw varies with shoulder flexibility. the higher the elbow the greater the angle of the elbow bend.

So using a 90 degree bend of the elbow, at contact with the ball, the upper arm( tricep area) is parallel to the surface of the court. Is this correct? Like throwing a baseball with the forearm almost vertical. How high can my elbow go up if it is a little more than 90 degrees bend? I want to rotate my shoulders almost vertically.

[johnyandell]

Nope you've got this confused and over analyzed. At contact is a different story than the drop. The point of the drop is get the racket down with the upper arm rotated back as far as possible.

I think you need to go back and read the Federer serve articles because it is quite clearly explained--or I hope it is.

As you come up the arm obviously rotates forward--and yeah the level of the upper arm at contact is at about the shoulder. But that's not something you should try to make happen and would be impossible. It's a matter of drop, contact point, elobw extension and hand and arm rotation--all the little points on the continuum will take care of themselves.

"Rotate your shoulders vertically"? I don't even know what that means. Again you don't "want" to do anything with them during the forward hit--if the drop and turn and knee bend are solid that'll happen.

Forget about the Mac stance. Get the best drop you can. Use a square stance or a limited body turn. You can't somehow substitute one type of motion for another. Again, the positions are quite clear in the Federer article.