The Sampras Serve: Mystery of the High Elbow

[johnyandell]

Thanks John, And Stroke yes, some kind of gold standard!

[flatflat]

I think what might be happening there is that in addition to the upward launching force of his legs, Sampras is also (almost ballistically) flexing his shoulder blade, firstly down quickly all the way, then up quickly all the way. This just adds even more upward thrust to his serve, in addition to the leg flex and general cartwheeling motion. The racquet has picked up almost half its terminal velocity just from this shoulder blade rocking, so the entire launch is over well before anyone else's is.

I just noticed this a few days ago and am adding it to my service motion. My service motion is a work in progress. Someone compared it to learning a difficult piano solo. You make discoveries and work to incorporate them into your performance.