basic serve racquet drop

[rainey]

I enjoyed the basic serve lesson in this month's newsletter by Horne. The basic tips to reach a good cocked position are good. I have a question with teaching racquet drop from the cocked position. If you look at the videos of the pros the drop action is complex, consisting of external shoulder rotation, shoulder and body rotation and wrist supination? In any event in teaching this drop to kids, they are told to backscratch with the racquet. They are not able to simulate the pros, and to simplify, they drop the racquet by flexing the elbow to scratch their back with the racquet. This seems to constrict their service motion and inhibit a full stroke with shoulder rotation and arm extension. Is teaching backscratch or full racquet drop early counter-productive?

[johnyandell]

The racket doesn't scratch the back and teaching that is counterproductive--you end up hitting across the ball like Dementieva. It falls along the right side of the body. You can see this in any of the Sampras serve clips and hundreds of others.

Some players need the higher elbow position and some don't. I thnik the position of the racket is the most important thing. Some kids have flexible shoulders. Teach them the racket position and see how much they can rotate the upper arm back and how high they really need the elbow.