My serve video

[maverick1]

John,

I have attached videos of my serve, from 4 different angles: left, right, front and back. Since I have only one camcorder, they are 4 different serves, all shot in a 15 minute span.

They are in Quicktime format, so you should be able to step through them.

If you would like to consider this for a "Your Strokes" article, I would be delighted.
If not, I will settle for any feedback from the forum on what I can improve.

Eric: I have worked on incorporating the two toss tips you gave me: to toss a bit more to the left and to have a consistent release point.


Thanks

[mdhubert]

congrats, I think you improved a lot (toss, timing, pronation). Your initial stance is a bit weird with your tossing hand very low, and your hand seems to move towards a waiter's serve position between the racquet drop and the the contact...

[maverick1]

congrats, I think you improved a lot (toss, timing, pronation). Your initial stance is a bit weird with your tossing hand very low, and your hand seems to move towards a waiter's serve position between the racquet drop and the the contact...

Thanks mdhubert.

You are right, I bend too low. I just tried to toss with less bend and i think my toss is more consistent! So I will change my habit.

Re: waiter's tray, are you sure about that? If I have that, how do I fix it? I am pretty sure I have the right grip(continental).

[mdhubert]

I think your racquet head should be a bit more parallel to the baseline when your legs are straight.
Look at these two pics to compare with Paul Goldstein (John's student !):

[maverick1]

Ok mdhubert, thanks for the pictures. I appreciate you taking the time to do this.

It seems like the racket face's angle in relation to the baseline would depend on many different things such as the stance and the degree bend in various joints.

I am hoping to get a little more 1-on-1 help from Eric. I will try to get these things sorted out.

Paul Goldstein has an impressive flexibility in his back and arm. I am probably not going to be able to replicate that, but will try my best to improve my motion.

[johnyandell]

For some reason I cannot download the clips. Why don't you try emailing them to me. I'm traveling though and it may be a while before I can give you any feedback.

[EricMatuszewski]

Great work Maverick, Congradulations!

Maverick,

Here are your clips from the serve speed lesson.

17 frames contact to bounce before speed training.
14 frames after speed training.

Great job making all of the other changes as well (knees, tossing arm, toss placement). You're an amazing example of persistence. You are inspiring!

As you get more comfortable using the speed increasing technique we went over, you'll speed should increase even more. I'd think that another 10-15% is probably possible.

Be sure to let me know what those speeds come out to using your formula.

Also, I tried to use the Mpeg4's we created and they uploaded but I couldn't download them, so I re-did them as quicktimes.

[maverick1]

Thanks Eric, I wish I had the same dedication to the non-Tennis areas of my life

In the past I have measured my serves at less than 15 video frames before(eg: the "behind" view serve in my original post), but 14 frames would be a record for me. That translates to over 97 mph according to my calculator.

I will keep practicing your technique, and keep you posted on my progress.

[maverick1]

mdhubert,

Re: my "waiter's tray" position of my racket, Eric spotted, and i agree, that it is because my wrist is in a flexed position when the racket is behind me.
Most people keep the degree of wrist flexion neutral throughout the serve. I think Eric said (Eric, correct me if I am wrong) he didn't know a reason why.

I am going to try to get rid of it. The biggest problem is that the serve works best when the wrist is relaxed. "Trying" to do anything with the wrist stiffens it. So it is going to be tricky.

[EricMatuszewski]

Maverick,
Hyperextending, not flexing, gives you the "waiters tray" appearance approaching contact. Flexing would look really weird, that's not what you do.

Your right, I've got no good explanation for why top players don't do what you do, other than it looks like hitting with a semi-western and coaches would discourage that at all costs. (with good reason).



You should get some kind of award for your speed calculator. It's a great acheivement in mathematics/tennis science.

[lukman41985]

I've got no good explanation for why top players don't do what you do...

Check out the frame 30 frames from the ending of the clip, now toggle 2 frames forward and watch how from this position, the shoulder rotates backwards into the full drop position

Check out the frame 35 frames from the ending of the clip, and again toggle 2 frames forward and watch how from this position, the shoulder rotates backwards into the full drop position

Also check out this attached image of Djokovic:

[maverick1]

Thanks Lukman, but I am confused.

To my eye, it looks like Federer and Djokovic both do what I do - wrist hyperextended(Thanks for the correction Eric) a bit and racket in a waiter's tray position. Sampras seems to have the wrist hyperextended as well but he somehow doesn't have the waiter's tray look.

Am I wrong?

[lukman41985]

That's my point maverick. I don't think the position you're in is "wrong" seeing as how some top servers do get in that very same position. Also, I would argue that Sampras does have the look you are talking about.

[maverick1]

I see. Thanks Lukman.

[lukman41985]

Your welcome. By the way, your videos look good. I hope you continue to improve your serve!