Interactive Forum March 2022: Matteo Berrettini Serve

[johnyandell]

Matteo Berrettini Serve

If you have spent anytime in our High Speed Archives or the Interactive Forum, you might be, like me, amazed at the technical variations in the strokes of world class players. Some fundamentals seem the same, others different. And then there are the idiosyncratic elements. Or are they?

For example, Matteo Berrettini’s serve. It’s got to be one of the wild combinations of starting stance, tossing motion and windup ever. So check it out. Sliding stance, great racket drop, reduced internal shoulder rotation in the upward swing. And very effective!

What have I missed? Share your opinions in the Forum!

[stotty]

Matteo Berrettini Serve

If you have spent anytime in our High Speed Archives or the Interactive Forum, you might be, like me, amazed at the technical variations in the strokes of world class players. Some fundamentals seem the same, others different. And then there are the idiosyncratic elements. Or are they?

For example, Matteo Berrettini’s serve. It’s got to be one of the wild combinations of starting stance, tossing motion and windup ever. So check it out. Sliding stance, great racket drop, reduced internal shoulder rotation in the upward swing. And very effective!

What have I missed? Share your opinions in the Forum!

Good assessment...and you haven't missed much out in terms of the oddness of Berrettini's delivery. It's about as ugly as a serve gets. But it just shows how so many things don't matter so long as you have those key components long identified here on Tennisplayer.

I coach a bloke, 27, who is an average club player but who hits his serve faster than all the other county players we have at our club. Not saying he has a great serve in terms of consistency or placement, but in terms of raw power, it's a bullet. He has all the key ingredients: a deep racket drop, a live arm, and great (full) internal rotation. I may ask his permission to post it on Tennisplayer.

Getting back to Berrettini, is it me or does the ball sit quite deep in his fingers when he's tossing the ball? I always teach more towards the tips of the fingers.

[johnyandell]

Stotty,
Sure post that serve! And good obervation on the fingers.

[stroke]

It looks like to me he slightly alters his grip structure from the beginning of the motion to somewhere during the racquet drop. That is unusual. He starts with what looks to me to be a backhand type grip, and when he makes contact and finishes his motion, it looks like he is in a more typical continental grip.

[stotty]

It looks like to me he slightly alters his grip structure from the beginning of the motion to somewhere during the racquet drop. That is unusual. He starts with what looks to me to be a backhand type grip, and when he makes contact and finishes his motion, it looks like he is in a more typical continental grip.

I noticed that also but couldn't determine whether he was shifting the grip or simply releasing his fingers and resettling. I have a student who has a habit of resettling his grip mid-motion but fundamentally his grip doesn't change because he resettles his grip back into the same position. I can't confidently make a judgement about what Berrettini is doing from the clip.

[jeremy93]

What stands out to me is his extremely high starting position, his backswing, his lack of turn away from the net (in part due to his footwork) and how he goes mainly just forward and not enough upwards when he’s off the ground IMO.

[jeremy93]

It looks like to me he slightly alters his grip structure from the beginning of the motion to somewhere during the racquet drop. That is unusual. He starts with what looks to me to be a backhand type grip, and when he makes contact and finishes his motion, it looks like he is in a more typical continental grip.

Yes, appears to be the case. Check out 4:15 and you’ll see he takes his fingers off the grips just prior to the bottom of the racquet drop. Pretty odd. Many players do it in trophy position but not in the middle of acceleration as he does here.

[stroke]

Yes, appears to be the case. Check out 4:15 and you’ll see he takes his fingers off the grips just prior to the bottom of the racquet drop. Pretty odd. Many players do it in trophy position but not in the middle of acceleration as he does here.

To me, at the completion of his serve, he is definitely in a different grip than he started with.

[doctorhl]

As John said, some how he includes all the key components. It would be interesting to know what degree his coach( coaches) tried to alter his serve mechanics.

[stotty]

As John said, some how he includes all the key components. It would be interesting to know what degree his coach( coaches) tried to alter his serve mechanics.

I think these are the most interesting questions of all - the coaching journey. What attempts were made to adjust Matteo's serve or did coaches just allow his serve to morph around and develop more or less on its own. No one ever seems to get to the bottom of these things. How does anyone explain Brooksby, who seems to have become a really good player in spite of coaching rather than because of it?

[chuahman]

Interestingly though the key power position is very apparent as I remember from a course that quoted Darren Cahill it's about getting to the contact point and a lot can be said about the solid trophy/power position that Matteo has?

[johnyandell]

Chua, True!

[haegliloo237]

it looks like, that if a correct racquet drop and contact point is executed from a tall athletique player, they can produce consistent serves over 200 km/h, no matter what the rest of the key points look like.
This eventually explains, why Brooksby barely ever reaches that speed mark at 193 cm height?

[johnyandell]

Jenson if you look has limited knee bend and little body turn.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/members/tour_strokes/john_yandell/jensen_brooksby_serve/