The Lesson Process:
The Serve: Part 2

Let me show you how to develop your serve into a weapon.

My experience as a teacher shows that the serve is often the most difficult stroke for the average player to develop—and the hardest for tennis instructors to teach. In this series, I want to present what I have learned about the serve in 25 years as a player and an instructor, with the goal of helping you develop your own serve into a weapon, whatever your level.

In part 1 of this series (Click Here), we looked at issues including spin, grip, balance, pronation, body rotation, and the wind up. Now let's move on and discuss the tossing motion, the contact point, the advanced use of the legs, and what I mean by serving rhythm.

Then we'll return one more time to the hotly debated issue of pronation. Finally, we'll look at the merits of the analogy commonly made between serving and throwing a ball.

The toss motion and the path of the ball are frequently misunderstood in tennis, and this has lead to some counterproductive teaching ideas. The tossing motion is not "straight up and straight down." And neither is the flight of the ball.

The tossing arm at an angle to the baseline with the ball curving right to left.

The tossing arm does not point at the net during the tossing motion. Instead, it points at an angle to the sideline. The flight of the toss is on a curve. When the ball leaves the tossing hand, it rises upward, but it also curves back toward the tossing arm shoulder.

The key here in terms of alignment is not to face the ball, but to maintain the shoulders and hips at angle. The eyes should be looking over the tossing arm shoulder at the ball as it drops just in front of the plane of the body.

The word "toss" is actually misleading because in reality a player is lifting or raising the ball to the appropriate level, not tossing or throwing it from his hand.

To achieve this, the tossing arm should move as a unit from the shoulder. There should be no bend of the elbow or movement of the wrist throughout the tossing arm motion. The release of the toss comes around shoulder height or a little higher.

The tossing arm will continue to rise after the release of the ball. It will be perpendicular to the sky or close to that at full extension.

The toss is really a lift.

Extending the tossing arm motion is critical to developing control. In this way, the follow through on the toss functions in the same way as the followthrough on a groundstroke.

A smooth, elongated motion helps create a precise release with the tossing arm moving at the right speed, similar to the way a groundstroke follow through facilitates racket acceleration and proper contact.

As the tossing arm moves up, the racket arm is simultaneously rising to the trophy position. This is what Doug Eng calls the classic rhythm pattern and is the pattern I think is the easiest and most effective for most players. (Click Here.)

At the power position the palm of the racket hand is facing the side fence.

At the extension of the toss, the racket should be standing on edge, vertical to the sky. The racket arm at this point will form an "L" shape . The palm of the racket hand at this point should be facing the side fence.

For players who try to serve with a forehand grip, the palm will be facing the sky. So this is a good checkpoint to watch for in case a player tends to slip the grip in the middle of the motion.

As the toss reaches its maximum height then the racket drop begins. Again this is where the grip plays a key role. The continental grip allows the player to hold the racket vertical in the raised position and then fall into a full drop along the right side of the body.

I often exaggerate the pulling of the left arm into the torso.

After releasing the ball, the tossing arm has another important function and must move correctly. The tossing arm should, as the racket drops, start to pull down into the chest, staying on dominate side of the body. This is very important to restrict the body from rotating too far and for maintaining good alignment at contact.

In teaching I like to exaggerate this element by pulling the arm tight into the torso, as many people lose control of the tossing arm so that it flies around the side of the body and backwards, interfering with the timing of the rotation.

The downward movement of the toss arm also acts like a catapult pulling the racket arm out of the racket drop with greater velocity. Most beginner and intermediate players have trouble feeling this energy from the non-dominate side at the beginning. Pulling the arm into the torso and holding that position facilitates this feeling.

A relaxed, across the body finish facilitates racket acceleration.

I believe in teaching that the racket arm finishes past the left hip of the body. It is an exaggeration of the motion compared to top players, who finish with the hand in line with the front of the left leg. At times, some pro players rackets will not cross the body this far or may even finish on the right side.

But for the huge majority of players, it is a mistake to try to force this type of finish. I believe that the more relaxed the finish, the greater the acceleration throughout the motion. My experience shows that teaching players to let the racket go and finish pointing past the left hip is a great way of doing this.

The right leg naturally wants to push back and away from the net.

It is important that as the finish occurs that the back right leg does not come through or around (towards the net). The dominant leg should extend back away from the net.

If the player has practiced keeping the legs still in the basic balance drill I presented in the first article, he will eventually notice that the right leg naturally wants to push away from the net as the follow through occurs. Advanced leg action starts by just allowing this natural reaction to happen, and then to consciously increase it.

When the player bends his knees, coils, and then explodes into the air, this actually pushes the racket further down into the racket drop, as Bruce Elliot has pointed out. (Click Here.) This in turn causes greater racket acceleration out of the drop.

One question is, however, how much do the knees bend? And should that vary by player?

I would estimate this angle can be as much as 45 degrees at the pro level. Now for the average club player this is too much and can cause numerous pitfalls. I simply don't believe club players' legs are strong enough for this position.

Relaxed knees usually lead to the right amount of bend.

In my lessons, even with top players, I stay away from an artificial or forced knee bend. This can interfere with a relaxed arm especially if balance control is lost.

What I stress instead is to relax the knees and let the weight simply drop. Usually this will help the player to develop the right amount of bend naturally.

At the point of contact, the right leg starts to push back away from the court. The jumping motion is from the front foot to the front foot. The motion is like hopping upward and forward on one foot.

A player can practice this by jumping forward (hop-scotch fashion) with the left foot. As the hop occurs push the dominant leg back away from the hop direction. As in hop scotch the player will discover how this helps maintain good balance when the jump is incorporated into the motion.

The amount of the rear leg push back often correlates to explosiveness of the serve. Andy Roddick who has one of or possibly the fastest serve on the tour also has the most extreme leg push back.

This motion is so extreme, however, that it forces his body to bend forward at the waist, meaning his balance is often tenuous. This can cause recovery problems if players are able to connect with a hard deep return down the middle.

Roddick's explosive leg kick - and the upper torso bend it can cause.

A player like Federer is a better example here. He has a great, natural knee bend and a kick back motion with the back leg. He also lands beautifully on balance with only minimal bending at the waist.

One key point: remember not to lose the sense of a relaxed free racket arm as you incorporate the legs into the serve. As you add muscle tension in the lower half of your body, this can have the effect of tensing up the arm swing. This is why I often warm up using the stationary leg position I showed in the first article, so I feel the loose arm first before I add the leg dynamic.

A balanced landing with the leg kicking back and the torso upright.

Instructors use the term full extension to describe the best place to contact the ball. That's true if we mean the elbow is fully straightening.

But this does not mean the tip of the racket itself is pointing directly upward. If the ball position on the toss is correct, the tip of the racket should actually be angled slightly to your left at contact.

If the tip points directly up, you are back to the problem of creating only sidespin and no topspin. If the toss position is correct, the correct racket angle should happen naturally.

There is a feeling of the upward swing to a correctly placed toss. Although again an exaggeration it is the feeling of the racket traveling over the top of your head towards the ball.

Full extension with the elbow straight but the tip of the racket tilted toward the player.

It's important to note that the contact will be made as the ball is dropping and the racket rising. I like the image of the ball contacting the top half of the string bed, whether in reality this actually occurs.

The height of the ball toss should be at least 6-8 inches higher than that point, but top servers toss as much as two feet above contact. The exact height is something you should develop to suit your personal rhythm.

In a good motion the racket will also be traveling naturally from the player's left to the player's right. But this left to right action should not be accentuated. It happens naturally, particularly, the continuation after contact. Players who try to hit more across the ball towards the side fence will decrease the forward energy into the ball.

Ultimately you want a serve that has good rotation as well as great forward energy. This combination creates what is often called a "heavy" serve—a combination of speed and spin. Players like Sampras and Federer may not have the fastest serves, but in many ways are the toughest to return because of the weight of combining velocity with spin, something noted by Jeff Salzenstein when he practiced returning serve against Roger. (Click Here.)

The racket stays on edge until only fractions before contact.

When the racket rises out of the racket drop zone, the racket frame approaches the contact on edge. Just before contact--and this is literally a few hundredths of a second before--the racket face starts to turn toward the ball. The racket face now moves forward and but also cuts across the ball, moving from left to right. This swing path is what imparts the combination of speed, side spin and topspin.

A common problem is when players turn the racket too soon just as it starts up from the drop. Instead of approaching the ball on edge, the racket face can be almost square.

Especially for a player who has served with an improper grip for years, preventing the pronation from happening too soon is crucial. But even higher level players can benefit from improving their timing on this movement.

To do this, I have my students focus on the edge of the frame coming out of the racket drop and moving upward. Many times I will have my students actually try to hit the ball with the edge of the frame.

The racket turns and moves forward through the ball and also across.

Usually this won't actually happen because the natural process of pronation will take over. But it's a great exercise to improve the timing of the turn of the racket edge.

Another drill I use when players are working to develop the correct arm motion is to focus on turning the forearm back the other way in the drop—what biomechanists call supination. This means the racket face swings to the player's right . This helps players with incomplete drops move the racket to the right position to start the swing to ball.

What is rhythm? The term is often used loosely in describing the serve and other strokes. The technical definition of rhythm "a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement."

That's a great description of what I consider the rhythm of the serve. The ability to repeat movements regularly is a big key to success on all strokes, but for serving rhythm is especially crucial.

See any difference in the swing speed between first and second?

To have a great serve, the player needs to have similar or identical rhythms on both the first and second serves. The problem is that when a player starts out with the wrong grip and little or no arm rotation the first and second serve motions have completely different rhythms.

The first serve motion is fast, but the second serve is much slower as the player pushes the ball into the box. These conflicting rhythms can create real problems under pressure. As a player gets tight, getting either serve in the box becomes difficult.

Players are often surprised when I tell them that pro players swing at the same speed on the first and second serve. The real difference is the path of the swing and the amount of spin added to the ball.

Consistent rhythm and the ability to repeat movements regularly is a big key to success on all strokes, but for serving rhythm is especially crucial.

All players should strive to develop this. It will help with first serve percentage, but also allows you to hit second serves with confidence and aggression.

Often instructor focus on the end of the pronation move in which the racket turns over on edge after contact, thinking that this movement the key to power. This is in my view some the worst advice players receive.

Does turning the racket over create power, or is it the opposite?

In all my years of playing and teaching I have never stressed this part of the motion. Studies show that the racket decelerates rapidly after contact and is probably traveling only a third as fast by the time it gets to the fully pronated position. (Click Here.)

This turning movement after contact actually occurs naturally, as it does in a good throwing motion. It is not an active aspect in generating power, but rather an effect of a good arm swing and the continuation of the rotation of the arm that began with the start of the upward swing.

The real key to power in the arm swing is rotation of the arm and forearm from left to right as it moves from the racket drop to the contact, or as I like to visualize it, from the inside to the outside. This rotation raises the racket head toward the contact, and pushes it through, turning the palm down towards the ground and over on edge.

Again grip is essential here. If the player is gripping the racket incorrectly the racket will point too much toward the left side fence at contact and not make solid contact with the ball. Use of the continental grip allows this rotation to happen naturally and positions the racket face in the correct direction at contact.

If you have a good "live" arm everything in serving is easier. The problem is that most people who come to tennis don't. To help students develop a feeling for how the arm works, instructors often use the analogy of throwing a ball.

The serve is more analogous to a deep pass than a pitch.

I was lucky that I played baseball and football as a kid, so when I came to tennis I already had a decent throwing motion. There is no doubt that the ability to throw can help you learn to serve, but then we have the great European players who played soccer, players who often serve extremely well.

To some extent the throwing and serving motions are related and the analogy can be valuable, but it is very important to understand the differences between throwing a ball with your hand and hitting a serve with a tennis racket.

A baseball throwing motion is in some ways similar to the serve, in that the arm rotates to generate velocity, but there are major differences. In baseball the position of the body at the release of the ball is open and facing the batter.

Also the ball is being thrown straight ahead. The release point is lower. This is unlike tennis, where the contact point is far above the head.

The way an outfielder throws to home plate might match the serve motion more closely, because the distance of the throw requires height and therefore a more upward motion and higher release. But a football quarterback throwing a long bomb is probably a better analogy.

Hitting upward needs to be incorporated as a mental positive.

Again height is essential to the distance required, and the throwing motion is therefore much more upward. This extreme upward motion can be problematic for many players. Mentally the player has to trust that the spin will bring the ball down in time.

The key here is to remember how spin, speed, and height work together. The more upward the swing the more ball speed, and this means the potential to lose control. As a player develops the correct upward motion, he must trust that spin will in fact bring the ball down.

This can be scary for a lot of players who have always slowed their arm swing down in order to get the serve in. As the serve starts to improve the feeling of hitting harder and more upward has to be incorporated mentally as a positive. And we all know this can be the toughest part of making any change. But if I can do it, so can you.

So there we have it for some of the complexities of the serve motion. This is why I think it is so critical to step away from competition if you truly want to remake your serve. Believe me the results will be worth it if you follow all the steps above. Have fun!

Special thanks to my friend, old practice partner, and fellow Tennisplayer contributor, Scott Murphy--star Marin county quarterback and big time Cal Bear pitcher--for doing the throwing demonstrations!

The Lesson Process:The Serve: Part 2

Kerry Mitchell

The Lesson Process:
The Serve: Part 2