The Beautiful Biomechanics of the Power Serve: Part 2

By Chris Lewit

In Part 1 on the serve (Click Here), I introduced the 8 stage model of the serve with 3 phases. In Part 2, we are going into much more technical detail about each stage.

To win pretty with the serve, it's important to ensure effective technique in all eight stages. The following are the most important Winning Pretty technical elements to consider in each of the stages:

Start (Stage 1)

The start of the serve is important because players need to have the right grip and a good stable base to begin the motion. Mark Kovacs has cautioned that many aspects of the start are stylistic rather than a fundamental commonality, and he warns players not to prioritize style over fundamentals (1). The grip should be a continental or close to continental. For a power serve, a grip too far towards the top bevel of the racquet (bevel 1), can reduce power.

The stance should be sideways with the front foot near parallel to the baseline. Some coaches recommend pointing the foot at the net post, but many modern pros align their feet near parallel to the baseline.