Serve - Aiming Issues

[marcl65]

I have this fairly reliable first serve from the AD side, using the Continental grip, where I can hit a hard straight shot (i.e. no slice) right up the T. My toss is somewhat forward, into the court, and would land about a foot within the baseline. It very often ends up being an ace.

The problem is that I have to aim at the middle of the service line to get this result. If I aim at the T, it goes well wide. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong or how to correct this?

[Bagumbawalla]

Obviously, you only THINK you are aiming up the middle. Remember that scene in Robocop where his aim is off and he has to adjust some screw in his brain. Try doing the same. Just make a mental adjustment.

[fearless1]

I have this fairly reliable first serve from the AD side, using the Continental grip, where I can hit a hard straight shot (i.e. no slice) right up the T. My toss is somewhat forward, into the court, and would land about a foot within the baseline. It very often ends up being an ace.

The problem is that I have to aim at the middle of the service line to get this result. If I aim at the T, it goes well wide. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong or how to correct this?

Possible explanations...

...your ACTUAL lineup and/or stroke may be more towards the T even though you THINK you are aiming at the middle of the service line (basically, a repeat of what bag just said);

...most likely explanation...not enough practice hitting serves. So...

...you will eventually solve these alignment issues as you practice your serve more...LOTS more.

[marcl65]

Possible explanations...

...your ACTUAL lineup and/or stroke may be more towards the T even though you THINK you are aiming at the middle of the service line (basically, a repeat of what bag just said);

...most likely explanation...not enough practice hitting serves. So...

...you will eventually solve these alignment issues as you practice your serve more...LOTS more.Okay, lets say you want to hit the same type of serve to the T, center, and corner of the service box - what do you adjust? Is your body turned more? Toe pointed to the left/right of the net post? Or do you stand the exact same way and adjust something else? And believe me, I've hit a ton of practice serves but I'm afraid that I'm just reinforcing what I'm doing wrong.

[Bagumbawalla]

Imagine, instead that you are throwing darts.

You are aiming for the bull's eye, but you hit high and to the right. Do you start aiming low and to the left. Possibly, you would.

What I would suggest, instead, is-- make a mental note of where the first one went, and try again-- each time you try and adjust, you get closer. Eventually, your hand, eye and brain come together and all the elements seem to gel.

And so, with the serve, it it much the same. It requires practice and getting a feel for the body mechanics of the serve. The bio-feedback you get when you hit the ball where you want is what you want to remember.

As for your question, you could turn your body to "adjust", but that gives away what you intend to do. It is best to have a similar stance and service motion for the various placements and spins (as much as possible)-- for disguise.

Also, serving is a complex set of motions, and since you can't see yourself, sometimes what you feel/think you are doing is not what you are really doing at all.

Lessons are a good idea-- so you do not develop any bad habits which are difficult to correct. At least, have some good player watch your serve and make suggestions.

Good luck,

B

[pNoyr3D]

I definitely agree with the mental issue, I have the same sometimes. A lot of tennis comes from the mental stages, if you can't control your mental skills you will have a very hard time. I myself learned that the hard way, once I learned to control my mental skills during matches it worked very very well. Especially in serving.

A good thing to do if your trying to serve down the line try to serve closer to the center mark of the baseline and try to toss the ball more in front.

[fearless1]

Okay, lets say you want to hit the same type of serve to the T, center, and corner of the service box - what do you adjust? Is your body turned more? Toe pointed to the left/right of the net post? Or do you stand the exact same way and adjust something else? And believe me, I've hit a ton of practice serves but I'm afraid that I'm just reinforcing what I'm doing wrong.

For quite some time, I've been trying to figure out what what guys like Sampras, Federer, etc do to change the direction of their serves. Are they tossing the ball to different areas, altering the racquet swing path, slightly different stance, all or some of the above, etc.? I still don't know...anyone here know?

For me, to change the direction of the serve, I keep my stance the same and swivel my upper torso like a tank turret during service ready stance just prior to the actual serve. This gives me the benefit of very same service motion for most of the serves which is good for consistent, powerful, and accurate serving. During a match, an obvious swivel is easy to read by the opponent and will give your intentions away. Instead, it's better not to do an an obvious swivel but instead, start the ready stance with upper body already pointing in the direction I want the serve to go. I have tried altering the swing path of the racquet during the serve stroke to aim the shot. But I've noticed this method leads to all sorts of problems with accuracy, power, and consistency.

I think the turret swivel is a good way for you to start getting better control of your serve's directional placement. As you get better, you'll be better able to disguise it or even dispense with the swivel technique altogether. You'll have to do lots of practice to determine how much turret swivel is needed to hit certain parts of the court.